Guided by Jennifer McClure, learn how photography can help you make sense of your world and bring your life to your projects.

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Guided by Jennifer McClure, learn how photography can help you make sense of your world and reveal personal patterns. We will cover strategies for using your emotions and experiences as a basis for a compelling photographic journey. Whether you shoot portraits of yourself or others, landscapes or still lifes, the most important item in your toolkit is your unique point of view. This class will show you how to translate your interior narratives and passions into concrete photographs, focusing on the subject matter, composition, lighting, and editing.

We are here to look for the beginning of the story. You don’t have to know the end. Writing exercises will help us discover the unanswered questions about your life that already exists. We will experiment and develop strategies for each student on how best to shoot individual projects. 

Once we have potential stories and subject matter in place, we will explore how camera and lighting tools and techniques factor into the process. Shooting exercises and class reviews will help shape your practice. Critiques and edits will delve into the always tricky balance between intention and execution. We will learn to be open to the accidental magic that happens when shooting with purpose and instinct. Reviews of older work will help us understand your path as a photographer. Each student will get a one-on-one session, and I will also be available for assistance while shooting. You will leave this class with an action plan for finishing your project, as well as strategies for presenting and placing the work once it is completed.

We all have a story to tell. No one else has loved the people we have loved, hurt the way that we have hurt, or found meaning in the same things that bring us joy daily. Our ordinary lives are endlessly fascinating to other people. This class will help you show your journey in a visual format that will also unearth your own strengths and patterns as a photographer. 

Course requirements

Students should bring a camera, laptop, external hard drive, notebook, and any personal items you’ve been dreaming about photographing.

All images copyright Jennifer McClure

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Instructor: Jennifer McClure

Jennifer McClure is a fine art photographer based in New York City. Her work is about solitude and a poignant, ambivalent yearning for connection. Her first book, You Who Never Arrived, was published by Peanut Press Portfolios in 2020. She was a 2019 and 2017 Critical Mass Top 50 finalist and twice received the Arthur Griffin Legacy Award from the Griffin Museum of Photography’s annual juried exhibitions. Jennifer was awarded CENTER's Editor's Choice by Susan White of Vanity Fair in 2013 and has been exhibited across the country. She has taught workshops for Leica, International Center of Photography, Los Angeles Center of Photography, the Maine Media Workshops, and the Griffin Museum. Her work has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Vogue, GUP, The New Republic, Lenscratch, Feature Shoot, L'Oeil de la Photographie, The Photo Review, Dwell, and PDN. She also founded the Women's Photo Alliance in 2015.