ONLINE COURSE
Seeing in Black and White for Digital Photographers
Have you experimented with shooting in black and white but were not quite happy with the results? Do you love the depiction of the world in black and white photographs and want to harness that abstracted quality in your own work? In this class, students will learn to make monochromatic photographs of depth and clarity that rival the masterpieces produced in a darkroom. We go beyond thinking of black and white as a digital filter, and explore how an image’s tonal range, balance, and contrast, affects the mood, emotion, and meaning of the picture. Additionally, students are exposed to the powerful tools available in Adobe Lightroom Classic to make purposeful conversions to black and white—superior to the flat desaturated images that are produced by default. Through weekly tutorials, assignments, shooting exercises, lectures, and instructor feedback, students will improve their visualization skills and gain confidence in a black and white digital workflow.
Kai McBride is a photographer, musician, teacher, and avid cyclist who recently uprooted from Brooklyn to sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico. He spent the last ten years teaching photography and managing the photo facilities at Columbia University, his alma mater, where he received an MFA in 2008.
Born on the island of Kauai in 1972, by his 18th birthday Kai had lived in California, Oregon, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Texas, Oahu, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. He sharpened his powers of observation while adjusting to life between suburban ranch-style homes, cabins with no running water, and a 20-foot teepee in the field of a commune.
His photographs have been exhibited in museum and gallery exhibitions, and are held in public and private collections. His first monograph, About Face: Picturing Tampa, was published by SPQR Editions in Fall 2016.
Kai teaches black and white photography, photobooks, and more for StrudelmediaLive.
kaimcbride.com
