Workshop: The Intimate Portrait with Harvey Stein – 6 sessions – Online

Featured image:©Harvey Stein 2015

This workshop considers the emotional and psychological underpinnings of making portraits as well as addressing the technical aspects necessary to achieve strongly felt, interpretive and meaningful images.  The emphasis will be to work close to/with the subject, to develop a rapport, and to establish a collaboration that results in spontaneous and inventive portraits. This approach will be taught for subjects we know well in addition to strangers.

In photographing another person, there usually is the dilemma between the subject’s need to look “good” versus the photographer’s desire to express him/herself creatively and freely.  These differing agendas should be acknowledged and considered.  The photographer’s intentions and motivations balanced against the subject’s need to be well represented will be explored with the aim of helping each participant to think more deeply about the obligations and responsibilities of making intimate and personal portraits.

Various elements of portraiture will be investigated, such as environment, gesture, pose, facial expression, props, lighting (natural and artificial) use of space within the frame, and the relationship between subject and photographer. Shooting considerations to be examined include composition, camera angles, selective focus, frame lines, cropping, distance from the subject, and use of motion. Through discussions, showing of images, class shooting assignments and critiques, each participant will gain confidence and develop a sound basis for making successful portraits.

Instructor: Harvey Stein

Harvey Stein

HARVEY STEIN is a long-time faculty member at the International Center of Photography who has also taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Drew University, and in the graduate digital program at the School of Visual Arts among several other universities. He frequently leads workshops in the U.S. and worldwide. He was the Director of Photography for 10 years at the Umbrella Arts Gallery in Manhattan and has curated 68 exhibits since 2007. Stein has had 89 solo exhibits and has participated in over 175 group shows. He has had nine books published, among them Parallels: A Look at Twins (1978); Artists Observed (1986); Coney Island (1998); Coney Island 40 Years (2011); Harlem Street Portraits (2013); Mexico Between Life and Death (2018) and Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979 (2020). Stein’s photographs are in over 58 public collections; his work is represented by the Sous Les Etoiles gallery in New York City.  His images can be seen on his web site, www.harveysteinphoto.com and on Instagram @stein.harvey as well as Facebook.

Featured Image: ©Harvey Stein 2015