| The Open-Eyed Portrait (Online)

Discover how to capture expressive portraits with Sean Kernan. Explore photographic techniques in light, composition, presence and fostering a wordless connection between photographer and subject.

Note: This workshop will be held in a live, online format utilizing the Zoom platform.
Class meets Sep 4, 10, 13, 17 & 20 from 10am-12pm ET.

The best portrait is one that surprises us. We don’t know just how we did it, and the effect is profound — the heart, there in the face. It feels as though we’d leaned in to whisper something and found we suddenly couldn’t speak. There we’d be, drowning in their face while they looked back into a circle of dark glass. It is beautiful and frightening, both at once.

Watch instructor Sean Kernan introduce his work to students.

That’s what we are after in this workshop, a wordless connection to another being made into an image. It is about that person, and also about both of us in that moment. We don’t think our way to it, but we know it is there somewhere between us, and in that state we make photographs.

In class, we’ll look at dozens of examples of the best portraits to see what we respond to in them. And we’ll dive deeply into the elements of light, composition, place, and presence. But the most important work takes place when we are off with our subjects.

The portrait, the picture that is about someone else, involves so many aspects of photography—presence, vision, imagination, light, and composition. Every photographer should do a deep dive into it at least once.

And what really matters most is what you do with all of it afterward. The class is just the beginning.