Reframing Reality: The Art of Seeing Differently, with Deborah Loeb Bohren
 
Watch highlights:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/yld3cKHrCJI
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSwE9S1r_0
 
£12 — two-part workshop series, watch on demand
 
Two sessions with abstract photographer Deborah Loeb Bohren on how to see beyond the literal, and start making images that capture the essence of a subject rather than a straight record of it.
Description
 
Abstract photography is not about creating another reality. It is about seeing reality differently.
In this two-part series, Deborah Loeb Bohren shares both the personal and the practical: how she moved from traditional, representational work into abstraction over a lifetime behind the camera, and the art and science that sit behind a successful abstract image. Deb grew up in a family of photographers and has been in a darkroom since she was five, so this comes from decades of looking, and then learning to really see.
 
Whether you already work with intentional camera movement and multiple exposure, or you are simply curious about where all this comes from, there is a great deal here to think about and take out with your own camera.
 
Two hours of video across two sessions, yours to watch on demand.
 
About Deborah Loeb Bohren
Deb is an abstract photographer with photography in her blood. She is the daughter of two photographers, her mother a street photographer and photojournalist who won her first photo contest back in 1938, and her father a commercial photographer, and she has been in a darkroom since she was five years old.
 
She started out in photojournalism as a teenager, worked in a photography studio through college, and spent years in traditional, representational work, from travel and editorial photography to writing and shooting for an online travel magazine. After a career in corporate communications, she left the corporate world in 2011 to make photography her full-time life, and it was then that her move towards abstraction really began.
 
Since then she has studied with photographers including Andre Gallant, Freeman Patterson and Richard Martin, and today she runs creative travel workshops around the world, including with British photographer Jonathan Vanes. A fast-talking New Yorker, Deb brings decades of looking, and then learning to really see, to everything she teaches.
 
What is covered
 
Session one: A Journey from Reality to Abstraction
Deb tells the story of how she got here, and it is full of practical lessons along the way:
Her roots in traditional, representational photography, from photojournalism to travel and editorial work
The creative catalysts that moved her towards abstraction: boredom and repetition, workshops, a new camera, and the time that COVID gave her
Learning intentional camera movement (ICM) and multiple exposure with Andre Gallant, Freeman Patterson and Richard Martin
Capturing the essence of the whole by photographing just a part of it, from Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo to doors, windows and peeling paint
Seeing shapes, colour, line and pattern where others see the obvious subject
Working with white balance on multiple exposures, building images into panels and combinations, and why paper choice matters so much when you print
 
Session two: The Art and Science of Seeing Differently
Deb turns to the thinking behind the images, the art and the science of abstraction:
What abstract and abstract art actually mean, and the different styles of abstraction
Learning from the great painters, Turner, Kandinsky, Rothko, Frankenthaler, Delaunay and more, to train your own creative eye
A short history of abstract photography, from Stieglitz and Paul Strand to Man Ray, Weston, Siskind and Callahan
John Suler's acid test: if you look at a photograph and a voice inside asks "what is it?", you have an abstract
The science of perception, and how our brains make sense out of visual chaos
Composition that makes an abstract work: diagonals, triangles, colour relationships and the use of white
 
What people said, live
The community who joined for these sessions live said it best:
"This was a revelation, not just Deb's technique but her journey to abstraction. I loved it and feel inspired." — Clare
"A brilliant session, full of information and inspiration. Thanks so much, Deb." — Gina
"What an inspiring evening. Thank you both, it's been great." — Maria
"Thank you so much! My brain is full of ideas!" — Brenda
"This totally speaks to me as a graphic designer and photographer!" — Sharon
"Great presentation, very inspiring. I'm sure I'll see the world differently having listened." — Wendy
"I have never felt so involved with a presentation." — Clive
"Superb. I love the freedom you have given us to just go out and experiment and follow your heart." — Esther
"Stunned and amazed, glorious." — Maria
"You are speaking directly to my heart's desires. Thank you ever so much!" — Nancy
 
Who it is for
Anyone who wants to move beyond the literal and make more creative, expressive images, whether you are new to abstraction or already experimenting with ICM and multiple exposure.
Format
Two recorded sessions, two hours in total, to watch on demand at your own pace.
£12