New Year Photo Workshops in Devon

If you get a new camera or a smart phone for Christmas be sure to check out my workshops designed to give you confidence with your camera settings and helping you to make the pictures you've always wanted to. Make this your New Years Resolution 2016

Digital Camera Skills - 10am-5pm £50
A practical days workshop learning to gain control over your camera, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, flash etc, setting it up for optimum quality under any given lighting, and making better pictures through composition. Numbers limited to a hand-full. I also offer it on a 1:1 basis for ½ a day for £75
Course Description pdf
Saturday 9th January in Bideford Click to Book
Thursday 14th January in Ilfracombe Click to Book
Thursday 21st January in Barnstaple Click to Book

Half Day Intro to digital photography - £25
A 'sit around the table' workshop to get to know your camera better. You'll learn about shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, flash and setting your camera up for optimum quality.
Course Description pdf
*Monday 4th January in Bideford, (9.30am-12.30pm) Click to Book *Back to Work Half Price Special only £12.50
Thursday 28th January in Combe Martin, (10am-1pm) Click to Book

iPhoneography Workshop - £25
A practical workshop to learn how to use your iPhone's camera to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. Suitable for anyone with an iPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
Sunday 17th January in Bideford (1pm-4pm) Click to Book
Monday 11th January in Barnstaple (5pm-8pm) Click to Book

SmartPhone Photography - £25
A practical workshop to learn how to use your Smartphone's camera (Android, Windows or Apple) to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. Suitable for anyone with a SmartPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
TBA Click to show your interest

Painting With Light (Light Graffiti) - £25 per photographer (but please bring a torch swinging friend at no extra cost)
or £30 per family (one adult plus up to 2 children under 16) An evening workshop celebrating the dark nights of the Winter. You'll learn how to make 'long exposure' photographs using coloured lights, flames, sparklers and hand-held flash
Friday 22nd at Westward Ho! (4pm-7pm) Click to Book

Sea Caves, Shipwrecks and the Rocky Shore (10am - 5pm) - £50
An introduction to Dave Green's own photography. Spend a day with Dave experiencing the secret coast, hidden at the far ends of a sandy beach, full of caves and shipwrecks. Learn how to make the best of your own camera under demanding landscape and lighting.
Course Description pdf
Sunday 24th January in Bude (10am-5pm) Click to Book

Photographing your own Artwork - £60 with lunch, tea and coffee provided!
I have a wealth of knowledge and experience of photographing 2D artwork, jewellery and ceramics and I'm willing to pass this on to artists eager to improve their own image making camera skills. Although this workshop is for a small group (max 4) I also offer it on a 1:1 basis for ½ a day for £75, or I can deliver the workshop in your own home or studio anywhere in Devon for £125
Course Description pdf
Saturday 16th January in Bideford, (10am-5pm) Click to Book

Introduction to Photoshop and Lightroom - £70 with lunch, tea and coffee provided!
Opening an image file and adjusting levels, contrast, brightness and colour balance. Rotating, resizing and cropping an image. Placing an image or images into a new file. Using layers and history. Participants will need to be computer literate i.e. use a computer on regular basis and understand the basic controls. Small group (max 4). I also offer it on a 1:1 basis in your own home or studio anywhere in Devon for £175
Sunday 10th January in Bideford, (10am-5pm) Click to Book

Workshop gift vouchers are always available for that special present for those people with new cameras so that they'll get to know them better!
Buy a £25 gift certificate
Buy a £50 gift certificate

Public Art pt4 - Realisation

My original intention was to have a completed piece of Public Art on McColl's window for the beginning of August, the start of the 2 month long Culture Show.

Unfortunately the project was marred by delays. Firstly the relationship with Bidford youth club needed more time to develop and so next week was given here, then, the time needed to install the public art was far greater than originally anticipated. I had naively imagined that a couple of days work outside on the space would have got everything finished, sealed and looking good. A day was booked in the Arts Centre in early August with the intention of laying out all the images in their respective window frames end then installing them in place. I decided to use Scotch Photomount spray glue to stick the 3x4" prints in place, despite its high price, because it allowed for a little repositioning but was a permanent glue, and it was tried and tested by me in the past. A couple of volunteers, who had participated on BBC workshops in the past, Stuart and Shirley Stickler helped with this process. However after a whole days work only half of one panel was complete and this needed to be varnished straightaway to protected from the weather.

The weather was another important factor in the delay of installing the artwork. August 2015 proved to be very wet in Southwest England. It was rare for a day to go by without a shower of rain. This rain played havoc with my outdoor work which needed extremely dry conditions until it became protected from the rain. Confounding this situation with wetness, when it wasn't raining it was often very sunny, the sun shining directly onto the windows and making them very hot indeed. The black-and-white A4 card that had been pasted onto the window has shrunk slightly around the edges. Some of them had also started to peel from at the edges from the flat surface, and I needed to add stronger glue to hold them in place.

Another issue, which caused delay, was the varnish. I had spent a lot of time researching varnish, needing something that would give UV protection and protect the work from the rain outdoors. The yacht varnish that I bought was supposed to be clear, but when applied and dried it gave a yellow skin to the work making the images seem faded, like an old photograph. My experience of using varnish indoors on similar work in the past had been very very successful. The varnish from my previous experience had completely sealed the photographs, like a lacquer or resin might have done. I decided to remove the worst offenders of the yellowed pictures and replace them with new ones. I also ordered a clear spray on varnish that seemed to have very good reviews on the Internet being designed specifically for artwork. However this spray on varnish didn't seal the images as I had hoped and I found that with bright warm direct sunshine often the corners of individual pictures curled upwards.
 

My cycle of work was that every time there was to be a dry day I would spend the whole day working on the panels. Gluing down any corners that may have curled up, spraying pictures in place and then, by the end of the day stopping only for lack of sunshine, I sprayed the whole lot with clear varnish to seal.

As the artwork started to evolve in the very public space I would often and sometimes continually get members of the public coming up and asking what it was, or commenting on how they liked it, or questioning what it was for? This was a thrilling, but unexpected part of making art work in the public realm. A part of making public art which I recognise as very important but had not factored in the time needed to talk to people who were interested in what I was doing. Having the public's enthusiasm for what I was doing made the arts practice very rewarding. I was fascinated by the fact that so many people came over looking at the work but could only see small pictures on the window some on their side, some upside down, but they could not see the big picture. It was only when they walked away, viewing it from a distance, that they saw it as a photo mosaic of Bideford Longbridge. When questioned what the image was supposed to be I would often show them how it looked through the wide angle lens of my iPhone and they would instantly see the bridge.

Once all three panels were complete I waited for a very dry day when I knew that everything was absolutely bone dry and then sealed the whole lot under clear sticky back plastic. The clear plastic film was then trimmed all the way around the edge and sealed with exterior white sealant.

The completed Photomosaic on Jubilee Square in Bideford.

I'm not offering any workshops in December but will add a new series in 2016. Meanwhile gift vouchers are always available for that special present for those people with new cameras so that they'll get to know them better!
Buy a £25 gift certificate
Buy a £50 gift certificate

Exhibition at Sock Gallery 29th October - 5th December 2015

Over the last 25 years I’ve exhibited my work all over England, and also a few places in the USA, but never in my home town of Loughborough. Encouraged by my parents, who still live in the family home, I approached the Sock Gallery in Loughborough Town Hall over 18 months ago and was fortunate to be given this slot in their calendar. I have fond memories of Loughborough Town Hall having seen Def Leppard play here in 1979.

The gallery here is a wonderful place to show work; clean, light, well lit and well looked after. They even added vases of flowers which seemed to compliment the colours in the work! The 3 day exhibition turnaround is impressive; one day for the old show to be taken down, the next for filling and painting of holes, the third for hanging of the show. As an artist I was also impressed with the efficiency of the Sock gallery staff; communication was very good and Excel worksheet which self-generated picture labels and a sales sheet was well thought out.  

To complement this exhibition I'm independently offering a series of workshops around the weekend of Loughborough Fair from Town Centre venues.

13th Nov (4.30pm-7pm) ‘Painting with Light’ 
Gain the skills and confidence to photograph the dark nights of Winter and the bright moving lights of the fair - £25 per photographer (please bring a torch swinging friend at no extra cost) or £30 per family.

14th Nov (10am-5pm) ‘Digital Camera Skills’

A practical days workshop learning to gain control over your camera, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, flash etc, setting it up for optimum quality under any given lighting, and making better pictures through composition. Includes a tour of Dave’s exhibition. £50 limited to small group.

15th Nov (10am-1pm) ‘iPhoneography’

Learn how to use your iPhone's camera to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. £25 limited to small group.

Booking in advance is essential for these workshops contact Dave for further information and booking on:
www.greengallery.co.uk 
workshops@greengallery.co.uk