Learn how to use your camera to its fullest potential!

This three-session workshop is targeted to beginners/advanced beginners who have acquired a digital SLR camera but are hesitant to leave automatic settings, even though the photos they have in mind to take would greatly benefit from full manual control over focus, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Class meets over Zoom Tuesday evening, Saturday morning and the following Tuesday evening. In between meetings, practice new techniques, and then return to Maria and the group with questions and photos to discuss.

You will receive instruction on how to understand the feedback your camera provides and how to use that to adjust settings manually to get the photos you want. We’ll talk about the mechanics of your camera and about taking advantage of available light. There will be plenty of practice to help you gain the confidence to continue to learn from your camera and improve your photos beyond the bounds of this workshop.

Any camera that can set on full manual control over focus, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed is acceptable for this class. One camera can be shared by no more than two people. When you register, Maria will contact you to talk through details associated with your particular camera.

Maria French: About Me

I’m an American who has been home in Vermont, France, Maine, Cameroon, Eritrea, Italy, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Guinea,Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Georgia (USA), California, and Qatar over the past four decades. I’ve always explored the world on foot and through the lens of my camera, but this process became more intensive in my desert home. In the three years before moving back to the USA in 2016, I walked many miles of Doha, falling in love, against all expectations, with the lines and the light and the creatures that manage to survive the heat. Upon returning to Vermont, I’m continuing to look for and share beauty whenever I come across it, most often on the street, farm, and trail. With a camera I can delight in moments I never even saw- a fairy crown from a drop of water, the light through a bird’s outstretched wing. My work continues to travel internationally, as prints in many homes, on notecards, and recently in shows in Vermont and Dubai. My latest project is designing and leading workshops that will provide beginning photographers with an understanding of light and the manual controls of their cameras, so they can continue to learn and create on their own.

Maria’s website: 2eyeswalking.com (Bio photo ©Carla Cioffi, see her work at carlacioffi.com)

To register by email or phone please contact Erin Kaufman at ekaufman@svac.org or 802-367-1306.