I recently took two awesome courses taught by the amazingly talented Anni Graham. If any photographers see this blog, I highly recommend the courses Immersed Education has to offer! It is an excellent investment.

Composition

The first course focused on composition. In this course Anni addresses the different “rules” which have become overlooked in the digital age.  Now, I have a BFA from a pretty prestigious photography school. I thought there was little I could learn that I didn’t already know. Composition was drilled into my head at school.  it is after-all the foundation of visual art. I was wrong. Anni does an exceptional job of breaking down all the different aspects of composition.  She helps you take an in depth look and uses examples of what a huge difference a tiny change can make in your work. I’m not sure I can ever look at photographs the same again.

Storytelling

The storytelling course is about “Learning how to cultivate the art of authentic storytelling”. In this course Anni encourages photographers to ditch the posing and prompting and focus on being intentional with photography. This is far scarier and out of my comfort zone. Directing couples is something I heavily rely on. Prompting lends itself to really cute fun photos and look candid, but are these moments real? It’s up for debate. There is something so beautiful about photos which are not created. The moments a couple doesn’t think you are watching them or something spontaneous, like a rain-shower, occurs.

Putting it into practice

After watching these courses I did a giveaway to find couples willing to let me experiment with my new found knowledge. A couple weeks ago I photographed my first couples session keeping everything I had learned in mind. I was intentional, there was no posing or prompting by me, I focused on composition- and I let my couple do whatever they wanted. I am in love with the results. What do you think?

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