Workshop: On Landscape Photography with Dr Les Walkling

Les Walkling spent ten months in the preparation, restoration, editing and exhibition printing of over 200 of Peter Dombrovskis images for the National Library of Australia’s Peter Dombrovskis exhibition and accompanying publication The Photography of Peter Dombrovskis: Journeys into the Wild.

Unique workshop highlights will include: the preparation, editing, publication, and printing of Peter’s work along with a detailed analysis of Peter’s camera craft, equipment, workflow, and photographic techniques. Various interpretations from the representational to the picturesque will also be considered, including mythical landscapes, poetic landscapes, politicised landscapes, and manufactured or altered landscapes.

Specific workshop topics include:

The Art of Peter Dombrovskis:
• Seeing the light – feeling the moment
• Photographing beliefs and commitments
• Antecedence: The rise and domination of Modernism
• Peter Dombrovskis and environmental justice
• Land Matters – Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity
• Landscape into art – landscape and experience, landscapes of memory
Peter Dombrovskis and the NLA:
• The Peter Dombrovskis NLA Archive
• Journeys into the Wild – the book
• Journeys into the Wild – the exhibition
• Publication concept and design
• Exhibition strategy and design
• Collaboration, production, and pre press
Working in the Field:
• Lens selection and perspective control
• Tripods and stability – ball heads vs geared heads
• Measuring and evaluating light and dynamic range
• Setting up a pano-head and capturing multiple images
• Focus stacking – controlling depth of field
• Exposure stacking – controlling dynamic range
Processing and Editing:
• Backing up, cataloguing and processing in the field
• Increasing presence, depth and dimensionality
• Luminosity selections, highlight bump masks, shadow luminosity masks
• Processing focus, exposure, and panorama stacks
• Compositing images and how to drop-in skies
• Pre Press – file preparation and separation for publication
Exhibition Printing and Presentation:
• Fine art paper selection – matte/lustre, warm/cool, smooth/textured
• Printer and monitor colour management – the essentials
• Soft proofing vs hard proofing
• Print scale and aspect ratios
• Adapting images for matte surfaced papers
• Print lighting, viewing and evaluation