Escaping the Cold with Total Immersion Photography
Its that time of the year when a good percentage of the country is starting to experience serious cold weather—not the biggest problem for me, living in Santa Monica, CA, but it is still good to get away to the warm climate of Palm Beach Florida for the Fotofusion photography festival. I always teach a couple of workshops and present some seminars but mostly its a chance for me to see old friends and share with a great group of photo peers.
The portfolio review sessions at Fotofusion are one of the features of the event.
One of the most valuable features of the festival is the access to expert advice in the form of portfolio review sessions. Attendees can arrange appointments with a wide range of photographers, publishers, web design & marketing experts for a 15 minute session. This is incredibly valuable and the fastest way for anyone to make progress in their work. I did some reviews on Wednesday and I’m getting ready to do another session about an hour from now (Friday) – I highly recommend a portfolio review session for everyone, even accomplished photographers can benefit from another viewpoint of their work.
Of course, everyone comes to the festival for the workshops and computer labs. One of the perks for me is to attend any workshop I want that doesn’t conflict with something I’m teaching. This year I’ve already attended a workshop led by Danne Farris where I got to wander around in the Ann Norton Sculpture garden, a wonderfully rich environment for photographic discovery.
Many photo opportunities await discovery in the house and studio of Ann Norton.
Starting with the house, which is now set up as a museum open to the public, there are many wonderful photo opportunities waiting to be discovered. Once you enter the garden the visual party really gets started; there are great sights around every corner of the extensive garden grounds that are designed to showcase the many epic sculptures by Ann Norton.
The massive rock sculptures are surrounded by lush vegetation.
Massive brick constructions are another sculptural style featured in the garden.
Although the sculptures were the main excuse for having a garden in the first place, the plants are not just supporting actors but stars of the show as well. The garden was designed in the last two years of Ann’s life and has grown into a wonderful lush display of exotic organic art.
Flowers in winter - this succulent has no regard for the season.
I was in a details and closeup mood during my time in the gardens so I don’t have any vistas to show you but there were many beautiful settings to explore in the expansive gardens. I uploaded a small sampling of images from this workshop in a Flickr set here.
I have one more day at the festival so stay tuned for more when I get back home!
