Upcoming Workshops & A Belated Mother's Day Tribute
Join Me This Summer in Maine and This Fall in L.A.
Remembering My Mom, Carol L. Tuschman, (1930-2020)
In My Childhood Reassembled, the depiction of my childhood mom was of course actually from my perspective as an adult looking back—I saw her as a beautiful young woman, dutifully and unfailingly fulfilling her roles as wife and mother, while at the same time being painfully depressed and emotionally detached. To me, she was a clearly a victim of the times in which she lived. She was a bright, passionate, and creative woman, yet was unable to find a satisfactory outlet for those parts of herself.
My father died tragically young at age fifty-six from a heart attack. Sadly, it was only after his death that my mother truly began to blossom as a person. She started taking classes, she became politically engaged, she traveled, and most significantly, she started painting. I like to think this transformation was not entirely dependent on my father’s demise, but who knows? My parents’ marriage was always a mystery to me, and my siblings and I have sometimes speculated on whether or not they would have stayed together had my dad lived. But regardless, my mother did blossom, and it is her remarkable paintings that I want to celebrate.
My mom was in her sixties when she began taking painting classes at the local art center near her house. I don’t exactly remember when she began her series of self-portraits, but while the other students were trying their best to timidly render picturesque landscapes and still lifes, my mother was clearly marching to the beat of her own drummer. She painted well over a hundred self-portraits, mostly in opaque watercolor. Below are some of my favorites. She never developed “traditional” skills, and never had any professional ambition to sell her works or exhibit beyond the occasional student show. Yet she had the courage to go her own way and continued to dig deeper into the creative well. And as such she serves as an admirable role model for anyone seeking to develop a meaningful creative practice. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom, we miss you.
JOIN US IN LOS ANGELES IN NOVEMBER—
Early Bird Discount Through June 5
Studio Lighting and Photomontage
Los Angeles Center of Photography
November 8-10, 2024
Three session in-person intensive workshop
Click here for info and to register
The first two days will be spent photographing models in the studio with strobe lighting. We will explore the fundamentals of how light reveals form, and thus creates mood. We learn how to create both hard and soft light using various modifiers and techniques, taking into account shape, direction, and distance. We will pay special attention to accurately matching the light in pre-existing images.
Day three will be spent working in Photoshop, where we will integrate our photographs of the models into our own background images. We will learn techniques for selection and masking, while properly integrating aspects such as color, luminance, point of view, depth of field, and grain with the underlying image.
Unleash your imagination as you merge multiple images seamlessly, creating stunning photo montages that tell stories and evoke emotion. From basic principles to sophisticated strategies, this course equips you with the skills to illuminate your photography with brilliance and finesse.
IN PERSON WORKSHOPS AT MAINE MEDIA COLLEGE IN AUGUST
Two workshops back-to-back—come for one or both!
Join us August 5–9 in beautiful Rockport, Maine for this hands-on in person workshop. We will work both in the studio and on location, individually and in teams, to explore how to shape the light and stage models to create stories with real emotional resonance. I guarantee we will have a blast! Click here for more info and to register.
Join us in Rockport, Maine from August 12-16, and learn to take creative control in Photoshop. We'll cover everything from complex masking and compositing to retouching and color-grading, and we’ll look at Photoshop’s newest AI tools as well. Click here for more info and to register.
your writing is as moving as your art. thank you for sharing the beautiful tribute to your mother and her self portraits.
Beautiful commemoration of your mother🌻