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August and September 2024

from Nancy Ori and New Jersey Media Center

my candid Umesh

Dear Fellow Artists,


I have just a couple more days for anyone interested in going to see the Northern Lights with my tour to Norway in September. See info below. Let me know ASAP if you are interested.


Hope you are having a great summer so far. I am spending time getting ready for a solo show of all new images that will hang at Overlook Hospital next spring. To do a large show like this properly takes a lot of planning.


Just a heads up....looks like I will be taking folks to Ireland and Italy next year in the fall. We are working on the brochures and itineraries right now.


By the way, I am still in the need of a housekeeper if anyone can recommend someone. I have also started house sitting and dog sitting. Let me know if I can help you with this on your next outing.


I encourage you to continue to find ways of being inspired and to keep doing your art. Do what ever brings a smile to your face. A smile can change everything. Celebrate the best of what is right with our world, acknowledge it to those around you, and be safe. This is time to take stock of all the positive and truly great things and especially important people in our lives. Spread the love!


All the best,

Contact me with any questions.

Workshops make a great gift!


nance


nancyori@comcast.net

www.nancyoriworkshops.com

Give the gift of education or artwork.
Support your local artists or art organizations.

Zoom workshops with Nancy Ori



All workshops include a comprehensive handout that is yours to keep for future reference and to follow along with during the workshop. Contact me for workshop details. Payment is currently through PayPal with credit card or by snail mail with a check. You do not need to have a PayPal account to pay through them.


Private Tutoring: is ongoing with Personal Projects and Portfolio Development for photographers, critiques, and college prep applications for art students. 6 hours: $395 Makes a great Gift!

2024 Workshops


August 18           How to Write an Artist Statement & Other Documents 11-4 $150

August 25           Visual Journaling with Nancy and Heidi 10-1         $125

October 27        Using Mixed Media Techniques               11-4               $150

November 10    Seeing in Black and White                         11-4               $150

December 1     Developing Photographic Style                11-4               $150


2025 Fall:


Ireland September 7-18, 2025 County Mayo to Dingle

Italy September 19-29, 2025 Puglia


New Book Launch


Check it out. Great gift for any level photographer. In-depth discussion of all the elements involved in creating a great composition. The images are of nature but the content is about any type of photograph. Go to Amazon and check out my other book offerings:


www.amazon.com/author/nancyori

Last Call:

Norway Tour & Northern Lights

September 20-28, 2024


• Eight days with accomplished photographer and tour leader Nancy Ori.

• Tour limited to 11 passengers.

• Experience the diverse landscape of Norway.

• Jagged mountains, grand vistas, colorful fjords, and soaring eagles.

And a chance of experiencing the greatest show on earth, the Aurora Borealis, aka Northern Lights.

More Info

Editorial: What makes for a good photo or painting?


Over the years, I have juried and curated thousands of images for competitions and exhibitions. When I am looking for the winners, I'm looking for the ones with impact. I look for answers to the following questions:


·      What is the overall statement the artist is trying to make? Did it work?

·      Where is the impact and what are the weaknesses?

·      Are the technical issues handled well?

·      If there is a grouping from the same person, how do the images relate to each other and is there a style?


Tools today are quite different from our old film days, but the questions are still the same. Because our software makes things much easier does not mean it should make the process more casual. When I am choosing an image for exhibition, or jurying the awards in a group show, I think about style, image quality, what the image is saying, and is it memorable?


I thought a lot about the answers to these and other questions as I moved through my teaching career. What elements of consideration can be applied to any type of portfolio to make it more successful? What guidelines do artists need to know. Here are some thoughts:


1.    The first item is the artist’s point of view. I'm not talking about the point of view of the camera. What is it that you are saying with your image? You must be able to convey how you felt about this scene, item, or subject matter in the most comprehensive and yet concise way.

 

2.    Continuity within a portfolio can be created by the choice of subject matter or finishing technique, as well as other elements. Try to understand what your gallery person, juror or viewer is looking for. Another word for continuity might be style.

 

3.    Professionalism in art means that the work you show has a clear statement with attention to detail and finishing. All the materials should be museum quality.

 

4.    Keep it simple. You need to be able to summarize the essence of your work. The shorter the better. You will want to spend some time on this and if you are showing in a gallery, you can use this summary as the basis for your artist statement or even in a press release. Bottom line, you need to be able to talk about your work. If you cannot, who can? What is it you want the viewer to understand? Be prepared to verbalize that concept.

 

5.    I like images with a strong dominant visual element or focal point that is supported by smaller and less dominant elements within the frame. 

 

6.    Learn the Elements and Principles of Design. If you do not know what they are, I have a book waiting for you.

(https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Inspiration-Art-Principles-Photography/dp/B0CS6VT3LP/ref=sr_1_9?crid=MNT9TW2T3STG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Nb0kgZMKqjSyW0wa-8ljdoHqehVXxioa38K9vX3zX3JK2pKElBUyAyM4GiVq0CKYHPiAPr3DtoAvHWPXiNWEZxM0S6_fDTlSD51NpxytrB3Yrs6A3J9TOxgicAJpMoUZLNWL09GqCQUDlBeeNqbiyw.dcrlEhkbBsMtCnFpHy1hI0L4KPXYefbbkD_l5enyaBg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Nancy+Ori&qid=1705182031&s=books&sprefix=nancy+ori%2Cstripbooks%2C87&sr=1-9)

 

7.    What is your approach? My approach is the same for for all my shoots. I do research first, but certainly observation, listening, interpreting, and controlling what I can at time of capture and in post.

 

8.    Post Processing. The digital darkroom is capable of being a visual research lab, a place for discovery, observation, interpretation, and true learning. Cleaning up and enhancing the image makes for better communication.

 

  

We live in an amazing time of technology relating to all arts. The cameras today are truly remarkable in how they do so much to help us get a great photograph. What the camera cannot do for us is interpret the full impact of our emotion at that moment as well as create something that can communicate with emotion. To do that we need to invest our time to think about what is going on in front of us and what we want to say about the situation.


The story with AI is going to bring with it a whole host of new challenges. There is now no camera, or art materials. You will need to become a wordsmith in order to create the right prompts to garner the idea that you are looking for. Through the process of creation, however, you will still want to go back to our original questions to be sure that you are creating good communication.

The story with AI is going to bring with it a whole host of new challenges. There is now no camera. You will need to become a wordsmith in order to create the right prompts to garner the image idea that you are looking for and then be able to fine tune it. Through the process of creation, however, you will still want to go back to our original questions to be sure that you are creating good communication.A direct and compelling headline

AI Newsletter


If you want to get on board with AI and follow someone you can trust, you will want to subscribe to the newsletter that Umesh and I are putting out this year. You already received a free one. The rest is up to you to see how you can use it with your art or just keep up with what is happening.


The AI Newsletter is a great way to start slowly and build on the info the same way we did when digital first appeared. We will definitely do the workshop again so stay tuned. Things are changing every day. Contact me if you are interested in getting the newsletter or signing up for a workshop. $59 annual fee for the newsletter. nancyori@comcast.net

image by Umesh

"You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” ~Ansel Adams