Being Maggie Taylor

Being Maggie Taylor is the story of an artist. A childhood spent watching countless hours of situation comedies and science fiction on television. A life now lived at the edge of a sun-drenched prairie populated by cows, alligators and birds. A life devoted to rummaging through the eclipsed and discarded history of faded postcards, Victorian portraits, and flea-market albums. Being Maggie Taylor is the compelling story of a photographic artist who will inspire you with her creative ways and fascinate you with her brilliant technique.

Where to begin? In the first session Maggie shares her inspirations and source materials, revealing how the gleam of an image unfolds and begins to take shape. Peek into her closet of curiosities and learn how Maggie imports her subjects from the real world into Adobe Photoshop using both a scanner and a camera. Combining nineteenth-century photographs, antique toys, and colorful drawings, Maggie shares the initial steps she takes when embarking on a new creation.

The very messy middle. The development of a layered image is the focus of the middle day. Maggie shows examples of how her images morph over a period of weeks in strange and unexpected ways. She opens Photoshop to demonstrate a few of her favorite blending techniques, tips on non-destructive editing, and thoughts on shadows, shading, color, and light.

Eventually you will be done. For Maggie, working in Photoshop is a process of building an image up to a point, and then paring it down. Keeping an open mind and being prepared for accidental discoveries often leads to fortuitous and unanticipated results. Staying organized, reviewing the trajectory of the image, and checking the smallest details with care eventually leads to making a test print. Now join Maggie in her printing studio as she examines a test print, makes decisions about changes, and decides when to be satisfied with a finished print.

Join Maggie as she shares what she knows to be true and what she leaves to the magic of her creative process.

A 10 to 15 minute Question and Answer session follows each daily presentation. Questions from the participants will be reviewed and a few selected during this informal wrap-up conversation.