The transformation of a golden sunset to the blue light of evening is both a daily occurrence and an aesthetic mystery. During this transitional time, daylight gives way to moonlight, starlight, and the artificial lighting emitted by streetlamps and advertising. Details recede into shadows as simple shapes and forms, invisible during the day, emerge into fleeting existence. With shifting light and shadow, twilight redesigns a city, town, or rural scene.
In this online workshop, participants focus on the wealth of visual opportunities offered by this transitional time. We hone our observational skills by seeing with fresh eyes the effects of changing light on forms, shapes, reflections, and shadows. At the same time, we master technical skills related to low-light photography, such as exposure times, depth of field, camera angle, and composition.
You complete weekly photographic assignments in your home, backyard, or neighborhood. Lynn Saville leads online discussions and critiques, giving participants a chance to share their work and explore questions and insights arising from these assignments. Finally, we edit our photographs to create a memorable visual journal of this mysterious time of day.
Working knowledge of digital workflow and manual mode on your digital SLR or mirrorless camera. Participants must be able to download and select images using image editing software for class sessions.
View Withdrawal and Transfer Policies for online programs.
Lynn Saville is a fine-art photographer who specializes in photographing cities and rural settings at twilight and dawn, what she calls “the boundary times between night and day.” Her photographs have been published in four monographs: Acquainted with the Night (Rizzoli), Night/Shift (Monacelli), Dark City (Damiani), and Lost New York (KGP).
Saville’s work has been widely exhibited and praised. The following favorable notice of her retrospective exhibition at the Pratt Institute Photography Gallery appeared in The New Yorker: “There’s a long, rich history of New York photographers working at night, from Berenice Abbott to Joel Meyerowitz. Saville joins their ranks with these pictures …” Arthur C. Danto compared Saville’s work to Atget’s photographs of early-morning Paris: “Saville is his New York counterpart, the Atget of vanishing New York, prowling her city at the other end of the day …” In his recent book of essays, See/Saw: Looking at Photographs, Geoff Dyer wrote of Saville’s work, “The pristine silence, the lack of motion in these very still photographs, create the sense of a world that has dropped out of time—and therefore out of the cycle of transactions.”
In her Zoom and in-person classes on twilight photography, Saville teaches observational and composition techniques, shares tips on lenses and camera settings, and helps students appreciate the shifting balance between natural and artificial light. She also conveys her sense of wonder at this mysterious time between day and night.
Website: lynnsaville.com
