“The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Now is the time, above all others to find ways to connect with the people we are closest to. Using the power of photography is one important way to do this, but how do we connect with people and make powerful and intimate portraits when we are isolated, maintaining a 6-foot separation, wearing masks, and mostly disconnected from the outside world?

In this new online workshop with portrait photographer and teacher Rania Matar, we think outside the box, but also simultaneously we look inward. We learn to seek the beauty in the intimate, personal, and familiar moments of daily life. We challenge ourselves to make portraits within the confinement of home, and we discuss how to photograph people intimately despite separations and masks. We consider how we can each find a way to tell our personal story and make poignant portraits of that unique moment in history that we are all experiencing differently. We review all the elements of what makes a good portrait and explore the process of creatively working with people.

We discover new ways to pay attention to detail, postures, expressions, and the use of the personal environment, while working through the process and all the details of creating a great portrait. We learn to use framing, light, location, background, body language, the significance of the gaze, as well paying close attention to the relationship of the photographer to the subject throughout the entire process.

Over the course of our time together, we explore and discover the many different aspects of portraiture — close-up portraits, environmental portraits, documentary portraits, collaborative portraits, self-portraits, group portraits, and conceptual portraits. We also review the images of.

Weekly assignments encourage students to truly and intimately see their subject and find their own voice in this creative process of making beautiful, powerful portraits. Rania leads group image reviews of this new work and also shares the work of well-known artists for ideas and inspiration.

This timely three-week workshop with Rania offers community, connection, and reveals important new ways of creating intimate portraits of the people we share our lives with.