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Guest Speaker – Polina Fedorova –
"Photography— Understanding the Big Picture"
(October 17, 2016)

POLINA FEDOROVA

​Biography:
 
Polina Fedorova was born is St. Petersburg, Russia. She is the founder and director of The Photo School which offers numerous courses for photographers from beginners to advanced levels. She also offers workshops here and abroad, notably in Russia. Polina has been teaching photography since she arrived in Montreal in 2006.
 
After pursuing studies in Art and Education in St.Petersburg, Polina completed further studies in the 1990s for Modern Art Curators. She subsequently worked as an exhibition manager and as a photo editor for Russian magazines such as Afisha and BG.

Polina has also worked as a professional photographer for magazines such as Elle, Vogue, and Vanity Fair.

​​What are you thinking  about when you pick up a camera and shoot an image? What is your goal and what must you consider to achieve it? The way I see it ,there are two main types of photography.

In the first type, the photographer purposely creates the image by making a series of decisions about the setting, the lighting, props, etc.   If the image also involves a person or people, the photographer works as a team with the subjects, constantly communicating with them about the pose, what they are feeling, etc.

In the second type, with or without people, the photographer composes the image but with no contact, no manipulation of   the subject matter, no interaction with what Is being photographed.
 
Whether portrait, fashion, wedding, still life, nature, or landscape photography – each can be type 1 or type 2.
 
Each type communicates a message and tells a story.  Each comes with different rules or guidelines. Each applies to  either a single image or a photo essay/slideshow of several images. It’s important for photographers to understand which type they’re engaging in and why, and what their concerns should be for creating good images in each type.
 
In this presentation, I will explain and illustrate the differences between each type using my own work and that of other photographers from around the world.