EXPERIENCE THE DRAMATIC ATLANTIC COASTLINE OF RHODE ISLAND

The Art of Landscape Photography Workshop
October 28-30, 2016

Instructors: Ronald Wilson & Bob Bergeron
Newport/Jamestown, RI
$325 CCAA Members/$375 Non-Members

FRIDAY OCTOBER 28

Eight photographers arrived at the Mainstay Hotel (1) on Friday at 5:00pm for the start of the three-day photography workshop with Bob Bergeron and Ronald Wilson. The “Art of Landscape Photography” presentation covered the aesthetics of seeing and the functions of the technical aspects of photography.

 

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29

We met at 6:15 in the lobby ready to begin the morning field session. Our first stop was Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge (2), a 242-acre rocky peninsula in Middletown.

After a 10-minute walk from the parking lot we arrived at Island Rocks along the Flint Point loop trail. 

The sky was quickly brightening to a warm intensity and floating above the horizon was a group of small cumulous clouds creating a rhythm that moved from right to left.

^{Debra Rinaldi}

The rocks that moments earlier were nothing more than silhouettes were now catching the light revealing their texture and form.  


^{Bob Bergeron}

<sup>Andrew Novick

Debra Rinaldi</sup>

Purgatory Chasm (3) is a glacial cleft 10' wide 50' deep with sweeping views of Second Beach. The chasm is crossed by a footbridge that gives a view into its depth.

 

^{Diane Collins}

 

^{Lisa Haenelt}

^{Andrew Novick}

Purgatory Chasm is where we gathered for a group photo.

Then it was time for coffee and carbs. We refueled at The Hungry Monkey (4) in Newport before returning to the classroom at the Mainstay Hotel to review the efforts of the morning field session.
 

Watson Farm (5) is a Historic New England property consisting of 265 acres of fields, pastures, woodlands and a 1796 farmhouse.

The Watson family worked the farm for over 200 years and it continues to operate as a working farm today. Resident manager, Don Minto, graciously invited us to wander the property. Stepping back from the coast and stepping back in time, the mood of this site was further enhanced by the overcast sky with a decided feel of November.

^{Lan Gao}

It was not difficult to imagine ourselves back in the 1800's as each of us sought images in the dry, stone walls edged with Hosta shrubs still flowering, a barn filled with memorabilia and a 1951 Chevrolet.
 

^{Lan Gao}

 

^{Bob Bergeron}

 

^{Bob Bergeron}

 

^{Ed Poteet}

Brenton Point State Park (6), where Narragansett Bay meets the Atlantic, is a windswept coastline of large flat rocks. A landscape that doesn't lack for drama. We found shelter in a small cove at Kings Beach (7).

^{Lan Gao}

 

^{Diane Collins}

SUNDAY OCTOBER 30

At 6:25 on Sunday morning the temperature was a very comfortable 59 degrees and the wind had settled down considerably from the evening before.

We arrived at Beavertail Point State Park (8), site of the first lighthouse in Rhode Island, in the pre-dawn.

 

^{Andrew Novick}

 

^{Lan Gao}

The unrelenting pounding of waves over the rocky headland created a dramatic contrast between the weight and mass of the rocks and the constant motion of water crashing around them.


^{Diane Collins}

 

^{Ed Poteet}

Fort Wetherill State Park (9), a former coastal defense battery and training camp, features 100' high rocky bluffs overlooking sheltered coves and cobble stone beaches. This area is a major site for scuba diving and on this morning divers outnumbered photographers.

Our final stop was the graffiti covered walls of the barracks at Fort Wetherill. A very graphic display of layer upon layer of color, using words and images, that lives somewhere between vandalism and art. This was a definite departure from the usual subject matter but all the elements of line, color, shape, texture and pattern still apply.

^{Cheryl Anzaldi}

 

^{Ed Poteet}

We returned to the classroom at The Mainstay Hotel where everyone went to work selecting images for a group review and critique. This is a most valuable part of the workshop experience where we see what others saw and learned from the experience that as Thoreau said "The question is not what you look at, but how you look & whether you see." (Journal, August 5, 1851)

 

**************************************************
Bob,

Thanks so much for a great weekend.  You and Ron are great instructors and fun to hang around with.
What are the names of the two restaurants you mentioned that serve fried chicken?  I recall they were in Middleboro.

Diane E. Collins
 

"Dave's Diner" and "Harry's" right across the street.

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Instructional Sessions to be held at the Mainstay Hotel, 151 Admiral Kalbfus Road

Learn the elements of good landscape photography and how to use them in your photography.

1. How to think visually through an awareness of color and shape, texture and line.

2. How to understand good lighting conditions.

3. How to frame an image with a strong compositional design.

4. How to appreciate the expressive potential of the natural world.

The workshop will begin on Friday evening with an orientation. The workshop features sessions in the field, including dawn and dusk sessions. In addition, there will be critique sessions to view work and evaluate results in a group setting.

Photographers of all levels are welcome. Workshop is limited to 12.

FIELD SESSION SITES

LEARN FROM BOB BERGERON AND RON WILSON AND ENJOY VIEWS ON AQUIDNECK ISLAND FROM SACHUEST POINT NATIONAL WILDLIFE SANCTUARY WHERE GRASSLANDS GIVE WAY TO SANDY BEACHES AND A ROCKY SHORELINE TO PURGATORY CHASM WITH A 50′ DEEP GORGE TO BRENTON POINT STATE PARK LOCATED ON POINT OF LAND WHERE NARRAGANSET BAY MEETS THE ATLANTIC.

CONTINUE TO CONANICUT ISLAND TO BEAVERTAIL POINT STATE PARK WITH A GRANITE LIGHTHOUSE AND FORT WETHERILL STATE PARK SITUATED ON 100′ HIGH GRANITE CLIFF