Montblanc Master Class with Jan-Patrick Schmitz at Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology

24 Oct 2011, 12:46 AM by frank

This week, we were pleased to welcome photographer Jan-Patrick Schmitz, CEO of Montblanc North America, into our new partner school, Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, for a Master Class on portrait photography with students in the after school photo program with teaching artist Laurie Krupp. 

Jan-Patrick shared examples of his work and the techniques he used to achieve certain effects.

Students and Jan-Patrick discuss principles of light and strategies for shooting in both natural light and studio settings.

The students' work was uploaded for viewing and reflection toward the end of the class to discuss what tools they used to capture their subjects in different ways.  Examples of students' work from the shoot can be seen below: 

"We turned the room into a photo studio.  We used paper backgrounds to shoot portraits.  Lighting can show the details in people's faces, and I learned not to shine too much light into someone's face.  It can be a little bit hard.  I like taking pictures and talking about other people's work that's awesome and unique." - Danissa, 9th grade

"I was shooting portraits of a friend of mine.  Sometimes I shot them from different angles with different framing.  I tried some with natural lighting and some with hot lights.  My favorite part was taking pictures and manipulating the light to my advantage." - Kylan, 9th grade

"We were learning how to bend light to the best angel that suits our frame.  My favorite part was learning how to manipulate natural light to capture the moment.  I like how photography shows the common factors between different people.  I love the class." - Venitia, 9th grade