Deep in the heart of Texas exists an enchanted place called The Wizard Academy.  Tucked away in the hills south of Austin, it is a place of transformation, renewal, and most importantly, where one can re-connect with their true essence.

I was invited to the Academy to attend a Photographers Round Table Discussion.  Led by Roy H. Williams we discussed some very interesting concepts about what goes into creating memorable images, paintings, and music.  Here are some images that demonstrate the concepts.  The first one is ANGLE:

The 2nd is FOCUS.  Drawing the eye to where you want the viewer to look:

Next Roy explained about Frameline Magnetism.  The idea of leaving something out allowing the viewer will fill in the rest with their imagination:

Portals are openings to another world.  A portal can be a window, a door, stairs going up or down.  It makes the viewer wonder what is beyond.  Here is an example of a PORTAL:

Color vs B&W.  Color represents reality.  B&W is symbolic.

3rd Gravitational Pull.  This is when there is something in a picture that doesn’t really belong but somehow still makes sense visually:

Subject matter is of course important.  How to make the subject matter as dynamic as possible.  In the shot below it feels like the statue is running:

Next we explored color as a statement.  Of course colors “pop” best at the sunrise or sunset:

Lighting as a statement.  In this shot I darkened the clouds to the left of the Wizard Academy logo and lightened up the sky in the right side.  Since there are dark and light moments in my life I felt this was an interesting exploration of that concept and perhaps coming to the Academy brought some light into my world.

Shape as a statement.  The idea here is that the eye will follow the line from the left of frame and continue down the path to an interesting but unknown place.

The last concept is Shadow as a Statement.  Let me know what you think of this shot:

I hope you enjoyed this post.  As you can see The Wizard Academy is a special place and I have a lot of other shots to share with you in future posts.