Put your thumb and forefinger together into a small circle, hold it up to one eye, close the other eye. Look through that circle: that’s how your camera lens sees the world, just a small, tight area, no peripheral vision.
And it is also the “secret sauce” of abstract photography technique, which is the subject of E. David Luria’s presentation on September 7 entitled “Seeing Out of the Box: Abstract Photography Opportunities in the DC Area”.
David maintains that unique abstract images surround us everywhere, in our own backyard, on the sidewalk, in the ribbed patterns of a fallen leaf, on tie-dye T-shirts, in a stack of bicycles or nested chairs, in rug patterns, on mural art, graffiti, on wallpaper, in glass reflections, in stained glass windows, and in art museums. Abstract photography enhances our photo portfolios with colorful, wild and crazy images, He also maintains it helps train our brains to think out of the box, look at problems in new ways AND to come up with those clever “Aha!” answers to crossword puzzle clues! Best of all, no special equipment is needed for abstract photography: a phone is fine!
In this Zoom talk David will show us examples of abstract shots he has done around the DC area, explaining when and where he got the shots, so that club members will be inspired to go out, squinting through the circles of their thumbs and forefingers. to find similar jewels of art wherever they may be!
David Luria is a professional architectural photographer and founder of the popular Washington Photo Safari program (www.washingtonphotosafari.com) .
Since the program began in 1999, David and his 11 fellow instructors have trained over 39,200 amateur photographers from 50 states and 53 countries in 29 different areas of photography, such as travel, architecture, nighttime, portraits, event, street, nature and wildlife photography and in Lightroom and Photoshop post-processing techniques. Training an average of 5 photographers every day, 365 days a year for 22+ years, his 6,000 small-group safaris have taken place in 186 different locations in 11 states, 30 cities, and 8 countries around the world, including photo cruises in the Caribbean and in Europe. Several NVPS members have participated in his safaris
David’s Washington Photo Safari has received hundreds of 5-star reviews on all major search engines, and it benefits from high customer loyalty, with about one-third of all his clients coming back as repeat customers, year after year, 750 of them participating in an average of 9 safaris apiece. In 2019 it was ranked among the top two Best Photography Services in the DC Area by the readers of City Paper. Trip Advisor now rates Washington Photo Safari at No. 3 out of 89 outdoor activities in Washington DC.
Born in Hamburg and raised in New York City, David has lived in his adopted city of Washington DC for more than 50 years, and so he claims to know where all the good pictures are! He has photographed over 3,500 apartment, hotel and restaurant properties in the DC area, plus dozens of events and conventions, and he is a frequent speaker at local camera clubs, including ours. His work can be viewed at www.edavidluriaphotography.smugmug.com.
An honors graduate of Amherst College and a US Army veteran, David is fluent in Spanish, French, German and English, spent 32 years as a senior executive working for international non-profit organizations like CARE, Inc, worked 6 years in Colombia and Panama, and studied photography with a protégé of famed French photographer Henri Cartier- Bresson at the Parsons School of Design in Paris, France. He claims his proudest achievements are his 3 children and 4 grandchildren.