Presentation – Lisa and Tom Cuchara, Focusing on the Details: Create Fine Art Photographs from Urban Exploration

On June 5, 2018, Lisa and Tom will discuss love for RUST and their approach to, and experience with, photographing historic and abandoned buildings, urban decay, etc. They will show techniques for wide angle and close-up photography including the use of HDR (high dynamic range), EDR (extended dynamic range), HDR-panoramas, and light painting in this program.

Tom and Lisa see the Beauty in Decay and Abandonment. Old, Historic, Grand, Dramatic, Unique — these characteristics draw us to explore and capture the essence of these rusty, dusty subjects and locations. Urban exploration (UrbEx) is the art of finding and exploring abandoned locations. Not all locations are technically “urban” or even “abandoned”. The term abandoned is used VERY loosely. It is not “being abandoned” that attracts us to a place, it is the history, beauty, decay, charm, and architectural details (which contrast so drastically with today’s vanilla architecture). Another definition of UrbEx is the investigation of seldom seen man-made structures, a definition more consistent with our quest, since our subjects may be FAR from abandoned (like the architectural grandeur of bustling Grand Central Terminal or the surprising drama of the [empty] neo-Gothic Eastern State Penitentiary), but these sites count as “unseen” because few people actually stop to appreciate beautiful prison architecture or the jaw-dropping details of Grand Central, a place that they might even rush through twice a day.

Lisa and Tom are known throughout the Greater New England Area for their expertise in Photography, and in Photoshop, and for their inspirational and informative photo tours, classes, and workshops. They both have created numerous award winning photographic images and enjoy sharing their vision, passion and knowledge with other people. Amherst Media recently asked Lisa and Tom to write a photography book about their HDR and light painted images. This paperback book, called “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” can be ordered from online from places like Amazon https://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex purchased at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about Lisa and Tom at www.photographybylisaandtom.com and be sure to check out their workshops at https://tinyurl.com/lisatomworkshops.