The Story-Driven Portrait: A Masterclass in Emotion, Technique, and Creative Impact

Kelly & Kalina Schneider
Track: Lighting & Camera Skills 

At a Glance

• Developing the Creative Mind – Learn how to train your brain for creativity through exercises in visual analysis, divergent thinking, and emotional intuition.
• Discover the science of creative flow states and how to consistently access inspiration, even under pressure.
• Break through creative blocks with guided activities that combine observation, reflection, and reinterpretation.
• Learn to use journaling, sketching, mood boards, and cross-media influence (cinema, music, literature) to cultivate unique ideas.
• Create with intention: transform fleeting inspiration into executed vision.
• The Legacy of Portraiture: Learning from the Masters Study the evolution of portraiture from Renaissance oil paintings to modern fine art photography. Explore how painters like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Sargent, and Zorn used light, gesture, expression, and negative space to construct layered, emotionally rich human portraits.
• Learn how the techniques of chiaroscuro, color harmony, and symbolic composition can inform your own photographic or cinematic work.
• Discover how these masters created visual tension and intimacy—then recreate those moods with modern tools.
• Creative Collaboration: Small Team Challenges Hands-on learning is pushed further through team-based assignments that simulate real-world creative scenarios: Challenge Examples: “Tell the Story in One Frame”: Limited time, one subject, full concept. “Portrait with Prop Narrative”: Use an unfamiliar objects to create story depth. “The Re-Creation Challenge”: Reimagine a classical painting with a modern twist. “Sequence Short”: Film a 3-shot micro-film with emotional arc and cohesion.
• Learn how to communicate vision, lead or collaborate on set, troubleshoot in real time, and give/receive feedback under pressure.
• Encourages problem-solving, team leadership, concept pitching, and fast execution—just like real-world productions.
• Refinement in Post-Production Post processing with a purpose: Light, tone, and color grading as tools for storytelling, not just style.
• Editing for emotional rhythm—how transitions, color, pacing, and texture affect the viewer’s journey.
• Techniques in Lightroom, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut for narrative editing.

Class Description

The Art of Vision & Story: A Hands-On Masterclass in Portrait Photography and Cinematic Storytelling Step into the next level of your creative journey.

This 4.5-day immersive workshop is not your average photography class—it’s a transformational creative experience designed for visual artists ready to go beyond technical proficiency and into emotional, narrative-driven mastery.

Through a dynamic blend of live shooting, real-world challenges, team collaboration, and intensive coaching, you’ll learn to fuse artistic vision with technical fluency to craft portraits that don’t just look beautiful—they say something.

You’ll explore storytelling in both still and motion, gain control over the Three Pillars of Salient Portraiture (light flow, precision exposure, and compositional impact), and dive deep into how to shape human emotion through visual language.

From studying Old Master painters to executing modern cinematic sequences, this is where timeless artistry meets cutting-edge execution.

You Will:

• Craft portraits that feel—not just impress.
• Build your signature style using light, story, and voice.
• Lead creative teams through narrative-based assignments.
• Rewire your creative brain for originality and impact.
• Walk away with a portfolio-ready project that shows who you are as an artist.

Whether you’re a photographer or filmmaker, if you’re ready to create work that turns heads, moves hearts, and defines your voice—this is your moment.

• CLASS INTENSITY: Blue
• CLASS BREAKDOWN
  Classroom instruction & demos: 20%
  Hands-on: 63%
  Post-production: 17%
• PREREQUISITES:
  Lighting 1:  All levels.
  Post-Production 3: Can work with layers, layer masks & understand blend modes.
  Studio Business 2: Just starting out.

What do these mean? Learn More