iPhone Travel Photography
Tillman Crane is an award-winning photographer spanning a 46+ year career. Currently focused on making his fine art platinum prints he also teaches workshops throughout the US and beyond.
He has published five books of photographs: Tillman Crane/Structure (2001), Touchstones (2005), Odin Stone (2008), A Walk Along the Jordan (2009) and The Alchemy of Light (2016). Exhibitions of platinum prints have celebrated each book launch.
His platinum prints are included in collections at Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA), Portland Museum of Art (Maine), Farnsworth Museum of Art (Maine), University of New England (Maine), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Ireland), Brigham Young University Museum, (Utah), Fidelity Investments (Utah), Zions Bank (Utah), Gibbs Museum of Art (South Carolina), San Jose Museum of Art (California), , Carnegie Center for Visual Arts (Alabama), and numerous private collections around the world.
His work is included in many book collections: Workshop Stories: Changed Through Photography, Ed. Elizabeth Opalenick, 2021, Photographic Alternative Process (Jill Enfield, 2020); Maine Photograph, A History (Bischof, Danley and Shuttleworth Jr, 2016), Looking at Images (Jensen, Lenswork Publishing, 2014), Le adici dello sguardo (The Roots of the Eye) (Edizioni Marcovldo, Il Filatoio, Caraglio, 2013), Why Photographs Work, (Barr, 2011) and The View Project, Seventy Photographers Reflect on Meaning and Perception (Ed. Joyce Tennyson, 2010).
Two of his highest professional achievements include his solo, 100-platinum print exhibit, Alchemy of Light (2016), at the National Art Museum of China (Beijing) and his induction into the inaugural class of the Artist Hall of Fame in the Alabama Center for the Arts.
After 35 years of working solely with film and large format cameras he has enthusiastically embraced the digital world. Tillman is enjoying the versatility of traveling more lightly and the ability to make ever bigger negatives for his prints. He continues to find joy in creating and teaching photography while being blessed to live in Maine.
Tillman Crane is an award-winning photographer spanning a 46+ year career. Currently focused on making his fine art platinum prints he also teaches workshops throughout the US and beyond.
He has published five books of photographs: Tillman Crane/Structure (2001), Touchstones (2005), Odin Stone (2008), A Walk Along the Jordan (2009) and The Alchemy of Light (2016). Exhibitions of platinum prints have celebrated each book launch.
His platinum prints are included in collections at Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA), Portland Museum of Art (Maine), Farnsworth Museum of Art (Maine), University of New England (Maine), Irish Museum of Modern Art (Ireland), Brigham Young University Museum, (Utah), Fidelity Investments (Utah), Zions Bank (Utah), Gibbs Museum of Art (South Carolina), San Jose Museum of Art (California), , Carnegie Center for Visual Arts (Alabama), and numerous private collections around the world.
His work is included in many book collections: Workshop Stories: Changed Through Photography, Ed. Elizabeth Opalenick, 2021, Photographic Alternative Process (Jill Enfield, 2020); Maine Photograph, A History (Bischof, Danley and Shuttleworth Jr, 2016), Looking at Images (Jensen, Lenswork Publishing, 2014), Le adici dello sguardo (The Roots of the Eye) (Edizioni Marcovldo, Il Filatoio, Caraglio, 2013), Why Photographs Work, (Barr, 2011) and The View Project, Seventy Photographers Reflect on Meaning and Perception (Ed. Joyce Tennyson, 2010).
Two of his highest professional achievements include his solo, 100-platinum print exhibit, Alchemy of Light (2016), at the National Art Museum of China (Beijing) and his induction into the inaugural class of the Artist Hall of Fame in the Alabama Center for the Arts.
After 35 years of working solely with film and large format cameras he has enthusiastically embraced the digital world. Tillman is enjoying the versatility of traveling more lightly and the ability to make ever bigger negatives for his prints. He continues to find joy in creating and teaching photography while being blessed to live in Maine.
Travel Photography is best with the camera you have right in your pocket
Florence, a modern city woven into a tapestry of history, where each step shifts time between past and present. Firenze, the birthplace of the Renaissance, is a feast for the senses. Art, architecture, literature, music, food, and a most welcoming people provide an abundance of photographing opportunities.
Join me in exploring the four Quarters of Old Florence using the most convenient and yet extraordinarily complex camera, your iPhone.
Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo, photo by Gabrielle Pascoe
Florence is a very walkable city and we will be walking three to five miles a day. We stay at the Residence Hotel Michelangiolo, a small villa on the west side of the Arno within a short walk of the Ponte Vecchio. Our days will be a combination of photographing, instruction, dining, and conversation. I can’t wait to share one of my favorite places with you!
I have a curriculum focused on everything the iPhone camera can do, how to store and edit your images, additional camera and editing apps you can add, and how to make better portraits, still lives and landscape images. I have planned to focus over four days on the four Quarters of Old Florence (San Spirito, Santa Croce, San Maria Novella and San Giovanni), each of which has a personality of its own. This allows time in the week for further exploration, for returning to an area you want to photograph further, to visit a museum or church we aren’t doing as a group, to do some shopping or to simply sit in a piazza enjoying a glass of wine watching people.
A typical day will find us heading out to photograph after breakfast, grabbing lunch or an afternoon gelato, and returning around 4 pm to our hotel. We will gather as a group to look at images and learn more about the iPhone, with your beverage of choice and then head out to dinner around 7:30 pm.
Partners and spouses are always welcome! If we have enough nonphotographers in the group we can make plans for some special events, dependent on the interests of the group.
I have to say, the program that you delivered to us was fantastic. Who knew the phone could be such a powerful, flexible camera. You have opened my eyes and excited me to explore …. thank you. – comment from a recent student
Photo by Tillman Crane
Photo by Tillman Crane
Why use my iPhone as a camera when traveling? After 40+ years as a working photographer, 35+ using large format cameras and film, I am often asked this question. For me the change came about when digital cameras could give me more information in a negative than I could get with film. I make big platinum/palladium prints and need a negative with a great amount of information. Yet even the switch to digital left me with bags of equipment. I wanted to travel more lightly, with less equipment, without being affected by the general bias against cameras on tripods in most places I wanted to photograph and still have good images to work with when I got home. The more I discovered what I could do with my iPhone I was hooked. Will it replace the medium format Fuji cameras I use for my professional work? No. However, I have plenty of images to work with when I get home and my spouse is enthusiastically traveling with me while I photograph these days. That, my friends, is why I am using my iPhone as my travel camera.
Curriculum:
- Introduction to your iPhone What is does and what it does not do. The different shooting modes; different lenses in the iPhone; HEIC vs JPEG vs RAW capture; Portrait, Time Lapse, Live, Pano and Low Light modes.
- Storing and Editing your images with the iPhone
- Exploring What makes a photograph good? Light, Time, Lens, Vantage Point, and Style.
- Making better Portraits, Still Life, and Landscapes with your iPhone
- Using Different Camera and Editing Apps for your iPhone Hipstamatic, Tintype, Pro Camera+, Lightroom, Snapseed, Halide, Mobile Monet, Waterlogged, and I love Film.
- Putting it all together to tell your unique story
Accommodations: we will spend the week at a small hotel in the Oltr’Arno section of Florence, out of the fray and noise of the city center, but still walkable to all the attractions. The Residence Michelangiolo on the Viale Michelangiolo was the boyhood home of the owner, now converted into a hotel.
Photo by Tillman Crane
Dinners: During the week we will have 5 dinners together. To experience a good cross-section of typical Tuscan cuisine we will sample diverse neighborhood trattorie. Two nights of the week you will be on your own to follow your nose to restaurants or concerts or whatever else might pique your curiosity in this fabulous city. There is plenty of time for independent exploration.
Other Activities:
- Full-day excursion to the medieval towns of Lucca
- Evening walking tour of Florence in the Dark Ages
- Full-day excursion to often overlooked Bologna, the food capital of the world
- Cooking class and lunch at a country agriturismo outside of the city
Price: $3,250 p/p (non-photographer partners, $2,950)
Supplements: $550 for single room-limited availability
Photo by Tillman Crane
$500 deposit upon registration.
Balance due by August 1st (we’ll send you an invoice).
Includes:
- Shared double room in Residence Michelangiolo (single room available for a supplement)
- Daily continental breakfast at a nearby local cafe
- 5 dinners with the group, (including wine)
- Daily photography classes and reviews with Tillman
- Excursions to Lucca and Bologna
- Cooking class with lunch in the country
- Evening walking tour
- 10 bus tickets to use as you will
- Transportation for all excursions outside the city
- All excursions fully escorted
Does Not Include:
- Airfare
- Workshop supplies
- Independent meals and sight-seeing
To Register: just click on the Sign Up Now button. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to secure your spot in the workshop. Payment can be made on line with a credit card, or you can follow the instructions to send in your registration and payment by mail. Once we receive your deposit we will send you a formal Registration Confirmation with further information about the program. You will receive 2-3 other correspondences by email prior to the workshop with information about Italy, a supplies list and an electronic invoice for the balance. Final Balance is due by August 1st. Any time prior to your arrival, if you have questions about anything regarding the trip or the program, you can contact us by email or phone and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Call us for more information: 800-990-3506
Residence Michelangiolo, Florence
F
or the week we will be staying at the Residence Michelangiolo along the Viale Michelangiolo in the quieter Oltr`arno section of Florence. This is a recently renovated private palazzo on a tree-lined residential street near the Arno. The owner still manages the property and makes each person feel like a guest of his family.
There are only 11 rooms – large, high ceilings typical of a palazzo of the era. Each room has a modern bathroom and several have kitchenettes.
Single rooms are available for a supplement of $450.
For breakfast we will walk to the bar on the corner to have a cappuccino with the other locals heading off to work. Click here to link to Residence Michelangiolo website…
You should arrive at the hotel independently during the day on Saturday. Our first activity will be a welcome gathering in at about 6:30pm. From there we will proceed to a restaurant in the center for dinner together. The first session of your workshop will be on Sunday morning. Departure will be by noon on the following Saturday.
We recommend that you fly into Florence or alternatively, Rome (Milan is a bit too far away). One thing to consider is that there are more flights from the US to Rome, many of them direct. Florence does not have an intercontinental airport, so there are no direct flights from the US. You will have to change planes at a larger city. If you fly into Rome you can take a train to Florence. From either the Florence airport or train station you can take a taxi directly to the hotel. Further directions will follow.
Important! In making your return flight arrangements, if you are flying home on Saturday from Rome, try not to book a flight too early. From our location it will take about 3 ½ hours to get to the Rome airport.
Check our travel to Italy section for specific suggestions on booking airfare, trains or buses.
Personal travel insurance is strongly recommended for this trip and whenever you travel. It protects you against costly penalties in the event that you need to cancel your trip at the last minute. Two reputable companies are: Travelex (800) 504-7883 or www.travelex-insurance.com or Travel Guard International (877) 901-7599 orwww.travelguard.com/travelsmith.
Florence Ponte Vecchio, by Lester Lefkowitz
Art in Florence: because of all of the wealthy patrons trying to outdo each other showing their devotion to God, we benefit today by having access to the largest treasure of art in any single location. It is unlikely that Michelangelo and Donatello realized that they would be subsidizing the economy of the entire city 500 years later.
Most of the popular art belongs to the Renaissance period, but there are some other worthwhile things to see such as the more contemporary Marino Marini Museum. And today there are still plenty of artists and artisans living and working in Florence. If you wander around the Oltr’arno near Santo Spirito you will see tiny studios and workshops with silversmiths, wood carvers, leather workers, marble cutters and mosaic artists. In this neighborhood you can imagine what the old Florence must have been like.
