Becoming An Artist Season 1 with Trey Ratcliff of StuckinCustoms.com
Preface
First I must say I do my best to be unbiased in all my reviews, but in this case I must disclose that I’ve been following Trey Ratcliff for years and as such I”m am a big fan so this review might be a little unintentionally biased. I’ve followed him for so long that I seen changes in his website, changes in his photography equipment, and the ever evolving changes and improvements in his photography. I’ve seen him go from a one person show to a multi artist show, to a worldwide show, and now to Facebook live. I’ve seen his business constantly expanding with new and exciting products and adventures. I also had the pleasure of meeting him in person on a photo walk he and the Stuck in Customs crew did last year in Philadelphia and Washington DC. If you want to see what that was like visit tour.treyratcliff.com
That said, let’s get to the review.
Becoming an Artist Series 1 is comprised of 15 episodes. Each episode is about 30 mins long and divided into two sections. In the first section of each episode you hear Trey tell personal stories such as a bit of his life history, how he became a photographer in his 30’s, and some of the things that inspire him in his photography and art. I believe he does this to give you a sense of where he’s coming from, how he sees the world, and what affects this has on his photography. There is some dialog just about art in general and how other art can help influence or inspire your photography. He will discuss the picture(s) he is taking at that time, why he choose to take that picture, and some tips about the picture including composition, color, light, and inspiration.
In the second section of each episode you get transported to Trey’s Studio in Queenstown New Zealand, where he will show you his editing techniques on some of the photos he took during the previous section using various tools from PhotoMatix, Lightroom, Photoshop, and other tools like Autopano Giga for his panorama’s. He shows you basic techniques up to some very advanced techniques.
Episodes have interesting titles like
- Episode 1 – The Accidental Creation of Me
- Episode 6 – Writing a Failed Novel
- Episode 10 – A Reccy to Chernobyl
- Episode 14 – A Street Fight in Morocco
So you can see this is not your typical tutorial series.
This series was created before Aurora HDR came out, so for this season he doesn’t use his new tool, Aurora HDR Pro, which he co-developed with Macphun software.
In addition to the video series Trey has created a Facebook group “Becoming and Artist – Trey Ratcliff’s Funky Lounge” where you can post your own work and interact with fellow artists.
Viewing the series for free
Each episode is available on the internet via StuckInCustoms.com, Trey’s Facebook Page, the Facebook group “Becoming and Artist – Trey Ratcliff’s Funky Lounge” and the StuckinCustoms page on Youtube for one week. After that week, the episode is remove and the next episode is made available for 1 week and so on. This is one of the things I like about Trey in that even though this is a product for sale, he does give folks a chance to view this series for free. All be it for a limited time for each episode and minus the bonus material.
After each there is usually a live show on Facebook following about 30mins after the release in which that particular episode may be discussed live with his followers. If you want to join those, follow his Facebook page. You can also go there to see past broadcasts.
Here is the Trailer for the series so you can see what it is about direct from Trey and seeing some of the locations included in the series.
How to get the series to keep forever
The advantages of purchasing the complete series are many. Not only do you get the entire series at once including the yet to be release online episodes, you get the bonus material. (As of this writing we are about half way through the season with episode 9 being the current episode online)
The complete Becoming An Artist Season 1 series comes with the following.
- All 15 Episodes of the Series
- A bonus Aurora HDR Pro Tutorial (click here to get a free trial of AuroraHDR Pro)
- All the RAW files of the pictures he shows you editing during the series so you can practice the techniques he shows you using the same images he was processing.
As a bonus for reading my review, you can get 10% off your purchase of Becoming An Artist Season 1 by using my discount code of MDP10 at checkout. Click here to visit the Stuck in Customs Store for this series. At this page you can purchase the entire series and get the complete season with bonus material. Or, if you wish, you can purchase the individual episodes for those who are following it online but missed an episode or just want to keep a particular episode. Each individual episode will show up on this store page after it was online free viewing. You do not get the bonus material with the individual episodes.
If, after getting the series, you would like to get Aurora HDR Pro, I can get you a 10% discount on that purchase via Macphun. Click here to visit the AuroraHDR site and make sure you enter the coupon code of MARKDODD at checkout. The Aurora HDR discount is only available at the AuroraHDR or Macphun websites.
Update: I recently found out that Stuck in Customs is offering a limited time 15% discount on Becoming An Artist Season 1 with Trey Ratcliff. Use the discount code BAA15. Click here to go to the store, and use this limited time coupon code for the series. You can still use my code above for the other items in the store.
My thoughts in summary
As I write this I haven’t fully watched the entire series as I’m taking my time and absorbing all the material and the thought-provoking commentary.
But given what I have watched so far, I fully believe you will get a lot out of this series. You will get inspired, get you thinking about the world and your photography, and learn some new techniques on how to edit your photography to get the most out of your work.
As quoted on the StuckinCustoms website his aim for the series is the following.
This series explores the answers to the following questions…
“What is it like to become an artist?”
“What is it like to find that creative self inside of you?”
…and for the practitioner, “How does Trey take and post-process his photos?”
And I believe this series accomplishes this.
Granted the inner geek in me likes the post-process techniques, I”m finding that I’m getting more out of the first section of each of these videos. It is giving me food for though on how I look at the world through my camera and sometimes just life in general. How to think about how other art can influence and help me improve my photography vision. To help me find that creative side of myself that I feel I have lost a little as I’ve gotten older.
Now if you have read down this far I have something extra for you.
Recently, a fellow photographer friend of mine and I have set up on Facebook group called “All Inclusive Photography Club” that I welcome you to join. We are currently running a photo contest in which we are giving away the Complete Becoming An Artist Season 1 Series as the prize. So come join our page and enter the contest which runs until June 18th, 2016. For those members who don’t win the contest and are still interested in purchasing the series we will have a special 20% discount code that will be available to group members at the end of the contest.
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