PHOTOGRAPHY REBORN

Invest in yourself, not just your gear.

Digital Photography is evolving. Demands are changing. People aren’t buying the hype anymore. They know more mega pixels won’t make their bad photos better. Creativity and pride can’t just be dialed in. They are looking for guidance — all they are getting is hype. Our classes are designed to offer an alternative. Our focus is on manual control, our goal is artistic expression.  What is offered here is different, its contents are unique and its bold and brazen attitude scoffs at what most consider 'proper' photography. Take a step in the right direction, push yourself, your vision and your equipment — become the artist you know you can be. 

 

Rod Deutschmann, co-founder of the In Focus Learning Center 

 

"It takes more than just equipment to express yourself with a camera — you need a vision, you need a plan and you need the skill and courage to make it happen."

Short Biography:  

With more than 25-years experience, veteran photography instructor Rod Deutschmann brings something special to each of his digital photography classes. His down-to-earth, comical and brutally honest approach to photography has not only garnered him a large and faithful following of local photographers, but also has made him one of the premier photography instructors in all of California. Deutschmann takes real photography apart and slices it up into easily digestible bits and shows how anyone, no matter what gear they may have, can become an artist with their camera. 

See below entry for  full Biography

Instructor Biography

Full Biography: 

 
Rod Deutschmann is an award-winning, fine-art photographer, author, instructor, husband and father. He cut his teeth in the graphic communication field as a young Marine Combat Correspondent ... winning many prestigious awards from the Marine Combat Correspondent's association before his departure from military service in 1994. Deutschmann's internal investigative series on the service-related malaria outbreak during the Solmolia conflict led to Marine Corps policy changes and the eventual state-wide recognition of the problem as service members returned home. The series also garnered him his most prized correspondent's award.

Deutschmann then moved into the newspaper field working for such well-known and respected publishing firms as Lee Enterprises and the San Diego North County Times. He started as a writer/photographer working his way up to Managing Editor. He ended his newspaper career ironically at the helm of the Camp Pendleton Scout, the very newspaper where he began his military career. Under his leadership the Scout won the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award in 2007 for best Civilian Enterprise Military Newspaper world-wide. 

During this time he began teaching photography to the next generation of Marine Combat Correspondents ... offering guidance, insight and support. His straight-to-the-core, teach-them-what-they-need-but-keep-them-in-manual approach garnered the attention of other Marine Corps Public Affairs offices as many sent their own correspondents for training. Through this, Deutschmann developed his own unique teaching style and began offering it the outside world.

Deutschmann began working for the San Diego County adult education school system in 2000 — starting small with just one course. Quickly this changed. As news of his practical and brutally honest style emerged, his wait lists increased and demand grew rapidly. He added more classes, then more schools. Eventually his influence would spread throughout the county as his classes could be found at the San Dieguito, Poway, Coronado and Grossmont school districts. He became one of the few photography instructors in San Diego to ever teach at four schools simultaneously.

Deutschmann is best known as the father of Southern California Photographic Expressionism. His ground breaking images have been featured in newspapers, magazines, museums, galleries and books. He's a multiple award-winner at the fiercely competitive international photography competition held yearly at the world-famous San Diego County Fair and his unbelievable in-camera 'painted' work has recently been highlighted at the San Diego Natural History Museum — as part of a special exhibit hosted by the celebrated Ordover Gallery. 

With his wife Robin (an award-winning fine-art photographer herself), he has recently penned three books on off-camera flash for Amherst Medea: Off Camera Flash, Multiple Flash Photography and Just One Flash. They are currently working on two new book projects: Off Camera Flash for the Macro Photographer and Enough is Enough: A Practical Approach to Modern Photography. 

Together they founded the In Focus Learning Center in 2006 and have committed themselves and their company to the arduous yet rewarding task of bringing creativity, expressionism and passion back to photography — one In Focus artist at a time. Their belief in full manual control and individual responsibility has earned them the dubious (though proudly accepted) title of photographic purists. Their unique insight, specialized courses and hands-on workshops continue to grow in popularity making the IFLC one of the premiere photography training institutions in Southern California. 

They continue their march today — spreading the word and sharing their vision, vowing to never give-in, to never give up until their message of personal pride and individual creativity is heard by all.

Visit their Web site at: www.iflcsandiego.com.