Melissa Clapper
M.Photog.M.Artist.,CPP.
Melissa is a professional photographer from the small eastern Nebraska town of Fremont and specializes in one of a kind, old-world fine art portraiture. She has received multiple awards at her state professional photographers organization and at the national level, including Artist of the year, numerous placement awards, children's photographer of the year, and GIA for her creative open entry in 2020. A member of Professional Photographers of America for three years, she will be receiving her master photographer and master artists degrees in January.
Fern Creek Photography opened its doors just a short 4 years ago, but Melissa is not new to the industry. Her love for photography began in 1998 working as both a photo lab technician and photographer's assistant. Learning Photoshop for both restoration projects and digital touch-ups. On the weekends she would photograph at her local dirt racing tracks, landing her a position to photograph Nascar’s Dirt Track annual banquet in Nashville 2000. Her work was featured in Nascar's yearly magazine. Shortly after she took a hiatus from 2005 to 2015 to raise her two children. Family first! During this time she honed her skills taking on projects for bothpersonal enjoyment and petty cash.
2015 brought about a desire to open a studio and return to the photographic world and construction on her small but mighty studio began. Between parental duties, daily life, and many late nights, her studio was ready to swing its doors open in 2017. Originally taking on a mishmash of work 2019 She found her true love "Old World Fine Arts" combining her costume sewing skills, theatre setknowledge, and inner history geek. she found her perfect niche!
"The joy I feel when transporting a client into a different location or era, through set design, is priceless"~Melissa
Fabulous Foam
Starting from (provided) rough cut foam products. The students will learn safety, tools, tips and will work hands on to create their own samples to take back to their own studio and create one of a kind foam sets or prop elements.
Introduction: Geting to know instructor background.
From dirt track to foam. How'd that happen??
Prepping our brains!! Elementary art and how it applies to working with foam
1. Safety; These tools are HOT!
2. Tools: What and where to aquire tools for use in Foam set and prop building. The cheap and the spendy!
3. Planning your Design: The do's and dont's (I've done the work to save you the costly mistakes!
4. Working with tools to create textures. Wood, Stone, brick and stucco
S. Base coloring. preparing our textures.
*Lunch break
6. Top coat paint; Bringing realism into foam project. In this area we discuss paint, and "the special sauce? What products work and how they work to create depth and realism
7. Protecting your investment: top coats
Question and answers
Note: This is 100% hands on work. Wear items that you are willing to get dirty, we are working with paint!
Student Resposibility: Note taking materials
