This portrait photography class is designed to teach you everything you need to know to take professional-quality portraits.  You will learn how to work with all different types of subjects, from individuals and groups to children and pets.  Steve will explain the nuances of lighting and posing, how to shoot in a studio or on location, and how to master the gear you will need to create inspiring work!

Steve McGrath

Your instructor, Chris Toy, is the author of 6 popular cookbooks, a private chef, and has taught Asian fusion cooking for several Maine community education programs. Cooking students will learn how to prepare a variety of recipes from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, incorporating traditional and local ingredients. Each meal will actively engage cooks with the tools, techniques, and stories behind the dishes being created. $595 includes a workshop fee, all meals, and special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops. 

Recent Acadian Arts Retreats participants commented: “I learned so much from Chris that I can use immediately at home in my own kitchen.”  “Great kitchen hints!”.

Step back to a time when President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor, and their family escaped to their "beautiful little island" in the Canadian Maritimes. We will be exclusive guests of the international park, staying in historic Victorian cottages. Workshop participants will explore and paint the same coastal scenery enjoyed by the summer residents at the turn of the 20th century. Register for the retreat, and then call Sherry Mitchell at 506-752-2922 to make room reservations. Acadian Arts Retreats participants will have exclusive overnight accommodations in the park. 

Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together! Step back to a time when President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor, and their family escaped to their “beautiful little island” in the Canadian Maritimes, Campobello Island. We will be exclusive guests of the international park, staying in historic Victorian cottages. Workshop participants will explore and paint the same coastal scenery enjoyed by the summer residents at the turn of the 20th century. All meals are included in the workshop fee as well as specially planned optional evening activities designed to extend your learning from the day’s workshops. Register for the retreat then call Sherry Mitchell at 506-752-2922 to make room reservations. Acadian Arts Retreats participants will have exclusive overnight accommodations in the park. Feedback from recent Acadian Arts Retreats participants: “Mary is a wonderful guide and a gifted teacher.” “Very helpful watercolor instruction."

Acadian Arts Retreat Watercolor Painting at Roosevelt Campobello International Park, New Brunswick, Canada with Mary Laury

October 10 - 13, 2025

Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!

Step back to a time when President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor, and their family escaped to their “beautiful little island” in the Canadian Maritimes, Campobello Island. We will be exclusive guests of the international park, staying in historic Victorian cottages. Workshop participants will explore and paint the same coastal scenery enjoyed by the summer residents at the turn of the 20th century. All meals are included in the workshop fee as well as specially planned optional evening activities designed to extend your learning from the day’s workshops. Register for the retreat then call Sherry Mitchell at 506-752-2922 to make room reservations. Acadian Arts Retreats participants will have exclusive overnight accommodations in the park. June 20-23, 2025.

Feedback from recent Acadian Arts Retreats participants: 

“Mary is a wonderful guide and a gifted teacher.”  “Very helpful watercolor instruction."

Over exposed image? No problem—adjust the exposure in editing mode. Wish your photo could be black and white instead of color? Choose a filter and change the ambiance of your image. Does the main object of your picture seem lost among extraneous details? Use the cropping feature to focus your viewer’s eye on the most important part of the image. These examples are just a few of the many ways you can turn an average image into something special. Have fun editing your pictures with the many options in your Mac’s Photos app. This course includes five primary videos: Know the Icons you’ll need for editing; learn how to Crop your photos; apply Filters and Markup, and two videos of various Adjustments, like exposure, highlights, and brightness and more. Other course resources include support guides for each video all focused on understanding and using your Mac to edit your images. BoomerTECH Adventures also provides email support before, during, and after the class. The course package contains all the materials you need: Tips for Getting Started, and summaries of each of the instructional videos, a list of all course resources (videos and printed articles). All resources are accessible from the course booklet. Students will need a strong internet connection and a Mac computer, iPad, or iPhone to access videos and articles.

Over exposed image? No problem––adjust the exposure in editing mode. Wish your photo could be black and white instead of color? Choose a filter and change the ambiance of your image. Does the main object of your picture seem lost among extraneous details? Use the cropping feature to focus your viewer's eye on the most important part of the image. These examples are just a few of the many ways you can turn an average image into someting special. Have fun editing your pictures with the many options in your Mac's Photos app.

Many people have 1000 or more images stored in their Mac desktop/laptop Photos app. Frustration sets in when one tries to locate a picture or video among the multitude of saved images. Understanding the built-in organization of the Mac Photos app is the first thing you will learn in this course. Next comes organizing your images and video into albums and folders in order to develop your own management system. Plus, you will also learn how to tag people in photos and create shared albums that you can invite friends and family to view.

Using your iPhone or iPad photo apps, this is a natural follow-up to the first course, but is a stand-alone course as well. The focus here is on editing images as well as knowing how to organize images and video on iPhones and iPads. Other areas of focus include using the "For You" section (ready-made slide shows), creating, using, and sharing albums, and search.