PHOTOGRAPHS
If you plan to work in pure abstraction you do not need photos.
FIGURE REFERENCE PHOTOS ARE VERY IMPORTANT!
Please bring several photos that inspire you of human figures. (Bring as many as you can!) These can come from magazines, mail order catalogues, the internet, and best of all your own personal photo stash. The key to good photos is a good sense of light. You want light and shadow on your figure. Flat overall lighting makes the image difficult to interpret. With more experience it gets easier, however when learning to paint the figure it is best to have good shadows (darks) and good lights (light) on the figure in your photograph. Black and white photos are actually preferable, as they open up your interpretation of color.
If you are printing photos be sure to use photo. Photos printed on regular computer paper tend to be washed out and lack the values that we want. Printing on good matte photo paper makes a huge difference.
Above is a good example of a photo with a strong light source. This is a particularly exaggerated light source, however that makes it easy to really see the shapes.