A FUN DAY...JANUARY 24 2012.....

Yesterday was the first day of my 2-day photography class.  My 5 students arrived promptly at 9 a.m.  I had really considered cancelling as we had snow and ice and Sunday was a mess weather wise.  Held off.  Got up yesterday morning, pouring down rain.  Decided too late to cancel, would play it by ear.  Rain had stopped by 9, so it was a go.   Really cloudy though.

The first couple hours of my class consists of 5 major points: 

1.  Type of Class.  This is a hands on class, no technicalities.  Today's cameras handle everything 90 percent of us need to know, for the other 10 percent - find a "real" professional.

2. Perspective.  What do you see?  How do you want to present it?

3. Your camera.  You and your camera are partners.  It knows how to take the picture, you show it what to take the picture of.  You don't just point and shoot, you photograph from different angles, different perspectives.

4.  Time of Day.  Early morning until noon, late afternoon on are the best times.  Bright sunlight will wash the color out of the pictures, but there are secrets to photographing in bright sunlight that will give you excellent results.

5.  Weather conditions.  Never never let the weather influence whether or not you take pictures. Some of the best pictures are taken in the fog, on cloudy days, even in the rain. 

Yesterday was a classic example.  After our discussion, we adjourned for lunch (stopped at Hoss' as were going that way to Oglebay where the actual photo shoot was to take place), and then on to an afternoon filled with picture-taking.  By the time we left Hoss' the sun was shining, and we had a beautiful afternoon, sun, blue sky, white clouds.  That is why you go ahead with your plans.

We covered the basics of landscape, building, and people.  At little of this and a little of that.

Everyone said it was a fun day, I really do think they enjoyed themselves.  I have all their memory cards.  I will be spending the remainder of this week downloading the pictures, editing the pictures, creating a CD for each student.  Next Monday will be day 2, when everyone will be here and can see each other's pictures.

That is where the real fun begins.  Even though they were looking at the same thing, the pictures will all be completely different.  I had told each student that their memory card should be EMPTY.  I taught one class last year where one student used an almost full memory card.  Had 400 plus pictures for editing, and only about 60 were for the class.  I am sure there were some pics on there that she really didn't want anyone else to see.  So it is very important that we start out with an EMPTY memory card.

As I have said many times in the past, I never get bored.

So had better sign off for now, and start my editing.  Will probably take one students work each day, otherwise I will probably forget what it is that I am supposed to do.  Called mind boggling.  And so have a good day, enjoy the sunshine, and God Bless.