When I first arrived at the 2011 Communicators Workshop, I knew the area I needed the most instruction in. Photography.
I have happened to luck up on some decent photos but it has always been a crap shoot for me. I wasn’t very familiar with my camera. For a while I didn’t even know what kind of camera it was. Strangers would come up to me while I was out shoot and ask me what kind of camera is that. If they wanted an answer more in depth than “Nikon”, I would have to flip it around to look at the front.
During the workshop, I learned a lot of things that brought the basics of into focus (insert rim shot sound effect here) for me. I learned that the metering and focusing processes are not the same. I learned how to use my ISO and what f-stops and apertures do and how they affect my photos.
I was excited after the photo sessions and I went out on the streets of San Antonio with my new tools in my intellectual tool bag. I took all kinds of photos of all kinds of things – people, animals, buildings, lights, stop motion and the zoom-out effect. I just knew my photo mentor was going to be blown away by how quickly I was catching on.
I sat down with him and we looked at the 1,000 photos I had taken. After we looked at all of them I waited for him to tell me how great the photos were. He looked at me and said, “I like this one.”
I was crushed. At that rate, I was going to have to take 7,000 to get the seven I needed for my assignment. What was I going to do? How am I going to complete my assignment?
The beauty of the workshop is that as it progressed, so did my photo skills. I returned from my shoot on the last day and showed my mentor my photos. My nerves were frayed and I was worried that out of the 400 photos I came back with none would be suitable.
My mentor opened the folder and he looked at the first photo. He looked at me and said, “I like this one.”
I have happened to luck up on some decent photos but it has always been a crap shoot for me. I wasn’t very familiar with my camera. For a while I didn’t even know what kind of camera it was. Strangers would come up to me while I was out shoot and ask me what kind of camera is that. If they wanted an answer more in depth than “Nikon”, I would have to flip it around to look at the front.
During the workshop, I learned a lot of things that brought the basics of into focus (insert rim shot sound effect here) for me. I learned that the metering and focusing processes are not the same. I learned how to use my ISO and what f-stops and apertures do and how they affect my photos.
I was excited after the photo sessions and I went out on the streets of San Antonio with my new tools in my intellectual tool bag. I took all kinds of photos of all kinds of things – people, animals, buildings, lights, stop motion and the zoom-out effect. I just knew my photo mentor was going to be blown away by how quickly I was catching on.
I sat down with him and we looked at the 1,000 photos I had taken. After we looked at all of them I waited for him to tell me how great the photos were. He looked at me and said, “I like this one.”
I was crushed. At that rate, I was going to have to take 7,000 to get the seven I needed for my assignment. What was I going to do? How am I going to complete my assignment?
The beauty of the workshop is that as it progressed, so did my photo skills. I returned from my shoot on the last day and showed my mentor my photos. My nerves were frayed and I was worried that out of the 400 photos I came back with none would be suitable.
My mentor opened the folder and he looked at the first photo. He looked at me and said, “I like this one.”
Yes! Point for Mareshah. I didn’t get the seven photos I needed for a complete picture story, but I did get five good photos. It may not have been perfect but my odds have definitely improved from one out of 1,000.
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