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A fun workshop in Vermont
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| | It
is just flat-out fun to do nothing but think photography all weekend. I
had a great group of people in Woodstock, VT, last weekend for my
Beyond the Basics workshop. We started with a Friday night session
talking about some techniques and then got out early Saturday for some
shooting around Woodstock. We had a fun pizza lunch back at the house,
talked photography and back out for more shooting. Sunday morning we had
better light but it was cold, so we got some shots and came back to
look at what we shot and have a critique session. |
| | There's still time to sign up for Cape May workshop |
| | My workshop in Cape May, NJ. is coming up May 16-19 and I still have space available. Cape May is filled with amazing Victorian houses, beautiful beaches, a historic light house and is a major stop for migratory birds heading north. We have a hotel right on the beach and pictures will be flowing. It will be a great getaway to concentrate on photography. You can sign up on my website.
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| Spotting an eagle while driving down the road
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| For
me, there isn’t anything much cooler than driving along, come over a
hill and have a bald eagle flying at me. OK, it has only happened once
and it was Sunday when I was driving from Vermont to New Jersey.
I
was nearing Bennington, VT., on Route 7, singing like a sparrow, and
there she was, a beautiful bald eagle flying low and right above me. My
head nearly spun off my neck as I watched her land in a tree that I had
just passed. You know those crazy drivers you see doing stupid things on
the highway? That was me last Sunday. I quickly pulled off the road while
being buzzed by an 18-wheeler, did a U-turn in front of oncoming traffic
and parked the roadside a couple of hundred yards from eagle. It was
fun using Loren’s Official Eagle Stalking Technique to get within 20
yards of the bird. Read more on my blog. |
| | Seeing light and shadows in Princeton |
| | As
part of my private instruction, I do a one-on-one shooting session.
Sunday I went to Princeton to finish a personal workshop and shoot some
photos around campus. It was a gorgeous morning and the tradition,
history and pride in Princeton is always evident. We were taking some
photos outside a building and a maintenance man stopped to give us a
brief history lesson. There are stars on the outside of many buildings
with names on them, they are the names of students who died at war, we
were told. The stars are put outside the window of the dorm the person
lived in while at Princeton. Pretty cool. Read more and see more photos
on my blog. |
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| | | | Judging a photo contest
I
had a good time Thursday night judging the Raritan Valley Camera Club’s
monthly photo competition. I met some interesting people and saw some
nice photography. This was a print competition and the club has a pretty
nifty setup to allow the judge to see the prints in a nicely lit
lightbox while the crowd sees the image projected on a screen. I gave
lots of feedback as the comments flowed out as they came into my mind. I
was a little nervous having my back to the crowd as I picked winners
but no bricks hit my head and my tires weren’t flat when I got to the
parking lot. It was a fun evening, I look forward to judging their big
annual contest at their banquet in June.
Meeting Up in Vermont and New Jersey I
did a critique session for the Queechee Area Camera Club Meetup group
on Thursday of last week. It is always interesting to see the work of
others and give people feedback in a way that can help them improve
their work. As I was learning photography, it was feedback that taught
me to look at things in different ways, making me a more robust
photographer.
Saturday
my Somerset Photography Meetup group met at Duke Farms in Hillsborough,
NJ. What a beautiful day at an amazing place. We had a big crowd with
over 30 photographers roaming the estate. I like being able to give
people some tips in the field and seeing people helping each other.
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Be ready: One
of the most important things I learned as a photojournalist was to
always be ready, because you never know when news is going to break. I
was raised in the film days and my number one rule was when I took a
roll out of the camera I put another one in. That way I didn’t have to
remember to put film in the camera when I was in a hurry. I still follow
that rule today with digital. When I take a card out to download it, I
put another one in. It keeps me from having to think, which is always
good. I do the same with batteries, if I’m recharging one, the other one
goes in the camera. That is also good for the batteries, it is better
to switch between them rather than let one sit idle for months.
I
also keep the camera settings on something average. I’ll either put it
in Aperture Priority exposure mode and set the lens on f/2.8 or put my
manual settings on something like f/2.8 and 1/250th for the shutter
speed with the ISO on 400. So if I am driving along and a big-ass bald
eagle is flying at me, I don’t have to think, I’m ready to shoot. Last
Sunday, I did need to switch to my 70-200mm zoom and put on the 2X
converter, but that didn’t take long and, more importantly, there wasn’t
anything to forget. There was a setting I didn’t have right and that
was the drive speed, which I had set to single shot. I’ll now remember
to return it to multiple shot so I can get fast shots of the eagle in
flight.
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