Well, Frugal February is 3/4 of the way done and I have survived!! This weekend was ideal. As I had my photography class all weekend, there was no time to go to the shops or browse the net. I was also so busy that I didn’t waste the whole day logged on to facebook and blogger. Okay, so enough of the self righteousness. What did I actually do?
I have survived my weekend photography class. There were many times that I felt so disappointed with my photos, they seemed even worse than the ones I took before the lessons. However, I came away with objective imput from our teacher and many, many areas that I can work on over the next few months.
I haven’t done any ‘adult learning’ classes in years and forgot how much fun it is. I met so many different kinds of people and it was lovely to have a whole weekend in which to immerse myself in my hobby with like minded people who all had their own stories to tell.
Started off the day with a hearty breakfast. I had a huge Maccas craving this morning. I haven’t eaten a hash brown in decades. Each bite took me back down memory lane – the breakfasts in Fremantle we’d have with mum and dad after a swim. Maccas brings families together, it’s not just advertising psychology.
Don’t you love the diversity of classes offered?
Class was hard core. There was so much theory yesterday, I was exhausted by the time I got home. I tried the practice exercises but failed miserably on my own. Didn’t matter what aperture I used, everything looked equally focussed and flat.
Luckily, there were great subjects to practice on whilst our tutor was talking. There was a genius young lady in our corner who taught us oldies heaps. I feel so old. I’m in my mid 30s and there’s no escaping I ain’t in my late 20s any more. Sigh. Cue a moment if intropsection and development of my changing identity and role in society. Photography really does look into the soul.
So, we have great depth of field as demonstrated by the focus of all the loops of the notebook on the left and a shallow depth of field on the right. I’ve been reading all this theory for months but could never make the leap of executing the concepts until today. I love you spiral notebooks and coffee cups.
Then is was off to Hyde Park to put it all into practice.
Where theory (eventually became reality). Must remember to use the magnify function on my camera to check the quality of my images as I take them. That way I can actually see what is and isn’t in focus. Everything looks sharp and it’s hard to get the details on the standard play back images. I also got ideas for images that didn’t translate to great photos, but it’s give me something to work towards. The bubbler was a good idea but is out of focus in the final image, for example.
Then, the fun bit – making like speed cameras. We were there to practice using shutter speed, panning and composition of moving targets.
Yay – the motorbike is moving and the foreground is focused.
Got the moving taxi and there is context with the background in focus.
And finally, a bit of free time to explore what we’d learned. I missed a great shot of the memorial completely reflected in the pool in the foreground. Duh, duh, duh…….
By the end of the day, I was getting the irrits. It was both hot and humid and there were people everywhere. With the benefit of a cold shower, fresh clothing, a cold coke and dinner – I’m pretty happy with how far I’ve come in two days.
Patience and perserverance, where would we be without them?