take a photography course

I really enjoyed my photography course. It’s like Peter has cracked open all of these doors of knowledge and creativity – now I have a broad understanding of framing pictures, looking at light and color differently, and a general appreciation on the art form.

I made a few friends in the process too, hope to keep in touch with Leanne and John for awhile.

...that if the class ended after one week, I would be COMPLETELY satisfied with it’s value. First of all, there are 6 students of varying experience – so a very personal experience. Secondly, the teacher is a renowned professional photographer (Peter Schutte, from the Netherlands). He told stories of working with great American photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. That blew my mind. He asked us questions that got us out of our comfort zone. We plan on taking field trips all over Portland and the Columbia Gorge. We went through photography books and discussed what we enjoyed.

Notes from the class:

Edward Weston
Paul Strand
Alfred Stieglitz
Ray Atksinson
W. Eugene Smith

Enjoy yourself.
Take fewer, more meaningful pictures.
If time and money were no concern, what would you photograph?
What do you enjoy taking pictures of?
What do you find difficult taking pictures of?

Baking analogy: Heat + Time (Aperture + Shutter Speed)

Skin analogy: Lighter skin has a high ISO (more sensitivity to light), darker skin would have low ISO (less sensitivity to light).

Doubling the ISO number of the film doubles its sensitivity to light. In other words, you could capture a low-light scene with a shutter speed of 1/15 second with ISO 100 film, or 1/60 second with ISO 400.

Still too much light, use a quicker shutter speed.
Anything beyond 1/250th of a second will be a frozen image.
Experiment with shutter speed blurs to convey movement.
Pay attention to the histogram.

for the photography course today. Starts on 6/16.