I've forever been interested in photography and, recently, I signed up for and attended a photography workshop. It was given by a good friend of ours, Jami Broadbent. She's the pretty girl holding the flower. (She was helping me learn to use the focus points on my camera.) I've known Jami for over 10 years, having met her through one of my longtime friends, Mr. Jarin Broadbent, Emeritus Champion Elvis impersonator and 1st chair percussionist, 8th grade band. He's the classy guy with the polka-dot phone in hand. Anyway, these are two of the best people I know, and it's been fun having Jami teach me the art of portrait photography. (Mind you, she is one of the best photographers around, seriously.)
Her course was six weeks long and I learned a lot. The class was interesting from the beginning. When I arrived for the first class, I found myself to be the only guy. The other 10 students were all girls. I could also be identified in class as the only one using a point and shoot camera, rather than the fancier, more professional SLRs. Everyone was nice to me about it, and eventually, I got my own SLR. Yeah!!! Best present to myself, ever! (Thank you for letting me get it Honey). Also, eventually, another guy began showing up for class. The testosterone and estrogen see-sawed more toward a balance.
Jami taught us everything we need to know. (Well, to get us started anyway. I keep telling her she needs to do "Jami's Photography Workshop, Volume II.") I now know about apertures, f-stops, ISO, and histograms. I know what someone means when they talk about leading lines, the rule of thirds, and proper subject-framing. I feel so smart. But I also know that there is a ton that I still don't know. And I'm still thousands of dollars away from being properly and sufficiently equipped to do wildlife photography as I'd like. Still, I'm wiser than I was a couple of months ago.
Saturday was our final class. For it, we hung out around the quaint downtown of Payson, UT. We had a model there, a daughter of one of my classmates. (I'm so bad; I've forgotten her name. I want to say Mallory, but I'm unsure). At any rate, she was a great model; made it easy to take decent pictures. I still don't have all the settings just right, but I've posted 3 of, what I feel are, my best pictures.
Hope you all like them. And if you don't, I'll gladly accept your constructive criticism.
6 comments:
I'm very impressed. I think they look very professional. I've always wished I had even a small bit of talent when it came to photography. I love to take photos but they just never come out how I thought they would. I've thought about taking a class, but I have been held back a little by the fact that I don't have the proper equipment. Maybe I just need to start with the basics since my dad does teach a photography class. Hope you have fun strengthening your new talent. I expect that it will mean more frequent posts to show off your skills.
I wouldn't say I have talent. A bit of luck and a better camera did all the work. If you have an OK digital point and shoot, you can get pretty great photos. I never knew mine had all of the manual settings it does. Of course, I had to purchase a digital SLR anyway, which makes taking nice photos fairly easy. You should definitely take a class. It's well worth it.
Wow Wade! Those look awesome! Nice work.
Thanks Joeley. I tried my best.
Wade,
I LOVED this post...nicely done fellow student...I too, agree that Jami needs to teach us a second class after baby #3 gets here...and that she is the BEST photographer around...and YES, her name was MALLORY, good job!
But I do have ONE small question?? When the heck did you learn histograms???
Where was I???
Haha. Marie, histograms are the little graph looking things, which tell you how the color is balanced. I'm not sure how to read them yet. Hmmm....We really do need Jami's Photography Workshop Part II.
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