July 23, 2011 was a GREAT day! Angela Lahr and I signed up for a Photo Safari class with John at Madhaus Gallery in Winterset. He was wonderful!!! He had been a photo journalist and traveled the world taking amazing photographs that conveyed amazing emotion. Now him and his wife, Robin also an artist, own the old Madisonian building in Winterset. They have converted it into an art studio/retail/ and New York style loft...it's beautiful! They both teach classes, and I would highly reccomend ANY of them!
The class began at 9 AM, I had borrowed a camera from my mother in law, as I have yet to take the plunge into buying the bigger, badder equipment, and was very intimidated by it! He sat us down and talked about the basics for taking our camera's off 'idiot mode' AKA auto. He taught us the science behind our Fstops, and shutter speeds...I was way intimidated now! One gentleman in our class had been taking pictures for 30 years, and was basically a pro...what was I doing here??? After giving is the 'vodoo' of the camera, we headed out to Cedar Bridge to learn about lighting.
John was great, moving all over the place to really show us the impact of positioning and letting the sun and shadows work for us. We discovered 'guiding lines' and not to center a picture (i hate centered pictures!) We played with blurring and panning...love these, and want to play with them when Ethan is back on the soccer field this fall! He instructed us on how to use our Fstops in the light, and dimmer areas inside and out of the bridge. He says he hates to model, but let us use him at our guinea pig :)
After the instruction, he set us loose. At first I didn't know what to do, I froze. Ugh, stand and snap...not very artistic. Then I moved away from the bridge with Ang. We discovered the brick walkway, and tried our hands at 'ground up' shots. Beyond the brick path was a beautiful gazeebo and flower garden...we hit the money! Ang is much more of a 'flowers and babies' kinda girl ;) So she was in heaven snapping away at all that mother nature had painted for her. I'm a bit more abstract, I like to TRY to relay an idea, or thought. I definitely over think in all areas of my life! haha! So we snapped away, really getting into it..I was thrilled, the juices were flowing and I could've stayed all day. I only shot one side of the bridge, I probably would've been there for hours going all the way around, and then doing it all again because the lighting had changed and everything looked different! But, sweat was literally ROLLING off all of us, so we headed back to the gallery.
Robin had prepared quite the spread for lunch, so we enjoyed in the AC and watched some clips of Robin on HGTV (my FAVORITE channel, other than history and E!..I'm such a geek!) So, as we were eating, John came around to gather our cards and load them....lunch was not settling so well now. I hadn't even thought about being nervous about sharing my photos and having them picked apart...hello nerves! I suddenly realized what it was, I had always thought of my pictures as just taking a picture of what we all saw. But suddenly I remember when I last felt this way, sharing my poetry. I wasn't just taking a picture of what everyone saw, it was what and HOW I saw the world. I didn't just stand, center and shoot. I see the world differently than everyone else, we all do. And now everyone was going to see something personal, it was like giving them my eyes...very odd.
Everyone had done great, it was so neat to see everyone's point of view. Angela did amazing! And those flowers sang to her, and she captured them perfectly. And that brick road....I was in awe, I loved that shot! She's on her way people, I can't wait to see what she can do when she master's photo shop. I was the second to last to be shown. My stomach was in knots...how silly! John started gong through, and I had a quite a few 'bad' shots, but I heard a few, 'wow's' from John...very encouraging. He liked my perspective, that I was able to relay how I was seeing the world YES!!!! He found a shot that he liked from each of us, and played with it in photo shop to show us the potential. He found one of mine, a Cady drove across the bridge while we were walking back up, and I managed to hit the ground and snap a ground up shot, he must've seen some potential in that one.
After that we spent a couple hours in photo shop. I have to say this is not my favorite part. I love the idea of cropping, dodging and burning...other than that, I'm out. I'm just not there yet. Now Ang, on the other hand, is really into it. She wanted to know all about how to add color, blacken backgrounds, etc. She really is going to be a great photographer. At three class was over, and we were outta there, and on a mission for WINE!
Ang and I grabbed our mom's and headed out to Covered Bridge Winery. I know one of the owners, Rose. She teaches Yoga at our gym and is one of the nicest people I know. It was HOT out, but the shade, breeze, music and wine-a-ritas made it worth while. Covered Bridges Winery is much different than most, there is no giant state of the art 'tasting house' it's all outside. They have music a couple times a month and host tastings. You can bring your own chairs, snacks, men even bring their own beer. It's so relaxed, it's like a picnic. Angela had to leave early, then my mom left, Nate came out, and Ang's mom Vicki went home. Nate and I stayed late. Enjoying the music and atmosphere. We chatted with friends and snacked on everyone's food. I took a short walk, and snapped a few pictures of the vines. I would love to go back on a sunny day and use a whole card, it's beautiful out there!
All in all, it was my idea of a perfect ME day. I can't wait to use what John taught, and I am upgrading to the 'bad boy' cameras I was so afraid of. This is what finding, me, is all about.
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