Class Week 4 - Flora, Fauna & All That Gardeny Stuff

I don't know how I came about the museum but it took several months to work out a schedule with my daughter and make our way to the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts www.FMoPA.org in Tampa. On a regular basis before our visit I would search the museum's website and always checked out the classes, dreaming and wondering what they would be like.

There seems to be a number of photographers who pride themselves on being self-taught and the idea of taking a class is just so beneath them. I do not understand this logic. Not knowing where I stand in my knowledge of my talent or abilities, I say bring on the teacher or just any really knowledgeable photographer I can suck the life knowledge out of!!! It's really hard for me to behave sometimes when all I want is the power of knowledge. To rule the universe!! Okay not really, I just wanna take pictures.

So one day I did it, called my daughter and said I am taking a class at FMoPA and I got her to sign up for the four week intermediate course with me, instructed by Freelance Photographer, Chip Weiner www.chipshotz.com and here I start us out at the end of the four week course.

Friendships have started over the four week period and the mixed feelings that morning of, "Oh Yay!! we have class!!" to "Awww this is our last one". Jen & I had to be on the road at 6:30am to meet up with the group at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo, FL. Jen needed a coffee fix so we stopped at Starbucks and I needed batteries for my flash unit, I had to be prepared!! You want to show that instructor you are not going to waste his / her time by not being prepared. Make sure you learn from your mistakes, I'd like to think we have. [Had to purchase a flash card on our way one time to an outing Jen & I were going out on, Jen didn't remember to bring one :( Then there was another time Jen again forgot to put a card in her camera, wow I let her have it about being responsible and making sure we have everything we need BECAUSE we could be doing a wedding and then what. Someone within the group we were with loaned Jen a card. That was the same day I went to take my first picture and realized my battery was still at home charging. MY BAD!! Yeah... I ate my words that morning. Lucky for me we had someone within our group that was able to loan me a fully charged battery. It's easy to forget things and just as easy to put everything together the night before and if you have to make a list, just do it.]

So this was our last day, the dreaded day I would force myself to use my flash unit as a fill source of light. Over the last one and a half year period of trying to learn Everything I could wrap my brain around, flash had not been one of them.

There was an expected rain shower maybe later in the day..... NOT!! Rain started while we were meeting the group in the parking lot. I've shot in a light shower under the cover of an umbrella, not an issue. So as we met in the parking lot that morning we sheltered under the cover of an overhang on the gift shop building for question and answer. The rain let up and we were on our way with Chip demonstrating an off camera lighting technique before we went off to explore the gardens.

Flowers are not my best subject and to add the certain death of my unwanted flash, yuck!! I wasn't happy. Chip stepped in to work with me on setting the proper aperture and shutter speed to get the proper fill light. Making me really think about what I needed to do to get the proper exposure. My brain doesn't like numbers; I just cannot process numbers very easily in my head so anything related to numbers sends me into a panic. As hard as my brain had to think that day I got really worn out.

It's one thing to put pressure on yourself just thinking about composition, natural lighting, controls on the camera and now this blasted flash!! Gosh it was tough and I did not think one image would be worth keeping, almost making me feel like this was a lost cause. It was getting muggy out and I was starting to just sweat, but that was due to how hard my brain was working.

When you are out with your camera and experimenting on manual settings, mostly everyone you meet with maybe the exception of that one person who has a much bigger lens than you or other gear that makes them stick out, simply sees that big old camera around your neck and has no clue you might be unsure of what you are doing. They just see a photographer that is going to get incredible pictures.

Knowledge is power and though things might be hard to grasp at first stick with it, frustration will give way to familiarity were new challenges reap rewards.

Go out and get snap happy :)