F/Stop - April, 2006

Ooooh... aaaah... wow! This week has been amazing! But since I've been chosen to write about only one day, that's what I intend to do. Thursday started off by going to Starbucks... pretty cool. I didnít get anything, but the coffee drinkers liked it!

After that stop, we piled into vans and headed to the Dallas Arboretum. Walking in, it's amazing! Trees, flowers, stone benches, cool lighting, and a nice warm day! We were split into two groups: the first went with Will, who was taking pictures of a couple, and the other group went with Katie, taking pictures of a bride. Later we switched workshops, and then went off in groups of three to take our assignment pictures. Our special photo shoot at the end of the week was going onto the roof of the school and taking night shots of the skyline and all the lights, testing our aperture, shutter speed, timer, and white balance. It was a lot of fun and very pretty!

Things I've learned in the four days I've been here: How to look for light and where the shadows are. What kind of lighting I want and need. What aperture and shutter speed are, how to use them, and what they do to the picture. That getting a viewer's eye is extremely important. That filling the frame is even more important. Getting a picture that tells a story, not too much in it, and not too little either.

All in all, I've been having a great time! Instructors are fun, helpful, and sweet! I really like the way they tie God into everything we do here. It's a great experience, one that you will never for get, so don't miss out on it!

—Prizewinning Photography Student Rosetta Beachy

Wow. Happy. Wow. Nifty. Fun! Wow...

My experience at IPS has been awesome. I'm learning so much about photography! Today we went to the Cattle Drive and Thanksgiving Square to practice our newly acquired knowlege of aperture and shutter speed. After getting back and hearing from our instructors how our pictures could be better, we all want to go out and shoot again!

But, you know what, the things I'm learning here go beyond photography—it's deeper than that. What I mean is that the message I am learning from our instructors is about God. Their humble example of letting God lead in every part of their lives is such a blessing to see. It touches my heart, making me continue to long for a closer relationship with our awesomely majestic Creator.

—Prizewinning Photography Student Carolita Yoder

If a picture says a thousand words, then today warrants about five or six, high resolution, photographs.

Leadership Study: Being a leader in today's world is quite a feat; especially when an ambitious, young person seeks to impact the world. This is exactly what Timothy faced when he was leading a portion of the early church. Paul told Timothy not to let people look down on him just because he was young, but to be an example through his speech, love, faith, and purity. We learned that, as a young leader, we need to build credibility—and the best way to do that is to be trustworthy and lead by example.

Photo Shoot: Today we visited the local Farmer's Market. What an interesting place! We practiced our in-camera cropping technique on the landscape and our lighting controls in the shopping area. There were so many neat things to shoot! The overcast sky gave us a fantastic medium to practice our diffused imaging skills.

Sessions: If I could describe today's lessons in one word, it would be: WOW. As in, what a wealth of information, my head is swimming, it's all beginning to come together, can any more be fit into these four hours? I can't wait to fiddle with Aperture, Exposure, and Black and White tomorrow!

Review and Critique: Whew...this was an exercise. Just when you thought you had an amazing picture, reality hits. The critiques really helped me understand what I had to work on and how I could improve the next day. One of the best parts of this experience was that the instructor gave us one or two tangible areas to work on instead of piling all our imperfections in our lap. This was extremely helpful in giving us goals for tomorrow's shoot.

Picture Analysis: At the end of the day we all gathered together to see a slideshow of the days photography competition. It was really interesting to see how many different pictures and angles people took during the two hours we were there.

Today was an amazing day full of laughter, creativity, and learning. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

—Prizewinning Photography Student Jessica Rondina

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1) Today we were able to capture several different frames things in God's world. Our IPS instructors brought us through a comprehensive guide to camera basics, understanding and applying composition, lighting, and emotional impact. We were then able to go downtown Dallas and photograph interesting subjects such as "brick, brown, and busy" for our photography contest. Each person's unique perspectives and talents were seen in the evening when we reviewed our photos from the day.

Being able to see different people and places today reminded me once more that this earth is the Lord's. His fingerprints are everywhere! What a privilege and responsibility we have as photographers to accurately depict what God is doing in this world. Photography is a tool that we can use to tell stories of what the Lord is doing around us. We are looking forward to seeing how we can better this skill of photography this week and use it to glorify our Lord.

—Prizewinning Photography Student Chiree Bollinger