F/Stop - July, 2008

PWP2 | Monday course update template:

Hello. My name is [first name], and I am a student at PWP2 in [course city name]. Today was our first day of class. After a good breakfast, [instructor's name] taught on [session topic], then we practiced [verb]. Then [instructor's name] taught on [session topic], and we did a speed shoot. We had 30 minutes to shoot, edit, and turn in one image that described the concept [concept name]. After lunch, [instructor's name] spoke on [topic], and then we had [number] shooting assignments to fulfill, using [camera tools] and [objects]. It was a lot of fun! After the shoot, we came back to our classroom and [verb] our images, then we did review and critique. After dinner we went worked on [project name] until bedtime. It was a productive day, and I learned a lot.

[signed]

[full name]

Unfortunately, IPS course updates don't fit in templates. Neither does allowing God to impact lives, interacting with people around me, or changing the world. Some things are harder than they appear at first glance, and today definitely taught me that.

IPS's PWP 2 teaches fundamentals in posing, lighting, editing, and workflow for both portraits and still life images. Today we discussed topics ranging from Digital Asset Management (how to organize your images and digital files) to Using and Directing Light (where you want the light to go, and how to get it to go there). And, of course, we spent plenty of time putting our new skills to practice.

But more than this, IPS PWP2 teaches students to pursue God wholeheartedly, to see people as Christ sees them, and to move beyond themselves to communicate truth with excellence. Today I learned how to see Keith, the homeless carpenter, as Christ sees him. I learned to press into the heart of God even when I felt discouraged and overwhelmed. I learned that things are not always as they appear. And God reminded me that He was faithfully triumphant yesterday, and will be just as faithful and just as victorious today and tomorrow.

And, of course, these skills need a lot of practice, as well.

—PWP2 Student Sarah Danaher

Emotion. Purpose. Perspective. Contrast. Color. Light. Speed. Focus. Union Station.

Challenge. Trial. Error. Frustration. Food. Friends. Being. Smiles. Communication. Laughs. Rain. Coffee. Lollipops.

These are my words of the day. Some days don't have quite so many words, but this week has been full of really long days.

I feel like we've been here at least a week already, and it's only Wednesday :)

It is really easy to get so caught up in trying to apply the massive amounts of technical instruction we have received, that I stop listening for God's voice in the midst of this. It is easy to stop praising Him for His wondrous works in creation & redemption while I'm trying to fulfill a list of assigned shots. It is easy to look at the work of God's hands and not see God because I'm stressing out over doing everything "right." But that is not why I'm here. I am here to glorify and enjoy the God who created me. I am here to know Him in this box called a camera that mimics the incredible eye He created. I am here to learn how to use new tools to communicate timeless truth to a lost world. I am here to gain new perspective, to be inspired and challenged to communicate more clearly the stories God walks me through on my journey of life. And I am tempted to be discouraged, to feel failure and disappointment when I don't get a shot I want. I am tempted to lean on my own understanding, instead of trusting Jesus for grace and creativity and looking for wisdom and counsel in the amazing instructors that He has brought into my life this week. I am tempted to stay in my own little comfort space, instead of reaching out in love and exploring the lives of the 31 beautiful people God has put me here with this week.

I know I wasn't the only person frustrated today. I know I wasn't the only person struggling to apply the things we learned. But my prayer tonight is that none of us would walk through another day feeling like the frustrations are a waste. God has brought us here, and He is with us even in our struggle to learn when to set the shutter speed fast and when to use a really low aperture. May we find ourselves so satisfied in Jesus that we start to see more like He sees, and as we spend time with Him, and become more like Him, may our pictures reflect the light of God's love to a dark world.

"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21)

—IPS Student Lindsey Quann