F/Stop - Prizewinning Photography - June, 2004

Aperture settings, ISO ratings, negative vs. slide film, shutter speeds, light meters, the "Rule of Thirds" and oh, so many other complicated procedures! Lord, how can I cram all this information into my little mind and actually be able to pull it out and use it for our next photo shoot much less, the rest of my life? Ah, yes, I've known this before, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (I Cor. 12:9)

God showed up in so many ways today, with a mission to make this verse special to the students at Prizewinning Photography. I, being one of them, experienced it in my own personal way! Katie Miller started the day off with a challenge to give our weaknesses to God, to let Him be our strength in everything that we do, including photography.

The photo shoot was first on the schedule, so off we headed in the vans with high spirits and high hopes. However, somehow we ended up with wrong directions! After a few wrong exits and u-turns, we finally arrived at our destination of downtown Naperville, a glorious little town with quaint side streets and plenty of Starbucks shops! Today's contests were "Patriotic," "Periwinkle," and "Post." With 2 rolls of film and about 2 1/2 hours, we were ready to take on the world!

So much could be said about what we saw and the people we met, but that will have to remain in our memories and photo albums for later. Many of the shots that we took came out awesome, and some of them you'll see. What many of us did find out though, was that when we got our film back from the developer, we still had a lot to learn.

Some photos did not turn out like we wanted them to. I'm glad though, for me, because I was actually able to learn more from the ones that I messed up on than the ones that were perfect, because the ones that were perfect were, well… perfect. But, how many times in our life does God give us challenges and harder times, knowing that He will be able to teach us more in the hard times than if we had an easy life! But, praise God! He's always there to help us through it!

So, on we moved through our day, learning new and exciting things! We learned about the cool filters that we could use to get different colors and effects, about the latest edge in technology with digital imaging and even a little bit about Adobe Photoshop! All in all, I can say that this was a great day! God showed up taught us amazing things through each of the lessons our instructors shared! And hey, tomorrow is a new day with a new roll of film!

–IPS Student Jenny Erickson

As I reflect on the start of our first full day of IPS one phrase comes to mind-brain overload. Earlier in the day, I caught myself dwelling on how impossible it was for me to learn all that is being taught. I soon realized that fear and pride were hindering me from reaching the full potential that God would have me achieve through this course. If I allow the enemy's use of confusion and despair to block my path, my potential ministry through photography could be ruined.

It really came down to a matter of faith. As we began our first photo shoot, I had to overcome this fear and pride and simply throw myself into it. I had to accept the fact that I was going to make mistakes, and that it would be those mistakes that would become the springboard for learning. When, by the grace of God, I overcame that initial fear, a whole new world of opportunity for personal growth and ministry was opened before me.

—IPS Student Daniel Cavanaugh