Ok, where should I begin... So much happened today it's hard to remember back that far (kinda worrying since It's only 10pm and I'm already lost). This morning we started off with classroom sessions. Rowan taught us about the ins and outs of flash photography. From what I remember you're pretty much never supposed to use front flash. Usually it's better to bounce it off of something or at least use your TTL (bet ya don't know what that means... ok, well maybe you do). For the sake of sounding important it means: Through The Lens. In other words "lazy boy's flash photo." Why work when the camera can calculate exactly the right amount? I find no reason to argue.
After the flash photography session we moved on with a presentation from the local Canon rep. She started off by saying she would be unbiased (yeah right) but she did a fairly good job. She explained to us a little of Canon's corporate history. Did you know that Canon is actually the Japanese name for the god of mercy? Good thing I use a Nikon (who knows, Nikon is probably the Japanese god of wrath). Most interesting part of the Rep's visit was being able to play with all the new/expensive camera models. Making sure we didn't drool on them was rather difficult. After her visit, which was all too short, Will expounded to us the details of media. We learned all about ISO, megapixels, RGB, and all sorts of other good stuff. Learning about the different sizes of sensors was also quite interesting. Not all 4MP cameras are created equal.
As today was raining, our photo outing proved quite the undertaking. Marysville state forest was on the agenda and that's where we headed. All of us prayed that the rain would stop by the time we arrived. It didn't. However, despite the rain, we still managed to make the best of it. Played around with slow shutter speeds on the waterfalls. Also practiced our portrait taking skills, which for most of us weren't to be found. Overall it was a great outing. Many lovely ferns and much moss made great close up shots. Leeches were also an interesting part of our day. Ahh the life of a wanna-be professional photographer... always filled with excitement, dread, and danger. Finally burned off my new found friends when we got back to the training center. I'm hoping to use them as an excuse tomorrow. You know... camera shake because I'd lost so much blood, poor composition because I was feeling lightheaded. Sounds like a winner to me!
Ok, well, that's it for now. Tomorrow is test time so I'd best be getting on.
Cheers,
—Prizewinning Photography Student Joe West
