Monday, April 18, 2005

The Spring 2005 Prizewinning Photography course is off to a great start!

Monday - Day 2 ñ Our morning session covered the basics of camera equipment and cleaning. Once we had our cameras cleaned and ready, we hit the streets of downtown Dallas for a photo shoot. The contest categories of the day were "shoes" and "smiles."

We got to exercise creativity ñ and boldness ñ as we stopped strangers to ask them permission to take pictures of their faces or footwear! We came back with plenty of pictures of the buildings and landscape, too.

During the afternoon, we learned about exposure and lighting. Since we now understand the effect that settings like aperture have on our pictures, we all noticed things about our prints that we could have improved. We spent the evening discussing those things and receiving insightful reviews from our instructors, as well.

I started out this week with an interest in photography and a desire to learn how to take great pictures. After only a day and a half, Iíve learned so much about my camera and ways to improve my photos, that I canít wait for Tuesday's photo shoot to experiment with all the new information.

Our instructors are giving us more than just knowledge. Their passion for the Lord and for glorifying Him through photography is highly contagious. Even though weíve only spent two days together, weíre already catching the vision of how we can take better pictures and honor the Lord through them.

—Prizewinning Photography Student Melva Wahl