Thursday, April 10, 2003

We started the day with Mr. Chandler reminding us that our resources belong to the Lord and should always be used for His glory. He is then free to bless the work of our hand however He chooses. He also encouraged us to always be listening and learning from those around us because no matter how good we become, or how much we know, we'll never know it all.

Then we headed out for the activities of the day. First stop, STARBUCKS! The Arboretum didn't open until 10 AM, so we had to go somewhere…

Armed with a roll of black & white film, plus the leftover color from last nights' "night shoot" of the city, we entered the arboretum. When we walked in we were surrounded by so much natural beauty. I was reminded of Job 37:14, "Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God." His uniqueness was visible everywhere in the variety of colors, flowers, and foliage. How awesome our God is!

We attended three workshops teaching different aspects of portraits. They included working with children, bridal, and couples portraits. I never realized how different each groups needs were to work with, or how fun.

Now we are free to use our film to try some of the fun things we learned about portraits and to try to capture some of the beauty of our surroundings on our own. We tried broad-lighting, profiles and 3/4 profiles, but the self-portrait seemed to be the most difficult thing to accomplish. There was a lot of laughter heard at both the attempts and viewing of these.

We toured The Color Place and saw many of their works in progress. We learned about digital recreation and printing of banners and vinyl signs for advertisers, and the changes that have occurred in film developing. Then we heard from a Canon representative who showed many different pieces of equipment that are available today and what you can do with each one.

The instructors have done a wonderful job of keeping things both informative and enjoyable–the best possible combination. I have been so encouraged by their servants' hearts that so quickly and willingly drop whatever they are working on to answer our questions, be our models, or help us understand the "whys" of the "hows". Thanks, guys.

This has been an incredible week of learning to see light in action as it bounces off our lives and reflects to the world what we really are, for "we are the light of the world". I pray our reflections glorify Him in our work here this week, and in the future work we do in our lives.

–IPS Student Kelly Miller