Photography Workshop Assignment

I'm doing something crazy - CRAZY! I've signed myself up for a photography workshop this upcoming weekend in Tacoma!

I know - it's CRAZY! I'm getting laid off and in these times, I don't know when I will get another job. Money is tough.... but something called me and told me that this is where I need to be.

I've been following a blog Me Ra Koh of an self-taught award winning wedding photographer for a couple of years now and love reading her blog everyday. She hosts beginning photography workshops where it supposedly goes way beyond just the photography aspect of it all and delves into confidence and creativity and all sorts of other areas.

I'm so excited I just can't hold it back anymore!

Our first assignment before the workshop was to take some photos of someone (friend, spouse, kid) where you take about 30 minutes to reveal their personality (and don't take too many shots - maybe about 20 pictures). My first thought was - OK, I can do this. Second thought was - 30 minutes is a long time for only ~20 pictures! We were to really try to capture their personality. We were to write down what came naturally and what was challenging.

Of course, I have my trusty subject Alex to help me out.

I buttered him up by taking him out to a restaurant on Sunday evening (while Lance was working) and we enjoyed a nice meal sitting outside watching all the people and cars go by. He just loves this! He shouts "Mama look - a Motorcycle!" or "Big Red Truck". Then I ask him if he would like to go on a hike to a river or go home. Guess what he chose???

We have a nice trail by our house that has a creek not too far away and a bridge. I thought about where I could do this shoot and this was definitely the place.

Here are the results of my workshop assignment:

I made him giggle!

Running - running everywhere

Playing with my lens cover and using it like a play camera - click click

Running again!

What I noticed that felt natural: I know his personality, he is easy to smile and laugh, always moving, I got on his level, I waited for moments to happen and was mostly able to capture special ones.

What I noticed was challenging: I realized after I looked at photos at home that I had forgotten about ISO and probably should have changed it a lot more, all the buttons, sometimes my focus point was wrong with a low aperture value and therefore the picture didn't come out the way I wanted, I realized that I needed more patience that I usually have with shooting and more time to just look around and take it all in.

Overall - I'm very excited about this upcoming weekend and looking forward to what may learn about myself. Pray for Daddy taking care of Alex ALL WEEKEND LONG! And thanks to him for supporting me in this CRAZY endeavor!