On the spur of the moment, after reading this blog post, I knew I had found the next-step solution for taking my photography up a notch. (This was on an unofficial summer list of things to do.) But on the Big Day, the temperature was climbing steadily towards triple digits, and the workshop called for photographing handknits in natural light settings. Yikes! I called WEBS, (Northampton, MA) where Gale Zucker was scheduled to give the Photography for Knitters workshop. No, there was no cancellation due to weather! In the infamous words of Tim Gunn, “Carry on!”
Gale took us a through a terrific slide show on color, lighting, and composition. My favorite thing was how she talked us through photo examples from her own files, pointing out what could be improved upon, and comparing these to final images. Very instructive.
Gale’s only prerequisite was that we be familiar with the manual settings on our digital cameras. In the old days (of film), manual was all that I knew, but I confess that since making the transition to my Nikon D40 I have been lazy and relied on the automatic option. Time to change that! After shifting back and forth between the Shutter and Aperture settings, experimenting as quickly as I could before the model changed her pose, I realized that perhaps my over-the-counter reading glasses need a custom prescription upgrade. Out of more than hundred frames shot that afternoon, I ended up with only five that I like.
A cool little side note: while introducing myself to Adrian, one of Gale’s workshop models, I thought I recognized her flickr profile name. Turns out we’ve been flickr photostream friends for a while! That was fun.
The workshop was fantastic and honestly, I was so focused on what we were doing while we were shooting outdoors that I forgot about the heat. Here’s where you’ll find Gale teaching next:
Fiber College, Sept. 8-11, 2011. Searsport, ME
Creative Connection Event, Sept. 15-17, 2011. St. Paul, MN
“Keep shooting — pixels are free!” –Gale Zucker
Isn’t Gale’s class great? I have a new camera, so I want to take it again. When it isn’t hot out.
Totally great. Already looking forward to the next one I can take.
Nice work Lisa! You’d never knowvthat it was like walking around in a sauna was while looking at these ! So great to have you in the class.
Thank you, Gale! Such an honor to receive a comment from the teacher!