My thoughts in one word – inspirational
I surprised mom with a photography course for her birthday this year and we both loved it! If you’re ever in the St. Albert, Alberta area, I would highly recommend it. It was the Mastering Your SLR Course held by Joel Koop & Eric Beliveau.
It’s a full day course that covers the basics of how to work your DSLR camera and it really focuses on clearly explaining aperture, shutter speed & ISO. What I loved most about the course is that at the end, Joel gives you an example photo and you have to say what you think the aperture was, or the type of lens used, or what the shutter speed was, and it is incredible how well you can guess these details after soaking up the information gained earlier in the day!
The also touched on things like filters, lenses and cleaning gear. I found all this information really helpful and at the end of the day, I felt inspired and was ready to get shooting!
APPLYING THE KNOWLEDGE:
PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING!
It must have been the hoar-frost and thick fog that resulted in many photographers playing about on this particular day, but I noticed one thing – people seemed to gather where others were already set up and shooting, so I decided to give it a try. The photo below on the left is the result. I didn’t love it.
Check out that image above on the right though! I did a bit more scouting and found these iron rails that were super rusty and I loved the faux atmosphere perspective effect (thank you Joel for making me sound like I know what I’m talking about) that the fog created on the nearby grain elevators.
I remember feeling so much excitement when I took the photo on the right because it taught me not to be afraid to step outside the box (and maybe hop a fence or two) just in case it leads to a super cool shot!
THE IMPORTANCE OF LAYERS!
I really loved how the snow and fog made it seem like the ground and sky were almost one, and then I spotted this bright green tractor! Although I had an idea of how I wanted to blend the ground and sky into one, it didn’t quite turn out the way it looked in my head as per the photo on top. Plus, it’s super under exposed… snow is tricky! So I walked over to some tall weeds covered in hoar-frost and incorporated them into the shot. Having a foreground, mid-ground & background made this shot more interesting.
Thanks again to Joel and Erik for sharing their knowledge and experience. If any of those other courses offered by St. Albert Photo Classes become available before the new adventure begins, count me in!
Here’s a link to the course: Mastering your SLR
I’m particularly in love with Joel’s work. In case you’d like to have a peek, here’s a link to his website: Joel Koop. My favourite photo has to be the one labelled Frozen Night under “Impressions.” Well done my friend!
LESSONS LEARNED:
- Don’t be afraid to step outside the box!
- Remember to incorporate all three layers (foreground, mid-ground & background) whenever possible!
GEAR USED TO TAKE THESE PHOTOS: