our last photo class homework assignment was to create a series of images about something that we love. i adore new york and two of my absolute favorite places in new york are poets walk (aka the mall) in central park and the brooklyn bridge. since i used poets walk for homework assignment number 4, i bet you can't guess what i chose as my subject for the final series...come on, one guess...
i chose the brooklyn bridge on a gorgeous sunshine filled blue sky evening. the problem that i encountered was that it became quite difficult to compose my photos how i wanted them because the bridge was swarming with tourists. this was not unexpected but i was disappointed that i didn't do exactly what i wanted. maybe it's a blessing in disguise so that i can go back again to really get the shots i had composed in my head.
behold, i give you the 'me and the bridge' photography series.
we had to present our series at class. my teacher told me i did a 'great job'. woot woot. i'm totally biased but i thought that my series was the most cohesive of the rest of my fellow classmates. it had the same subject and color tone.
our last class we spent outdoors practicing our panning technique and learning how to use the built-in flash for those moments when it is absolutely necessary. it was really funny to practice our panning. we found a large gap between cars because of a fire hydrant so the 8 of us literally lined up shoulder-to-shoulder on this small stretch of road on 2nd avenue. our teacher jumped up on the hydrant and would yell "biker, biker, biker" to alert us that a person was about to ride by our camera line up on a bicycle. then she would jump off the fire hydrant and run in front of us along the street. we laughed a lot and enjoyed the strange looks we got by people as we would start looking to our right and follow them to the left.
this is our teacher Patricia running back and forth so we can get "the shot"
captured using the focus panning technique
i must say one of the best compliments i have ever received happened while i was chatting with teacher patricia and owner francisco at the end of the very last class. i've mentioned before that my camera is quite limited because it is over 4 years old. so we were chatting about which model i should consider grabbing next. then patricia told me that i take stunning photographs with a lesser camera than the others. she was very impressed with my abilities when using a camera that wasn't as "high tech" as the others. i love being praised for something that i have created.
i'm sad that there are no more classes for me in the photography realm right now. my time and funds need to be focused in another direction. maybe in a few years, after i upgrade my camera, i'll find my way back to photo uno for some more instruction. because in a few years i'll have mastered shooting only in manual mode and will need some new challenges.
