Parents' Day

Today was it, the last session for the Photo Class of 2013. As we did last year, the students put on slideshows for their parents of the photos they took, and described what went into them. What a great reflection of how much they learned in just two weeks it was! After the slideshows, the students set up the lights quickly and then took a photo of their parents, then took the memory cards to the computers and explained step by step to their parents what needed to be done on the computer after a digital photo has been taken. That too was greatly impressive, as they are brilliant at everything from importing, keywording/tagging, processing and then exporting the final images. Certainly they know more about what to do with digital photos than the vast majority of adults out there. Here are the results.

Kailynne's photo of her dad. He really tested them on every step of the post processing and Kailynne and her sister Kerrianne had answers for every question.

Here' Kerriane's capture of her father. A little more saturation and an equally great photo.

Here's Annie's father. He is a photographer too and you can see how proud he is that Annie is following in his footsteps.

Lauren's mom looks great thanks to Lauren's skills.

Unfortunately, Jim's parents had work obligations and couldn't make it. Luckily for Jim, Teacher Sally was ready and he did a great job behind the camera.

Benjamin's parents also had to work and sadly, the only person around to pose for him was this lumpy looking guy. Even with a poor subject, Ben did a great job!

So, that's it for 2013. What a fun class it was and what great progress everyone made. We are already looking forward to 2014.

Both Sides of the Camera

Today, the students got to experiment a little with the basics of studio photography. Using strobes for lighting is an all new skill set and after a short amount of explanation and experimentation, they were off and running again. Today was also the day that they weren't just the photographers and retouchers, but they also acted as photographer's assistant and model too. Lots to learn, but they took to it like ducks to water.

We'll start out today with Kerrianne, who did a great job, first with Lauren and then a serious looking Jim in black and white.

Next up was Kailynne, who got a great smile from Ben and managed to catch Annie at one of the few moments she wasn't smiling.

Next up is Lauren who got great expressions from both Jim and Kerrianne.

Annie stepped up and did great jobs with both Kailynne and Benjamin.

Ben got to bring in his bigger camera today, making his teacher a little jealous. He did a great job with both Annie and Kailynne.

Jim brings a smile to the lips of Kerrianne while making Lauren look noble and probably more serious than she often is.

Hard to believe that tomorrow is day ten, which will wrap things up this summer. I have to say that all of the students greatly exceeded my expectations. I think it is likely that the next Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Annie Leibovitz will be emerging from this crop. Keep your eyes out for them.

Landscape Day!

For many, if not most people, the first thing they think of when they think about photography is beautiful vistas, lovely mountains and peaceful rivers. This is landscape photography, coupled closely with its urban brother, cityscape photography. These genres can be inspiring and it is not for nothing that the best known photographer of all time, Ansel Adams, made his name shooting 'scapes. With this in mind, we headed out to the grounds of Chiang Kaishek Memorial Hall to try to blend the genres. With care and creativity, the students again delivered excellent results.

Jim's photo shows a great foreground rock, but he hasn't forgotten to give his image depth by also thoughtfully placing the bridge in the mid-distance and the CKS Memorial deep into the background.

Annie does the classics, with a subtle rock anchoring the foreground, while taking nothing away from the footbridge in the background.

Benjamin created a very three dimensional look by showing lots of foreground, with huge structures looking tiny in the distance.

Kailynne chose a similar spot to Annie in taking her photo, but the slight change in perspective make her photo unique and totally hers.

Kerryanne also went with a lovely, wide view, showing lots of depth and scale, from the CKS Memorial, out towards the National Concert Hall and the National Theater. Nicely done.

 

Wow, the camp is flying by, but the results are certainly great. Next is the penultimate class, followed by the presentation day for the parents. Not much left, but make sure you check back soon, as you won't want to miss anything.

Food, Glorious Food

With the rise of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and especially Instagram, food photography has never been more popular.. Cashing in on the trend, we decided to give things a go. Mouthwatering results were the result!

Fruit and soft drinks from Benjamin. Looks delicious and if you don't drink, very healthy too.

Annie shows us a nice, simple lunch. She also made a good use of a creative background.

Tea, cookies and a new angle from Kailynne.

Lots and lots of yummy sweets from Kerrianne. Mmmmm

Filled cakes and tea. It looks great Lauren!

Jim shows us some amazing creamy tarts.

Day Six: Keeping Things Moving

Day six of our class saw the objective shift to showing motion in our photos. In class, we discussed the two most obvious ways. First, keeping the camera still and letting things in the frame move. Second, we talked briefly about something considerably more difficult, panning. While we found ourselves more limited in time than we had planned, we did manage to get into the Taipei MRT system and have some fun. We also drew some strange looks, but most importantly the kids also took some terrific photos.

Lauren did a great job of showing people waiting and the MRT train pulls into the station.

Kerrianne shows the escalator too, but she goes with quite a different, yet equally effective, composition.

Annie made ghostly work of the people going up the escalators.

Panning is really tough, even more so on slower moving targets. Benjamin did a great job as Jim came down the escalators.

Jim returns the favor to Benjamin as the train zooms past.

Kailynne also does a great job of long exposure with people on their ways up the escalators.

Tomorrow is food photography. That promises to be a lot of fun, so make sure to check back in.

Keeping Things in Perspective

Ansel Adams, probably the most famous photographer ever, once said that "A good photograph is knowing where to stand." That is as true today as ever. With that in mind, Friday's lesson was on perspective. During the lesson, a big part of the emphasis was on how we can take more impacting photographs by moving in close to our subjects. Another part of the lesson was how you can have fun making things look fun and odd when you think about your perspective and use it to your advantage. The students were then encouraged to take these idea and make their own fun and interesting photos. They did a great job once again.

Kerriane did the arrangement on this selfie to make her head dwarf a much larger Alfred Einstein.

Jim has Benjamin dancing on the top of a cup.

Kailynne also arranged a selfie, this with her doing a balancing act with a chair. Seems she also found the soft focus tool too.

Yvonne has the whole world in her hand..

Annie has a cell phone accessory arranged to take a seat on a full sized chair.

Lauren did lots of work, using her teacher's camera, to get the pig onto the chair.

Celine has her friend Annie holding up an absolutely huge change purse. Seems Celine also found the soft focus tool.

Benjamin turned the tables on Jim and now it is Jim balanced precariously upon a cup.

Susan employed her teacher to play Atlas and support the world.

A fun and creative day and a great end to the first week of the Photo Camp. Next week promises more fun. Keep tuned.

Day Four: Out on the Street, Looking for More of the Same

With yesterday's success in using repeated shapes in still life photography, we decided to take a similar approach, but to hit the streets in search of our photos today. Now, the idea was to find spots where shapes and patterns are repeated in a district area in Taipei. The students also practiced with some black and white conversions for the first time, giving you both a taste of color and a taste of monochrome. Some great looks once again.

 

Celine goes a little abstract with some freshly cut watermelon. Looks delicious!

 

Susan did some very nice work with some hanging lanterns she saw at a small temple.

 

Benjamin's big pile of lemons (yes, they are lemons, not limes). Quite a different look in b&w.

Annie give some Birkenstock's a very rustic, authentic look.

 

Yvonne has certainly made these watermelon look plump and delicious.

 

A funky look for some funky shoes by Kailynne

Jim makes some very strong use of lines with his oranges.

Kerrianne and some great looking plums.

Lauren shot some Birkenstocks too, but gave them a very vintage look by using a white vignette.

 Well, that's it for today, but tomorrow promises new ideas and new opportunities. See you then!