Spirit of Photography May 2009 Newsletter
Pasque Flowers
"Favorite Places" Weekly Assignment Submission
Community:
Welcome to new Members. Welcome to C. Dick Park (CD Park) from Smithfield, VA, Alan Albrect (Ribot) from Omaha, Nebraska, Wayne Dockery (Defender76) from Clayton, NC, and Molly Steinwald from Oxford, Ohio. We pride ourselves on being a friendly and helpful community, and introducing yourself to the community is a great way to meet the wonderful folks that spend time here, so please take the time to introduce yourself in the the “new member introductions” topic when you get a chance.
Website Happenings:
Weekly assignments. We've had lots of fun with our weekly assignments over the last month, and have managed to learn and improve our photography in the process. We covered the effective use of repeating patterns in our Patterns assignment, techniques for highlighting the "windows to the soul" in our Eyes assignment, a fun "creativity" exercise with our Surrealism assignment, conveying a sense of place with our Favorite Places assignment, and sharing our appreciation for Music in that assignment. There is still time to submit images for the Treasures assignment, so please join us in this weekly assignment and begin the journey to improving your photography skills.
Even if you don't have the time to submit images, please take a moment every week to enjoy the submissions and vote for your favorites by following the front page links to the voting thread.
Last month I announced that any member that participates in 52 weekly assignments will be awarded complementary attendance at a Spirit of Photography workshop of their choice (lodging and transportation not included). We've had 48 assignments since we started the weekly assignments, so if you have participated in each one you are almost there!
Back-lit Columbine
Workshop updates:
2009 Workshops. We have three remaining slots available in our Crested Butte Wildflower Photography Workshop scheduled for 24 - 27 July 2009. The mountains surrounding Crested Butte are considered one of the premier locations in North America for alpine wildflower photography, and we're looking forward to photographing the wildflowers again this year. Space is limited, so please contact us as soon as possible if you think you might be interested in joining us.
Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW). We will be teaching photography classes again this year during the Colorado Becoming an Outdoors Woman program held outside of Rocky Mountain National park 4 - 6 September 2009. Last year we led a photography outing into Rocky Mountain National Park after the class and the elk put on a fantastic show for our little photography group. We saw more bull elk locking antlers and fighting for control of their harems than I have seen in more than a decade of visiting the park. You can learn more about Becoming and Outdoors Woman or sign up for the program at this link: Becoming an Outdoors Woman (Colorado).
Bears, Whales and Eagles photo tour led by Jim Caldwell. I highly recommend Jim Caldwell's photo tour to British Columbia in September to photograph Bears, Whales and Eagles. You can read more about the trip at this link: http://www.specialty-media.com/bears.html
Photography News and Links:
Recommended Reading: Magic Camera Settings, by Thom Hogan. In this article, Thom provides you with all of the "magic settings" you need to produce perfect vacation pictures. Actually, no.  Thom chastises us for believing that photography is as simple as selecting the few "magic settings" on your new camera and snapping great images. He reminds us that cameras are complex devices, and that it pays off when we take the time to learn how to use our camera. Thom does finally relent and provide his "top three" recommendations for improving your photography. I won't give away the details here, but encourage you to read his great article.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how to best teach exposure control, which is one of the "fundamentals" that every good photographer should strive to understand. Unfortunately, things have gotten much more complex with the advent of digital, and it takes understanding on several different levels to really understand how to optimize your exposures. I'm constantly updating my knowledge on this subject, and have a good handle on what it takes. Now the challenge is to convey that knowledge in a form that is useful for our website visitors. Like a song straining to get gain release from the mind of a musician, my ideas are begging to be written down. I promise to find the time in the next several weeks, so please look for this article to be published on the website sometime in the next several weeks. If you want to get a head start, you can read my latest article on this subject here: Understanding and Controlling Exposure.
Final Notes:
Newsletter distribution. We’ve included you on this newsletter distribution because we consider you part of our photography community and wanted to share inspiration and information with you about our photography passion. If you don’t wish to receive future newsletters please let us know and we’ll take you off the address list. If you have friends or acquaintances that share your passion for photography, we encourage you to forward the newsletter, and if they would like to receive future versions directly please ask them to register as a member on the website and "opt in" to announcements.
Take care, and get out there and “shoot the light.”
Keith and Rebecca Snell
www.SpiritofPhotography.com
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