Ruby slippers

Dorothy made a stop in Chicago

First photography class - so far

Right around the time that I had the epiphany that photography was the missing link, our friends at Groupon had a deal for a 4 hour photography class along with a "safari" (read: photo shoot session where you apply what you had learned during the class i.e. genius) from Capturing True Emotions photography.  It was an absolute sign so I bought it!  And I have to say one of the best purchases ever. 

Val Westover, who is one of the owners and the founder, was the instructor.  He was very knowledgeable and by the end of the class I felt like I had learned a ton of really key information. What was even more wonderful is just how excited I was to practice more photography... to really get good at it... That excitement was so refreshing since I really don't think I've had an activity even if it's 'just' a hobby right now that was as rewarding and fulfilling.

After the lecture and a lunch break, we met outside of Navy Pier for our safari.  (p.s. Navy Pier on a Saturday is a zoo - I will avoid it all costs from now on. Way too many people.)  Anyway, Val would tell us about one of the lessons and would then send us off for 15 minutes to shoot pictures.  I loved that approach.  My only complaint was that it was sometimes hard to ask questions due to the large class size and I wish they had included the lecture notes as part of the price (or at least had the option to pay slightly more through Groupon).  But all that aside, it was a wonderful class!

It's all about the aperture

Yup, that's an ant.

Focus on the background and anything that comes into the frame is blurred - a lesson in shutters speed

The reverse of the above - again shutter speed is key

The result of a very fast shutter speed (that's Val's son who was his little assistant)

One of the better pictures that was completely shot in Manual mode - meaning I set the ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and metering mode!  Even measured the light to get the right exposure.  As you can tell, the colors have a lot darker saturation - something that is hard to achieve with any automated modes as well as the creative ones since the camera determines at least one of the settings.

Cannot wait to go on another safari again!