In Vermont during winter, a post would be incomplete without something about the weather. When school resumed on Jan 4, an artic blast came in and we had temperatures hovering at and below zero and wind chills that kept people and animals indoors. Then on the 14th temperatures moved into the 20s. On the 15th, into the 30s. On the 16th, the high was (ta-daa) 40 degrees. Glory be. I got the stovewood in without a warm parka. And it was a bright sunshiny day.
The high point of Saturday (the aforementioned 16th) was a workshop I attended to learn about my digital camera. The teacher was Bryan Pfeiffer from Plainfield, VT, Vermont's best-known bird-watcher who makes his living leading birding tours and hosting a weekly TV and radio show called "For the Birds". (See http://www.wingsphotography.com/about.html) Being a birder, he takes photos, and among birders photography is a highly competitive side sport. Taking a clear photo of a small creature that moves very quickly and almost never stays still is a huge challenge. Bryan ups the ante by searching for and photographing dragonflies (he is a recognized expert) and butterflies. He is a volunteer fireman, too.
So last Saturday, when he announced a one-day workshop on digital cameras, at a very inexpensive price, I signed up. I had often reviewed the Canon manual and found photography to be a foreign language. It was a great day. We learned what the important settings were, how to find them, how to set them, what they could do for us. We took pictures. We fried our brains, actually.
Bryan is a great, enthusiastic teacher who really pays attention to what the students are and aren't understanding. This with 19 students with different interests and abilities, and 9 different brands of cameras ranging from a 10-year old Canon and a 9-year-old Nikon to a very fancy digital SLR with a monster zoom lens. Six of us had Canon point-and-shoots, and not one of those Canons had the same features!
I still have many, many questions. Because I've spent all my years using the automatic settings and "fooling the camera" I have many habits to unlearn. Now to practice. For instance, here are two pictures: in one, the background is fine but the gravestone is underexposed; in the other,the gravestone looks great but the background is overexposed. Proper exposure of the whole photo, and not just what I'm focusing on, is my major issue.
The drive to Plainfield (45 minutes each way) and spending from 8am to 2pm in a firehouse dining room were all well worth it.
Today was not sunny, and not as warm, and I spent all afternoon at work. But at 10 am it was 36 degrees - warm enough to take the car to the car wash!! Underneath the mud and road dirt is still a car! The cold returns tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment