Writing With Light

I spent a full day this Saturday followed by another full day Sunday learning more about the art, craft and science of photography at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography's Photo Weekend in Bellevue (Seattle) WA. I inhaled it. I soaked it up. I absorbed the enthusiasm of the instructors and that of others attending. I took pages and pages of notes. I'm kind of a nerd that way.

Within the first few pages I had written things like 'Wow!' and 'Makes Huge Difference!' and 'very cool tool!' My use of exclamations marks far exceeded what is typical as I underlined, circled, capitalized and starred **  my way through two days of classroom lectures.

I chose sessions that highlighted Adobe Lightroom, Utilizing The Zone System Ansel Adams made famous, Understanding Light, Designing a Great Photo and Photographing People. There were two instructors working two conference rooms at all times, so I actually had twice that many choices. A couple of them were kind of tough. I take a lot of photographs and know the guts of my camera pretty well.......but I am open to the reality that there is so much more I can learn. That I both want and need to learn.

One reason I'm attracted to this field is that each scene and situation presents it's own unique set of challenges. And each photographer is unique in how they decide to convey what compelled them to compose the shot in the first place. Thought, planning and intuition are at play when choosing the combination of light, color and movement  ......or lack thereof......in order to get the feeling just right. To find the sweet spot. To make a photograph that causes the viewer to think and wonder and ruminate about that singular moment written in light; to create their own story about what happened before and after the shutter clicked.

I enjoyed this weekend......being surrounded by those who find photography as fascinating and exciting as I do...... and have been floating on all of that education and inspiration ever since. And guess what....in a few days I get to do it again in Missoula, MT with another RMSP workshop. Plenty of photos to follow!

Wishing you a wonder filled week full of surprises. Mine sure has been so far!

Warmly, Margaret