One Year Ago Today

The Meaning Behind the Title

A year ago today was a pretty good day for me. First of all I was in Chicago for a photography workshop that really opened my eyes to what I could do. I had kind of been doing the same thing over and over up until then, but I really have changed how I have shot since then. I was mainly a sports shooter, and now I rarely shoot sports. I have found that instead of waiting for a sporting event to shoot I can find something else close to me that I can access right away. The event was called Capturing True Emotion. It was put on by Val Westover and Stephanie Adriana. They put on these workshops all over the country so if you are not sure about anything on your camera, or even some basic shooting techniques I highly recommend it. Here is a link to there workshop portion of the website. What makes the workshop work so well is the fact that they spend the first half of it in a classroom teaching you about your camera. The second part then takes place outside using those techniques. They kind of take you around and use the environment to bring the lessons home. I really learned a lot that day, and this has become sort of a weird anniversary for me because of that. That is the day that started this ball rolling that led to the photo 365 project.

The Story Behind the Image

The main shot of this post was one that they are kind of known for. Val takes the camera of a participant, and asks everyone else to get theirs up close to get this paparazzi image. When I saw what was happening I placed myself near Val to get an image that I could use. I like how the shot looks. It captures the spirit of the day pretty well. This was taken at the end of the session when we were all trying things out. Many of the participants were asked to get their picture taken. I as a rule hate having mine taken so when I was picked because of the bright yellow shirt that I had one. So it kind of kills me to think that there are 50 pictures of me from that day. The informal session might have been the most informative of the day though as everyone was very relaxed.

Technical Data

Normally this section talks about the HDR process or how I have processed my shot in Lightroom or Photoshop. This was taken before any of that was even on my computer. It was taken with my old Canon Rebel with a 18-55mm lens on it. I like the simplicity of the shot along with the fact that nothing was done to it. I thought that since I now now a bit more on how to add other images to the post that I would add a couple more from the day below.

I have always wanted to see one of Shakespeare’s works here at Navy Pier so I wanted a shot with part of the theater in it. This one took some time to compose as I wanted a boat moving through the frame. What a difference clouds would have made for this shot.

The next shot is the one that everyone wants at Navy Pier. As things stand now I could shoot this much closer with my wide angle lens, but back then I needed to be pretty far back. I like the image, but once again clouds would have made things much more interesting. Amazing how photography makes you wish for some clouds in the sky.

The final shot was an interesting one. We were tasked with taking a picture with the background out of focus. This was my first real shot trying to get bokeh in the background. I loved the composition, and apparently of lot of others did as a line had formed behind me as I was getting the shot. I like this one particularly because once again it has a part of the Shakespeare Theater in it. It also has one of the Navy Pier arches along with the iconic Ferris wheel.

The second reason that the day is special to me is that it was during a break at this workshop that I agreed to work at my present job. At that time it was only for one week, but obviously things have changed quite a bit. Hard to believe that a year ago things changed so dramatically for me. Both changes were welcome though, and directly led to this website forming.