Energy levels and outdoor class

It's Monday evening, 25th July. Only 3 more Monday's to go before the end of Summer Intensive. Time is running out almost as fast as energy. That said energy seems to come from somewhere and we all keep going. This past fortnight* we have worked late fairly regularly, typically after 8 hours of regular class. Even so some of us still found time to head out of town to shoot star trails again on Friday night - I got to sleep in the early hours of Saturday and was in class for 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

Stars at dusk

On Saturday afternoon I had a chance to take photos of a guitar maker in his home workshop, then on Saturday evening there was an optional landscape photography class at the National Bison Range. Most of the Bison seemed to have had the day off but at least the scenery was good and the flying wildlife that did show up left me alone once I'd sprayed bug spray on my arms. (I was told about a spray without nasty chemicals and also without an overpowering smell - and it works, no bites!) We were out at the Bison Range practicing with wide angle lenses and hyper-focal distances - and enjoying what must be one of the nicest "classrooms" around.

Back in the real classrooms we continue to learn different aspects of photography. The intricacies of Photoshop are being mastered, albeit slowly. The final project, due in the last week of school, is occupying the minds of students - the deadline for that is approaching rapidly. We have also started to cover portable flash units (these are the small flash guns that can fit onto a camera but which are best used off the camera). Today we had a lecture on photojournalism which was very interesting.

Erica admiring the view at the Bison Range

Class almost over

Part of Glacial Lake Missoula

From the peak of the Bison Range you get a great view to the Mission Mountains over what was once Glacial Lake Missoula. Back in the ice ages ice dams blocked the rivers to form a huge glacial lake. Eventually the ice would give way and the lake, 2,000 feet deep in parts, would flood out with the force of 60 Amazon Rivers to carve up the landscape. The ice would reform and a new lake would build up. This cycle happened many times during the ice ages. You can read more about it here http://www.glaciallakemissoula.org/   Suffice to say that I cycle to school and back each day over a nice flat lake bed!

For a recent class exercise we had to look at the work of photographers we like and come up with our attempt to photograph using that style. This is my attempt to imitate some of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson who's work I admire a great deal.

Inspired by H C-B

In this shot legs were supplied by Diana and the head by Donna - thank you, ladies.





*Fortnight:  from "fowertiene niht", Old English for 'fourteen nights' - they counted nights not days.  This became shortened to "fortnight" by Middle English times and is still in common use in modern English.

Punctuating life

A week is a long time in photography school and writing a new post for this blog is a way to punctuate what would otherwise be something of a blur. Writing it gives me time to reflect and is usually accomplished at the weekend. Not so this time - life goes by very quickly.

We seem to have had a string of work to prepare for class recently and quite a number of late evenings in school. Often the late evening classes end earlier than scheduled, but when it's a session in the studio that luxury doesn't usually apply. We work three to a studio bay with one person shooting and the other two assisting or sometimes acting as model depending on the topic we are working on. So if you take a 7.00pm start, allow three people an hour each to work, and add in time to set up and pack away afterwards you'll see why it's sometimes quite late when I get back home.  Fortunately it's only a 10 minute bike ride from school to work and my classmates are good fun to work with.

A recent studio session using mixed lighting and a packet of breakfast cereal

Studio has it's fun moments, especially so when we headed out onto the streets for a class, and later headed to a local hotel to experiment with lighting and different poses.  The school had arranged for us to have more or less free reign at the hotel which was an interesting experience. Some of the ladies in my group really got into the mood of things with their dressing up.  Here are some clips on studio lighting.

The main focus last week was The Slideshow. It had been the focus for all of us over a few weeks as we selected a topic, then changed it, then changed it again before eventually ending up with 20-30 photos which we had to put to music for presentation to the class. I decided to shoot the Higgins Building - the old building which houses the school plus other shops and offices.

The Higgins Building was commissioned by C.P. Higgins in 1889 (so it's old by US standards at least).  Higgins and his partner Frank Worden founded the first European settlement in Missoula in the form of the Hellgate Trading Post near the Clark Fork River.  Missoula grew and so did Higgins' importance and he eventually became chairman of the First National Bank in town only to be ousted from the board by a rival. Higgins was obviously not one to let a setback get in his way and decided to establish a new bank on the corner of Higgins and Main - the Higgins Building. The old vault is in the basement area occupied by RMSP classrooms. No expense was spared and the result is Missoula's finest example of Queen Anne commercial architecture.  It is made up of grey granite with a copper dome on the corner section and has a polychrome red brick exterior for the rest of the building.

Higgins Building - street level from the corner of Higgins and Main. (School is down the steps to the right).

Higgins in sections

If you'd like to see my slideshow you can download a small version by clicking on this link: Download Slideshow   Although small, it is still a 10mb file and you may not see anything happening immediately but it will be downloading in the background... please be patient and check in whatever folder your browser uses to store downloads.

With the slideshow behind us we are starting to think about the final assignment which is due very soon... we have passed the half way point of the course.  My ideas on what to do are becoming clearer, as is my understanding of my own way of seeing things through a camera. Not that I'll get to a definite point and be able to say I'm there as far as seeing goes.  This is more of a journey that will last as long as I do and I'm happy with that.

Things are becoming clearer

Before I finish I'd like to give a special mention to Slinky - he's the other guy sharing the house. Now I'm not really a dog person... thoughts of plastic bags and dog poo are definitely not my thing. That said, Slinky the dachshund is an endearing little fellow - always ready to give you a friendly lick if you let him and the best thing there is for keeping the floors crumb free. I have been known to let the extra crumb or two drop to the floor just for his benefit. He has a very optimistic world view and no worries at all about final photo projects... we could learn a lot from Slinky.

(Credits: Thanks to Carol for letting me ship cereal bowls, spoons, and a tool set to studio to use as props.  Thanks to Alan J for his help on local history).

PS. I need to post earlier or work out how to switch this to USA time... it's still Wednesday 20th here... and still sunny and warm outside!

A Week in Missoula

Have you ever noticed how some objects can be so inconspicuous as to be almost part of the background until your attention is drawn to them and then you see them everywhere? It happened to me this week with Subaru cars.

Not a Subaru!

I could recognise a Subaru if I saw one but that's about as far as it went till I was out cycling one evening. For some reason I noticed one, then two, and before long I'm seeing them everywhere. I'd hazard a guess that Subaru is one of the most popular cars in town, which would be understandable since Missoula has a lot of snow and is environmentally aware. A car with 4 wheel drive and modest size would have a strong following.

Subaru cars were not the only thing I noticed as I cycled round town. The paths along the river are very pretty and the evening sunshine was beautiful - as was the weather which has been around 77F - 90F (23C - 33C) for the past couple of weeks, much to the delight of gardeners.

What you don't get back home as you walk around the typical UK town is an Osprey carrying a very large fish back to feed its chicks or people surfing waves. The Osprey nest was on top of a large pole near a baseball field and the chicks sounded very excited at the prospect of their fish supper. The surfer and kayaker were practicing on Brennan's Wave.  All this a few hundred yards from the town centre.

I'm noticing two things about my photography. Firstly I'm becoming much more demanding when it comes to correct exposure and sharp focus - that's not to say I always achieve them but they are what I'm aiming for. Practice and the skills we have been taught do make the technicalities of photography a lot easier for sure. The second thing I noticed, and to me a much more surprising discovery, is that in terms of content I'm a lot less picky... and lots more playful. Just because I can make a picture that is sharp doesn't mean that I have to do that every time.

Corner of Higgins and Main, Missoula

Nor do I have to avoid lens flare or extra objects in the frame or anything else I would previously have avoided. Sometimes these 'extras' are happy accidents, sometimes they are deliberate, but if they end up in a picture they are there for a purpose (hopefully!).

Side street, Missoula

So what have I been up to this week? I saw my first 4th July parade at Seeley Lake which was fun and the surrounding scenery was beautiful. I ate in a steak restaurant where pretty much the only choice was the type of steak (3 options) and the dressing - definitely not a place for vegetarians. It tasted good but I don't think I need a lump of meat that big again - and no, I don't want to take leftovers home in box, though many do over here.

4th July Parade, Seeley Lake, Mt

 
I've been taking yet more pictures for my project - the Higgins Building must be one of the most photographed places in town by now.  I've also had two more sessions in the studio, this time working in threes we got to shoot each other, or be the assistant, or be the model. I know which end of the camera I prefer. We even got to play dressing up in the last session and the two folk I was with for that session were great fun to work with - dynamic Donna was a board room dragon (I think the stern look was acting the part rather than bored dragon considering the number of variations of lighting I tried).  Hippy Diana was so into the part she was either reliving her youth or had eaten magic mushrooms for breakfast. Me? I was an artist with brushes and paint set.

Donna shooting Diana

Printing class was good though I think we'd all like a nice simple button labelled "Print" which magically puts what you see on your screen out onto paper.  Instead there are so many options and boxes to tick - and things to get wrong - that printing is an art in itself. There's always the sense of anticipation as the print starts to appear. The car at the top of this page took a couple of attempts to get right.

Early morning light on a gravestone

Yesterday was fun with an early morning (as in 5.30am) bike ride to a cemetery for a practical class, followed by breakfast in town with fellow students and time spent shooting pics in Missoula - two outdoor markets, an indoor antiques mall, and yet more of the Higgins Building. A leisurely meal later in the afternoon with classmates (I ate elk for the first time) was followed by a photo shoot for Walter. His project is photographing people photographing other people so we were lined up in various locations near the river while he did his thing.

Me shooting Walter shooting the others shooting me etc etc

After that I did more walking and shooting round town with a fellow student in the beautiful evening light followed by a drink outside a coffee shop where we chatted with another student who had just left a late evening class - yes, Saturday and classes started at 6.00am and ended late evening for some. Summer Intensive is pretty much living up to its name.

Evening light, Missoula

Interesting times

It's been over a week since I last posted here and a month since I started the course. Life is a combination of learning, practicing, and observing... and living. I'm sure I'm working harder here than in my old job but it just doesn't seem like work. The weeks seem to merge into each other since I'm out and about taking pictures for much of my spare time.

We aren't even restricted to daytime. Over the past month I've been out with 5 fellow students and a toy duck doing ghost shots in a graveyard till well after midnight. I've been out taking star trail photos till well after 1 a.m. I've been doing my own ghosting pictures in the kitchen here till 2 a.m. with flash and coloured gels. We've set off at unearthly hours to photograph the sunrise and stayed out late to take sunsets. I do sleep, by the way.

Sunset at Ninepipes

Today has been a catching-up-on-things day. I've caught up on sleep, laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. I've made great strides on cataloguing my photos. I'm even catching up on my blog.

Swan Lake... mozzi heaven! 

Summit Lake

The scenery in Montana is rather nice... awesome is the word most often used. The weather is  pleasantly warm pretty much all the time now... very warm by UK standards but I've adjusted to it. I hope I continue to acclimatise because it will get hotter as the summer progresses.

It hasn't all been about admiring sunsets and scenery. There was a hot rod gathering in Missoula last weekend with the main street blocked to normal traffic as some mighty fine cars paraded (or in some cases almost drag-raced) past the crowds.  I've been into shops taking photos of things... knitting yarn is colourful stuff when you look at it closely. I've photographed a neighbour's yard... he makes sculptures out of scrap metal. Mostly though I've been photographing one particular building in town as part of a project I'm working on.

Then there was the small matter of a rodeo. The Augusta Rodeo was something of a revelation to me. You can get a really close view sitting one the ground right next to the fence, lens poking out into the arena.  You also get showered with dirt when the action gets too close. The first thing I did before uploading photos next day was to get the vacuum cleaner out and clean all the dust from my camera and camera bag.  Luckily I followed advice and did not change lenses at the arena!

Panning shot during barrel racing

Barrel racing

Man tries to stay on... horse tries to throw him off

Clowns... not just for fun, these folk are there for rider safety too

When you've been riding since age 3 you can do this kind of trick

Getting ready to ride

Staying on is no easy matter

RMSP students getting ready to shoot 

In contrast to the wide open spaces, this week has seen the start of studio photography. The school has a studio area with 7 separate shooting bays and a pile of high quality equipment. I had a great time experimenting with the different lighting techniques we have started to cover in class.

More than learning to use a camera or light an object in the studio, this week for me has been about learning to be a photographer as much anything else... even about just learning to be.  With so many talented photographers about, both students and staff, it is easy to fall into the trap of comparing your work with others. I'm not the only one who is treading this path of self discovery and it's not something anyone can teach you, so it's good to help and encourage each other when we can. But once the penny drops and you become comfortable in your own skin, so to speak, it is very liberating and brings a greater freedom creatively.

Star Trails over Missoula

(This post written on 3rd July but posted, it seems, on UK time... hence 4th July date stamp)