Tuesday, June 28, 2016

The Adventure Begins


The event booked in January as a treat and Christmas gift to myself had finally arrived. I set my alarm for 5:00 AM, which is still the middle of the night (in reality it's about the time for my nightly get up to pee) for one who likes to sleep until at least 7:00 AM (or later), drove to the train station, lined up with all the others with sleep filled eyes to begin my journey to the Out of Chicago Photography Event. For a brief moment I actually considered staying at home, only for an instance tho, because we so rarely have fog in our area. What great opportunities I would be missing, and then I hit myself on my forehead, brought myself back to the moment, and thought "what the heck are you thinking??" Miss this great event for fog?? So I snapped a couple of foggy train images and boarded the train for a 4 day adventure.


The event didn't officially begin until Friday evening, however we were given the opportunity to register for workshops Thursday and Friday.  My workshop for the day was with the iconic Bryan Peterson, author of  the #1 selling photography book on Amazon, "Understanding Exposure", which btw he was quick to mention. Our class was small in size, only about 14 or so, which made it easy to stay together and hear Bryan point out various spots that we needed to try with new eyes and new settings on our cameras. Not new, but different than what I was used to.

This is Bryan's settings to bring everything in focus from front to back (altho my front focus was a bit fuzzy probably because if I had put my camera any lower it would have been in the puddle)....in manual mode set your meter at 1, use a wide angle lens with a setting at 16mm, set your F stop at 22, and your ISO around 100 or adjust accordingly. As you can see, the fog was still hanging around, especially around the Willis (aka Sears) Tower.


After struggling to stand back up (you know I am at that age where getting down is one thing, getting back up is quite another undertaking). We stopped by a pillar that was loaded with posts, graffiti, old posters etc and stood there for a good 10 minutes. I won't bore you with pictures of torn pieces of paper. Instead I shot the L train which had a beautiful blue building as the background....


Next, our challenge was to capture interesting backgrounds with shots of Bryan.  I chose his finger instead of his face, thought the background for his finger was more colorful than what was behind his face from where I was standing.


Moving on, our next challenge was to capture stop motion with high shutter speeds.  And being the shy, unassertive (wink wink) person that he is, Bryan became our model for a "windy" city illustration.


With that same challenge we walked down to Millennium Park to the Crown Fountain. A unique concept which combines tradition with urban pop-art. The fountain is composed of two huge LED screens which project the faces of ordinary Chicagoans. The water spouts from their digital mouths, creating a playful water feature for the enjoyment, albeit wet, playground for all.



After class concluded, Christine (who I met in Bryan's class) and I walked to Panera for dinner. Christine became a fast friend, she and I seemed to be of the same mindset. She was quite a few years younger than me, but when you share a passion like photography, age is irrelevant.  We met up for different classes and at mealtimes. She lives in the Chicago area so hopefully we will see each other again sometime in the future.

I managed to arrive at the train station in time for an express train, 35 minutes as opposed to an hour, bringing me home around 6:00 PM.  Friday's adventure was a one-on-one session with Matt Kloskowski to critique my photography and the Opening Night speaker with Rick Sammon.  Stay tuned for more notes, photos, and adventures from Out of Chicago.

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."  ~  Roald Dahl

Until next time......


17 comments:

  1. Looks like you had some fun learning experiences, Deanna. I love the photo of the L Train - all the angles and textures are great.

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  2. Love it Deanna! You capture timeless expressions of people and I love it. I wish I was this talented but I will take my pictures and put them in an album and decorate the page. I can still enjoy seeing the picture that way.

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  3. Still jealous of this - so I will rely on you to teach ME all you learned when we meet again.

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  4. Looks like this was a great class . Did you learn some new things? Are his classes mostly Chicago based? Love your shots, and that L one was great. Glad you didn't let the fog hamper you

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  5. Wow! Would I ever love to be there with you taking these classes! Love your shots, especially the one of the L with the blue building and the train heading into the fog. And, of course, your shot of the girl in the water is a true "Deanna people shot"! Can't wait to hear more about the rest of the workshop!

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  6. What a great adventure you had and you obviously went above and beyond with each and every challenge! Fantastic images, all!

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  7. Sounds like a fun four days! Really love that train shot!

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  8. The train is stunning! I was told to register for this by another Chicago friend . I should have, I should have, I should have!
    How was the one on one session?

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  9. Deanna, this sounds amazing!!
    I look so forward to hearing and seeing more from this adventure.

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  10. How fun!! Amazing shots - you are so talented!

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  11. You are so fortunate to be at these clases adn have the expert opinion of your photography. I would love this. MA looking forward to seeing more but these shots today are fabuous

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  12. What an experience! I just love all of your shots and Bryan must be a hoot! Glad you went. ;)

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  13. laughing about being of an age when getting back up is hard. I took a first aid/CPR course a week ago and my biggest fear was if I could manage the florr exercises.

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  14. Oh how I wish I was with you on this adventure. What a great experience and I can not wait to read more and see more photographs.

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  15. The one and only webinar that I managed to watch the whole way through was with Rick Sammon - outstanding. I am so jealous. Enjoy and I look forward to seeing your images.

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  16. What a great gift . . .
    I think I heard you say, "thanks self!"
    Love your pics . . .
    and look forward to seeing more . . .

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  17. I have his book....this is very interesting to me since I love photography and was born in Chicago. You're an excellent photographer....don't forget that. Looking forward to reading more.

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