On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 19:07:23 -0700, Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thursday was my first day as an "official" volunteer and at 6th Street > (http://www.sixthstreetphoto.org/), and we had our new class of students. > We expected many more, but only three showed up. That was disappointing for > there's usually about fifteen or so for each new class. The smaller number > of students meant that each of us instructors could work one-on-one and > give our undivided attention to the student. I got a fellow named Chris who > knew absolutely NOTHING about cameras or photography, and never even held a > camera before, other than a disposable P&S. > > Started working with him using a nice black Spotmatic <vbg>, and I can now > see why those Spotties and the K1000 are the choice for students. Compared > to the other brands we had available, their simplicity made them the > perfect teaching tool. The metering is obvious and shows relative degrees > of exposure, the controls are straightforward, the focusing and aperture is > easy to operate. Unfortunately, the Spottie had a bad meter - looks like > the battery leaked (We REALLY need some more cameras) - and the actual > photography was done on a Nikon F2 - a great camera but nowhere near the > joy to use for a beginner. > > By the end of the day Chris understood f-stops, the relationship between > aperture and shutter speed, depth of field, and was learning how to > determine exposure without relying on the camera light meter. He was > carefully bracketing his exposures as well, and deciding on which > combinations he wanted to use for certain effects. On our little "photo > safari" around the neighborhood I could see he was really getting into it - > he discovered a fire hydrant that was leaking and decided he wanted to > catch the dripping water and freeze the action. So he sat down right on the > sidewalk, set the shutter speed to 1/2000, focused on the water drops, and > made a few exposures. The hell with pedestrians - they'd have to walk > around him. He was in full "artist" mode <LOL> > > The digicam came with me to school, and it came in handy as a teaching > tool. Using the LCD display I could show Chris the results of under, over, > and correct exposure immediately. Really hadn't thought about using the > camera in that fashion until a situation presented itself. I just wanted to > grab a few snaps of the workshop in progress, a couple of pics of the area, > just for documentary purposes. > > Here's a pic of Chris holding his first real camera. > http://home.earthlink.net/~digisnaps/6th/chriscam.jpg At this point he was > getting the feel for focusing. > > Next week we're teaching the students how to load developing tanks and the > basics of film developing. At some point I'll be putting up a few more > photos in a gallery format showing the students and the facilities. >
This is a Good Thing on so many levels. Keep us informed as to what's going on there, Shel. I love reading this stuff, and I'll enjoy keeping abreast of your "students" progress. cheers, frank -- "It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby." -Eliott Erwitt
