Capture with Confidence

My first "real job" was as a teacher.  I taught middle school Geography and American History.  I LOVED it!  People always say I am crazy, but I love the middle school age.  They are too young to think they are "too cool" for you and throw attitude and yet they are old enough to get sarcasm and they can joke around with you.  Perfect combination!

Now that I have found my passion and creative outlet in Photography, I have been looking to add the teaching piece back to my life.  I have missed teaching!  Back in November I did a little class for some moms about how to take better pictures of your kids.  It sparked my love for teaching again and I set out to design a more in-depth class about photography.

So many people have nice digital cameras and they don't know how to use them!  They leave them on AUTO and are missing out the huge potential that their cameras have.  So I created my class and called it Capture with Confidence.

I had a blast setting up the curriculum and making everything pretty for the class. And in January, I had 4 people come to my house and take the next step in learning about their camera.  They brought their cameras and I helped them figure out their settings,  how to change their settings and how to get great pictures in all situations.  I showed them the difference between iPhone, Point and Shoot and DSLR cameras.  And then we talked a bit about Photography Basics.  Here are a few of my slides.

The 2 1/2 hours went way too fast, but I feel like they all got a good grasp on how to use their camera.  They also walked away with some cool swag and a cheat-sheet to keep handy as they are taking pictures to help remind them of what they learned.

At the end of the class I took their pictures.  Because who doesn't want a professional picture of themselves.  And it is nice for me to have pictures of my beautiful (and handsome) students.

Meet Jan: She is awesome.  I have known her for over 15 years!  I met her when I was working as a teacher at D'Evelyn.  She always took such good care of me at D'Evelyn and even diagnosed me with mono.  She is a treasure!

Meet Don: He is Jan's husband. So right away I knew he would be fun!  He was so into the class and I loved watching him trying out new things with the camera.

Aren't they cute?  Pretty sure Don was talking when I took this picture, but it makes me laugh!

 

Meet Krista: Jan's daughter.  She is a new mama and wants to learn how to take great pictures of her adorable little girl.  Although I never had her in class, I taught at D'Evelyn while she was there.  Yes, that makes me feel really old.

Meet Stacy: Life-long friend.  Stacy and I became friends in 5th grade when her family moved here from Seattle.  She and I have one of those deep friendships that are vital to life.  She challenges me, keeps me accountable and loves me unconditionally.  She recently got a camera for Christmas and wanted to learn how to use it to take better pictures.  It was so fun to have you there Stacy!  Love you!

Here are some of the other things that we covered:

Composition

Lighting

ISO

Aperature

White Balance

Shutter Speed

Settings

I took these while demonstrating white balance.  The first one is too "warm".  The second one is too "cool" and the third one is just right.  Amazing how this little thing can change your pictures so drastically!

And they even got yummy (and healthy) snacks!  Huge shout-out to my lovely and talented mom who carried out my vision for the snacks.  She did all of the work and put them all together for me!!  She is amazing and I couldn't have done it without her.  She even stuck around and listened to the first half of the class.  Thanks mom!! 

Thanks Stacy for taking this in-action picture of me while you were practicing your new skills!

The class was just before Valentine's Day so I had fun decorating the house and making everything look pretty!

For some strange reason, I don't have any pictures of the cool swag that everyone got.  Perhaps I was too focused on teaching the class that I didn't get any pictures of that.  Just know that it was cool.  I will get pictures of it next time!

I am thinking I will do another class this spring.  Anyone interested???  It is $50 for 2 1/2 hours and includes yummy snacks and cool swag!  I can also do private classes if you want to get a few friends together and do the class as a group.  I would love to get to know you and have you get to know your camera.