Catching Up...


again.

I left the house early Friday morning for the weekend, not knowing if I would have access to internet. (it turns out I didn't--the dorm I stayed in was the only dorm on campus that didn't have wireless--yeah, go figure! So that's why I have to "catch up") This is the weekend for the NECCC (New England Camera Club Council)Photo weekend at the University of MA. 1,100 photographers converged onto the campus to spend the weekend listening to various photographers teach, show and encourage them. Some of these photographers are pros, some are extremely avid semi-pros or amateurs, but all have a wealth of information about various aspects of photography, and are anxious to share what they know with the rest of us.

It's a pretty amazing weekend. I started attending this convention about 15 years ago, although there were about 4-5 years I didn't attend for various reasons. I hate missing this event.

Not only is the teaching great, but for 48 hours we get to be immersed in the world of photography--we talk to each other about technique, gear, experiences, and we talk to the instructors too if we want to. There are vendors on site, selling almost anything you might want to purchase. There are even loaner cameras/lenses available from both Canon and Nikon. So before you lay down the big bucks for a piece of equipment, you get to try it out. Very cool. (I tried to get my hands on a certain lens this weekend, but it was being used by someone every time I tried to borrow it. I guess it's back to the written reviews about the lens.)

So anyway, I took pictures all three days. I used my point and shoot because I've learned over the years NOT to schlepp my camera gear around the campus. There's never any time to shoot anyway, and it gets heavy after a while.

Sunday (today) I took these first two images on my friend's back deck when I dropped her off at home. Caleb tells me he wants to build me a new picnic table. Just another of the gazillion projects he's talking about doing. (we don't have a lick of shade in our yard, so a picnic table would be moot--but I wanted to at least show him what I had in mind).

Please don't think you need to comment--I'm not sure if there could be photos that are any more boring or uninspired as these.

Saturday, as I was leaving one of my class sessions and walking to the next one, I came upon this scene. Okay--I had this in mind, but was very glad I didn't have to go searching around campus to find it. (it's a biiiiggggg campus). Every year, the camera club council hires models. Some are outside (in various stages of dress--or rather undress), and some are inside. I've never located the models indoors because it's too much of a crunch, wherever they are. However, just by walking around, you can see scenes like this in various settings. (you notice, don't you, that there aren't any women in this group?--Also, I have NEVER seen a male model---hmmmm)

And finally, the post for Friday. Another awesome thing about attending this conference, is that I don't have to even think about cooking, cleaning up or doing the dishes. We get to walk in, talking about photography, wait on a short line, talking about photography, get our food, still talking about photography, eat together (about 20 of us from my photo group attend each year and we always try to meet and eat together in the cafeteria), talking about photography, relax around the table before heading off to the next class, talking about photography, and finally we just get up, deposit our dishes at the dishroom, and LEAVE, yes, you've got it, still talking about photography.

(only 362 more days till the next covention, but who's counting?)

I'm inspired!! My to-do list:

1)attend the next Morrocan photo workshop
2)attend another workshop in Ireland
3)plan a trip to one of the Nat'l parks out west
4)learn how to do HDR really, really well
5)attend a workshop in Canada given by Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallante
6)get really serious about learning photoshop (Elements 7)
7)get really serious about submitting my work to stock agencies
8)attend the next Tony Sweet seminar in Nov. in Framingham, MA
9)take a fieldtrip to the Eastern State Penitentiary in PA

I think I may have gotten just a little too inspired, but hey, I just might manage to do some of these things.