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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Another 'while you were teaching' post!

 Here, in the foothills of the Adirondacks of NY state, it was a cold November day, never even making it to 40 degrees.  But despite the cold temperature, it was sunny, and my husband and I took a drive to our 'camp' on Loon Lake.  While he put on the storm windows, I took the kayak out on the quiet lake.  I wore a sweater, a heavy sweatshirt (my son's), a fleece 'turtle fur' hat, fleece gloves, two scarves (one wasn't enough), and warm socks; I put the spray skirt on the kayak to keep the cold water off my lap, packed up my camera, and away I paddled!  Here's a selfie from somewhere in the middle of the lake. 
 
 It was a magnificent sky!  I struggled setting my camera while looking into the sun and wearing gloves, but it was so beautiful that it was very forgiving of my camera setting selections. 
 
I haven't told you all about it, but recently I had the opportunity to take a one-day photography class with esteemed Adirondack photographer Carl Heilman.  His photos are widely published and we are lucky to have him live in our neck of the woods.  I took his class at the Adirondack Folk School, and learned about things like hyperfocus (I have done photography for years and neve had heard of this), and got a handle on some more of of my camera settings.  Now my next step is to learn to use photoshop!  (No, none of my photos has been edited in Photoshop.  It has been on my computer just one day and I don't know where to start!) 
 
Problem is, pretty much everything Carl taught was dependent on patience (I have none) and putting your camera on a tripod to use the smallest aperture for the greatest depth of field.  But you can't put a kayak in a tripod, so I'm dependent on hand-holding the camera and adjusting the ISO to get the exposure I want.  But I learned a lot from Carl, and I look forward to "Getting Perfect Pictures Every Time", which was the title of his wonderful class. 
 
Meanwhile, enjoy  my photos of my day, and stay tuned, as I have some more art-related posts coming soon,   with a great museum trip planned in a few days, a Project Runway-related project almost complete, and much much more.  Don't give up on me;  I promise there will be art lessons coming soon too, as I prepare to teach 3 workshops at my state conference in 3 weeks. 
 
 

5 comments:

  1. Phyl
    These are just beautiful. I admire your fortitude to go out when it is that cold. I have thought about learning Photoshop ever since getting my no longer new camera. I don't know what is so intimidating about it. I really need to go search out a class, because clearly, I am not taking the plunge on my own!!

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    1. I totally understand how you feel about Photoshop. But after attending this class, and belonging to a Facebook critique group related to the class, I realize that I am the ONLY ONE in the group who still is editing photos with Microsoft Photo Editor! And it seems I have just been gifted with Photoshop, so now I need to find the time to set aside everything else and learn. Maybe tomorrow...

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  2. So beautiful! Thank you for sharing your lovely photos! SIGH>>>I feel relaxed just looking at them! Mrs. P @ createartwithme.blogspot.com

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  3. High suggest you find a class for Photoshop. I took it a few summers ago and really needed the support from the instructor as well as those younger more savvy students who really seemed to have a natural handle for everything. I passed the program off to my then 17 year old daughter who was able to pick it up and go with it but she learned even more when she took the course her freshman year of college. I think your photos are lovely, too and can't imagine how beautiful your kayak ride must have been. It appears you are making the best of everything in your retirement!

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    1. Yes, I totally would love to find a photoshop class. I read tutorials but I have realized I do not learn from reading. Wish I could find a class here! Thanks!

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