Teaching Photography

I have just begun teaching photography. It's a great job. It combines my love of teaching and my love of photography. What could be better??

I have done some one-on-one teaching in both composition and post-processing, but recently I did some teaching on location. I went with two ladies that I know from photography, who are both talented but want to improve even more. I took them to a waterfall (as they had requested help with taking water shots) and we worked for a couple of hours taking images, critiquing them on the spot and then giving them tasks to improve their technique even further. I really enjoyed it and I think they did too. I didn't take any serious images, just snapped a few images of them in action, but it didn't worry me. It was great to see what they were producing and seeing them grow from the experience.

In the zone

One of the ladies said she was inspired to do water images because of the images she had seen of mine from a series I did on waterfalls in the mid Blue Mountains . It was so flattering.

Tri Falls 2010

 These two ladies, Kay and Sue are already producing great images. Soon they will be sensational. They both have a great deal of passion and flare for photography. I look forward to their work growing better and better.

Setting up the shot

I enjoyed it so much I think I'll try to do more next year when I take a years long-service leave from St Marys. I'll have to work hard to get my name out there and attract customers, but I'm excited. I hope it goes well. I'm going to do a small business course as well so that I have the knowledge to run and grow the business. Hopefully I'll be really busy.

 Terrace Falls:Below main falls 2010

Domestic Violence Portfolio Finished

I am a member of the Blue Mountains Photography Group. We have just presented our projects of passion for this year. I drew my inspiration from a Shania Twain song, "Black ears, Blue Tears" This is a song about domestic violence and a woman's struggle to leave and stand on her own.

I had begun this project before my breast cancer diagnosis, so some of the photos were very raw and personal. I did not have a model on hand, so I had decided to use myself. This was a major challenge as I had no remote for my camera at the time, and had to set the timer to take photos. Much practice was needed as well as many trials to get the desired images.

I wanted to show the feelings that the victim might have in the images. I have no experience in domestic violence, but have been through other experiences that I felt would allow me to know what the domestic violence victim might feel. My encounter with breast cancer made it easier on some occasions to portray some of these feelings in my images.

My life, like I imagined theirs to be, was thrown upside-down. I faced fear, disbelief, terror, pain and sorrow. I found I could relate in part to these victims.

My journey to some type of freedom was in some ways similar to theirs. I don't pretend to be an expert on the issue, but felt that I had done justice to the topic.

This was the only bit of photography I have been able to do lately. The rest of my time has been spent getting ready for the Leura Markets on this Sunday. I have been busily printing, matting and boxing prints and cards. In many ways I'll be glad when it's over. In others, it's exciting to see how people react to my work. I'm doing this with two good friends, so that makes it even better.

And like the last image in the project.....I'm outta here!!

Hope to post again soon.