Prizewinning Photography - Tuesday, November 16th, 2004

We started out the day with a motivating devotional from Rowan, about how dark times are necessary for God to work His perfect will in us. It's fascinating how many analogies one can draw between photography—capturing light—and the Christian walk. It made me think about some of the dark times God's taken me through these last few years and how He's using them to work out His perfect "picture" in my life… and if I'll just stay in His "camera" and let Him work, His picture won't be overexposed or blurry, but communicate the excellence of the Master.

Then we headed to Maroondah Dam for a photo shoot. What an awe-inspiring spot! A double waterfall poured over the wall high above us, sending spray into our faces (and… ahem… camera lenses…). Brilliant fuchsia-pink rhododendrons and paler roses provided a depth of field challenge, and tall tree ferns shaded pure white calla lilies (that is, pure white after we blew the bugs off!). With 72 exposures to take in about an hour, we split into our assigned teams and got down to business.

The instructors made themselves very available, though true to their calling, they spent a lot of the time looking through their own lenses. It's nice to learn about something in the classroom, but then to apply it in the field with your teachers right there to consult—that was terrific. At first I was a bit scared to be so "in control" of the camera, particularly the metering. Taking responsibility is not always fun for someone who has generally let the camera do a lot of the work. (It'll be my fault if the shot doesn't work out!!) But after Rowan patiently explained, in three or four different ways, how to meter a particular scene, I finally got it.

Back to the training center for another fantastic meal by Katherine… she's amazing. She has so much energy and gives it to others so freely.

Then to class for my favorite session so far… composition! Of course every aspect of photography is an art, but the art of composition is the most obviously artsy part to me. We learned seven rules of composition, the most important being the "rule of thirds" (basically learning to align subject matter along the lines and intersections of an imaginary tic-tac-toe) and filling the frame with your subject for maximum emotional impact. You can have a fantastic subject, but if you don't present it well, your viewer won't be too affected.

I think we were all emboldened by the readiness of our instructor, Will, to do slightly crazy things to get just the right picture… like climb a telephone pole to get just the right angle to capture the crooked S curves of Lombard Street in San Francisco, California. Having been there just a few weeks ago, and struggled with the same angle problems, I could identify! (But I still don't think I'd have gone as far as climbing that pole!)

Then we went on to lighting. Lighting is everything for a photographer. If there were no light, there would be no photography. Light makes the difference between boring and fascinating. What an awesome privilege to work with the very first thing God created-something so complex that scientists still can't really explain it, only describe it, and that not fully; something which Christ uses to describe Himself.

Finally, after dinner we had a "review and critique" session, where an instructor evaluated our assignments from that morning's photo shoot at the dam. It was a bit painful, but immensely helpful. Some day I hope I can gain such an experienced eye for excellence. (Some day before heaven.)

A terrific course so far—in a terrific place—and who knows what the Lord has in store for the rest of this week!

—Prizewinning Photography Student Kelsey Schweickert from Walnut Creek, CA

View the gallery of today's pictures