Elderhostel Photography Workshop
North Carolina's Outer Banks
March 2008
WOW!! This sure was different from what we have grown to expect. Workshops have typically been out in the field events capturing images from dawn to dusk. Class time was always during the mid-day hours when the light isn’t good. This workshop was totally opposite with 90% class time and only 10% in the field taking pictures.
We attended this workshop for several reasons: 1) We wanted to try an Elderhostel event, 2) it was scheduled for March when we were available, 3) the location on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and finally, 4) it was very reasonably priced.
The workshop was held at the Trinity Center
and included all lodging and meals. The location can only be described as absolutely wonderful. The Trinity Center sits on a 62 acre parcel of land that stretches from the ocean to the bay. The lodging units, dining hall, and meeting rooms were all spacious and clean. The entire staff was courteous and friendly.Our instructor for this event was
Karen Baggott, a locally known artist. Her brochure states, “My specialty is nature photography in fine-art form, visual reflections upon grasses, rivers, leaves, fields, oceans, sky and the human-made structures that make up our planet”.Twenty four (24) participated in the workshop. Seven (7) of us were shooting with DSLR’s. All the rest were shooting with “Point & Shoot” digitals and most were new recruits to the finer points of photography. All were there to learn about camera settings beyond “auto”.
The first morning was devoted to figuring out what these cameras could do. The camera variety in the room was amazing! Fortunately everyone followed instructions and brought their books along. Kathy and I were P&S camera users until last year so we enjoyed working with the people around us in this “figure out the camera” phase of the workshop.
Two field exercises were worked into the schedule. Each was a couple hours in length and took place during the day. The first was right on the
Trinity Center property and the second was to Fort Macon located at the northern tip of the barrier island.WE added sunrise photo shoots on the beach at 6:30am. After all, how could anyone go to a photography workshop and miss the pre-sunrise light which is best. Especially on a beach. A few endured the cold and joined us for an hour or so of suffering before breakfast. Trudging out to the beach at that hour “separates the men from the boys” as they say.
A critique session was planned after each of the two field exercises. A single image from each participant was downloaded for review by the group. These sessions were, in our opinion, very beneficial.
We always learn something at every workshop we attend. For this one it was setting the camera on continuous to increase our chances of getting the right image during an action sequence. We just never gave it a thought. It has been several years since we ventured out onto a beach so the photo op provided on the Trinity Center property was a plus.
You might be wondering if we will attend another
Elderhostel workshop. Absolutely, but next time we need to more closely study the description and the activity level rating. This workshop was far more laid back than we expected but it was as advertised…..Samples of the 300+ images we took can be found here.....
Click on Kathy's picture to
see her images....
Click on Joe's picture to see
his images....
| New March 2008 |