Class: Day 3

It's a good thing I didn't have my heart set on knitting
this week, because it just ain't happening.  I still have about twenty stitches to bind off on my Aracaunia Patagonia shawl and haven't gotten to them.  What I am managing, however, is to read a few chapters each night in this great book that Linda loaned me.

So far, so good, on class.  We are getting a grip (some of us stronger than others) on f stops, shutter speeds, and the ever elusive depth of field.  Monday morning this all seemed like a bleak possibility...but we have the most fantastic instructor (Sarah Meghan Lee) and she has carefully put this into words her doe eyed students can grok. 

Monday afternoon we were released into a public venue, Jackalope. 
For those of you not familiar, it is a sprawling (like over a large portion of a block) assortedment of little shops selling assorted Mexican craft items.  There we were assigned the task of photographing long lines of huge pots, showing our new found prowess for depth of field.  I took around 300+ photos while there, only to discover I had my ISO set for indoors and was forgetting to manually focus my lens.  Please note:  I never said I was a quick study.  Along the way, I found these guys.  I found them rather charming.  They didn't care about my settings.

Yesterday we shot on campus, edited Monday's photos, and in the afternoon, were turned loose on the Canyon Road area (lots of color and galleries, for those who've never visited SF).  First stop:  Downtown Subscription, one of SF's oldest and most well known java houses, along with about every magazine you could ever want.
In the parking lot was this special little message.  I couldn't pass this up.

Just before dark, we found some trees with lights and lighted ornaments.  Not surprisingly, I'm quickly finding that my photograph preferences lean toward the distorted.  Here's this beginner's interpretation of what I saw.

Off for a morning of shooting at a western movie set!  ---Martie