Last week Jann and I had the opportunity to attend a landscape photography workshop with well known, Colorado photographer
John Fielder. When we walked in together and said that we were Jann and Jan it became the joke of the class. Everyone who walked in after us was asked if their name was also Jan. No one forgot our names the rest of the afternoon.
We started out in the classroom where we learned about composition, color, view, perspective, form, etc. We looked at some of John's work and also learned how he does his post-processing, i.e. makes his photos shine.
After a short break we headed over to nearby
Bluff Lake for a little hiking and photo shoot. John carried around his little point and shoot, took some photos, showed them to us, and had us take some of our own photos.
Late afternoon storms are the norm in Denver during the spring. We were able to capture some pretty cool clouds in our photos.
As we shot our photographs John came around to take a look and show us how we could improve our shots. I was told that I had too much sky in my photo. Do you agree? I do.
He then took my camera and shot this to show me how my shot could be better. Yeah, his shot was much better than mine and now I have John Fielder original on my camera!
There were some fun colors on our shoot as well. I love the red and green colors together.
Jann caught me in the act. I actually never realized that I lean back when I shoot. It's kind of funny looking isn't it?
I was trying to get this shot when Jann shot that photo of me.
To get "the" photo don't be afraid to try out different angles.
When you lay on the ground you can get shots like this.
With all the late snow this spring the trees have just started to get their leaves.
We also worked on some delightful reflection shots.
The excitement came when the sun was setting. There color on these trees with the sun shining on them was pretty amazing.
There's not much daylight left.
As we were heading back we saw some deer hanging out. They didn't seem to fear us at all.
Silhouettes can also make for some beautiful shots.
Being out when the sunsets made me realize that I'm hardly ever outside when this happens. I think I need to get out more.
We, aka The Jan/ns to John Fielder, had a wonderful time. We learned a lot about landscape photography and it was great to be outside working on our new skills. You can check out some more phtotos
HERE.
Since getting my point-and-shoot camera I rarely carry my big, heavy SLR around anymore, but I had a portrait session coming up and decided to wipe off the dust and practice a little when we headed to the park.
We met up with friends old and new and had a blast!
The sun was a scorcher, but it didn't slow anyone down.
Next to the playground is a little grassy area and pond where the geese like to graze.
My goal, at the park, was to come home with tired children. I'll tell you now that I succeeded after they ran around all afternoon. ;)
Just before we left the children found the stage area and decided to sing Father Abraham. It was such a hoot to watch. They sang and danced until they couldn't stop laughing.
