Devi Sujathaa, who attended one of our photography workshops in Bangalore, writes about her experiences of the two day weekend photography workshop. The photos in this article are provided by the author. Devi blogs at http://gypsyterrain.blogspot.com Visit https://darter.in//photography-workshop/photography-workshop-bangalore/ to know more about our photography workshop, course content and schedudle.
Ever wished that time could just stay still – as you savor a sunset by the beach or watch those wondrous waterfalls tumbling through the mountains? Yes, each one of us has had those moments of serenity and awe. And what better way to freeze those beautiful moments, than a picture, which truly reflects what you see and more so, what you EXPERIENCE…..
Aspirations apart, I was always the least inquisitive when it came to understanding even the simple buttons on my point and shoot camera. With much effort, I had managed to efficiently use just the self explanatory “trash can” button to delete some of my bad clicks (which was quite often!).
And to further complicate things, at some chivalrous moment, I decided to upgrade from a point to shoot to a bridge camera with a wide selection of modes and menus!
For over a fortnight, it was safely tucked away in the same flipkart carton in which I received it, until I decided to enroll for a Photography workshop with Darter on 19th and 20th of November’2011.
On the Day one of the workshop, as I watched my fellow participants trickle into the classroom one by one, with their mighty Canons and Nikons, it sure dawned on me that I would present a potential challenge for any right minded trainer 😉
However within the first 15 minutes of the workshop, all my fears were allayed. We were to start from the very basics and the cameras we had really did not matter (phew, what a relief!). The trainer reiterated, “Your camera is NOT as good as YOU”! Well, I have always been the optimistic one and preferred to believe that I had some goodness left. And so, there was HOPE!
As we were taken through the various technical aspects of making a photograph, I finally felt I was getting to know my camera better. Holding my camera wasn’t intimidating anymore!
The course was well paced giving us time to experiment every aspect we were learning. Also the limited number of participants allowed a lot of interaction including some well intended humor. You can be your dumbest best in front of 8 people than 20 people, isn’t it?
As the trainer took us through the nuances of a picture composition, I realized that the position/placement and the angle of a subject made a huge difference to a picture. Every technique was explained with wonderful pictures shot by the trainers themselves, during their various photo journeys, which helped the concept stick to our minds.
And during Day two, we headed to the much awaited field trip in the picturesque Lalbagh (Bangalore), to apply all that we had learnt during Day 1. Followed by this, was the review of the pictures (which to me was the best part of the workshop). Within the same chosen location, the pictures shot by each one of us were so different. It proved once again that we are all unique and have our own gifts.
And finally, the most important lesson for me was that, good pictures do not emerge from a random clicking of pictures in mindless frenzy – capturing a good picture requires focus and creativity because it is not about “what” you see – but “how” you see it!
Darter’s Photography workshop, had thus opened up a whole new world of photography for us. And in the true sense, for us participants, the learning had just begun!