One of my photo students and I went on a fun photo walk recently, and it was lovely! I introduced some new concepts and ideas for her to test out now that she's shooting manually and telling the camera exactly what she wants it to do. Since she's doing so well, I've added a lot more to her future lessons and I am very excited to see what she comes up with next.
PHOTO CLASS FUN!
Yesterday's photo class was so fantastic, I'm happy dancing at my desk as I write this.
This smarty pants was shooting manually within no time, with such a clear understanding of the concepts we covered. While adjusting aperture, shutter speed, and ISO as needed while shooting various subjects and lighting situations, she took some fascinating and beautiful photographs. She totally loved being in total control of the camera and had no idea she could see something in her mind and make the camera replicate it. I'm feeling proud as all hell over here, and am cooking up some fun projects for her next few classes!
CARRYING MY CAMERA EVERY DAY
When I was an art student, I practiced every day and had at least one camera with me at all times. That daily photo shoot inspired me to pull myself momentarily out of my anxious-about-everything brain and meet people all over San Diego.
Once when my friends were playing a big show at an excellent music venue, the NBC photographer who was covering the event didn't show up. I had my equipment with me, so I took photos and submitted them to his editor. After that, I was shooting music weekly for them until I moved to LA. Even though I was getting paid a tiny amount for that work, I was so excited to see my name credited and spelled correctly under every shoot I turned in. Also, I got to be around so much incredible music and met so many creative minds through that adventure of a job.
After working for almost five years at a corporate photo/video job in the video game industry, I had almost lost that camera carrying habit and only used my cameras when I had a family session, headshots, or for the day job. I am very proud of things I made there; it just wasn't ever really MY work.
Now that I'm out of the corporate world, I've been carrying cameras with me again and am pushing myself to do that regularly because bright ideas pop into my mind every time I leave the house with my tools.
Through this, I've also prepped a fun lesson for a new art student and turned this theme of keeping creativity an option into some of the work she's going to practice!
ART CLASSES FOR KIDS - LOS ANGELES
Cameras and feathers and art supplies, oh my! Fun prep for an awesome 12-year-old's lesson! She learned how to shoot manually and picked it up SO quickly. It's so much fun to see how easy learning is for kids, especially when it's fun!
ART DAY WITH TWO SWEET SISTERS! | Santa Monica, CA
I spent a wonderful afternoon with two creative kiddos and it was so much fun! We made messy oil pastel art and painted their pretty designs with thick, shiny mod-podge before they photographed their finished pieces. They took turns directing photo shoots and learned about light and composition while testing out a bunch of different cameras. We created, talked, and giggled like crazy-it was incredibly fun for me and the girls had such a great time they asked me to come back again this week! I woke up this morning to the sweetest words from their Mom and I had to share because it nearly made my heart explode:
"Today Mikaela and Naomi had their first photography session with @thesproutingimage. Samaria is absolutely incredible when it comes to doing what she loves! Her passion for art and photography, mixed with her compassion for differences really touched me.
Watching my girls learn and create, they were so inspired, and I truly felt like she opened up a magical wonderland for them. By the end of the session, they were full of giggles and smiles! She's just that kind of happiness that brings out the best in those around her. Summer's still here for another 4 weeks before school starts! Visit www.thesproutingimage.com, you'll be so glad you did!"
MAGICAL WONDERLAND??? I for sure have a few more wrinkles because of how hard this phrase made me smile...but I don't care in the slightest. Here are some photos from our awesome art-filled afternoon!
Mikaela photographing her finished oil pastel/mod-podge creation!
Naomi showing off some of her artwork!
She saw the punny-ness of this situation, adorable.
Here's a photo of the three of us at the end of our fun afternoon!
Thanks to these kiddos and their amazing Mama for the awesome day, and I simply can't wait for our next lesson!
