>From time to time I treat myself to the $20 carwash where real people
actually lay hands on my Suburban. Guess that is kind of a spiritual
experience for the buggy which has taken me some 160,000 miles over the past 5
years. Having a clean car ever now and again is also somewhat spiritual for
me.
I'm taking some folks out to photograph alligators, turtles and hopefully
not too many pit vipers in the morning. This is a field trip for the
class I teach several times a year. Next week I'm driving out to Santa Fe and
then on to Golden and maybe it will still be moderately clean for that
trip. What had me laughing at the car wash was when I went inside to pay and
watch my car being pulled along the conveyor belt as it was being sprayed
and soaked and brushed before being turned over to the humans, I looked out
in the driveway where the cars get prepped for their wash, and some guy was
cleaning his car out , throwing the empty cups and newspapers and trash in
the trash can. Nothing too funny about that, however the last item that
went into the trash can was his set of golf clubs. Guess he didn't have a
very good round of golf! It was probably really bad.
In teaching a basic photo class the first class includes, among other
things, some instructions on how to operate an Olympus OM 1 camera. Each
student gets an enlarged copy of the pages from the instruction manual that I
want them to have, a demonstration on loading film, focusing, advancing the
film and rewinding it. They are sent off into the world being told that
there is nothing they need to do with the camera that requires them to use any
force. The second class they bring their images back and they get
critiqued and we also to some instruction before they are given the assignment
for
the following week. At the first critique one of the students said she took
her roll to the processors and they told here it was messed up and they
couldn't process it. Fortunately she brought the roll with her so I could
see what was wrong that it couldn't be processed. The roll she handed me was
still in the container, however every one of the sprocket holes were
striped out of it. Guess she didn't believe me when I said nothing requires
any
force. Probably didn't read the manual either. Hmm, if she had turned
the rewind lever, bet this wouldn't have happened. Oh, yes the rewind handle
had managed to be worked loose. Wonder how that happened? Hope John
doesn't read this and see how some of his babies are getting abused. Oh well,
these things happen. I issued her another camera and sent her on her way.
There will be other crazy things happen and hopefully none will create much
more damage than this one.
There are several parts to each assignment and one that is a part of each
assignment is to have fun. I think some are amazed that can occur at the
same time they have a camera in their hand. Each assignment is designed for
people to discover the breadth of possibilities their equipment offers and
also how limitless is their ability to create. In the first assignment they
are told to focus the lens as close as it will focus and then take a dozen
or more images at that distance. When you review their images you see
that some people struggled with it and some really embraced it. As is the
case in each of these classes the results produced will often blow me away.
This class, more than any other I have taught, has people creating work
that shows that they "got it" and are able to use the knowledge in creating
some pretty spectacular images. Being able to share their journey of
discovery is pretty wonderful.
Bill Barber
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