This Weekend: WWA Night Photography With a Holiday Twist

Tonight, my friend and fellow photography Sean Donnelly and I will be attending a Night Photography class hosted by Working with Artists. The class will be held at Hudson Gardens and Event Center where we will be learning how to mix ambient setting sun sky light with an artificial holiday light display. I'm excited about shooting in a location I've never been before. Instructor Ellen Yeiser, known for her boundless energy, hopes that we will be able to do some shooting in downtown Littleton as well, given time constraints.

At just $25, this affordable course is an amazing deal, and I appreciate my buddy Sean letting me know about it. I haven't yet had the opportunity to take a class with Working With Artists, although I've had one of my photos on display there in it's gallery in the past. If I like this class, I intend to join the WWA's recently organized camera club called "Click!" that hopes to inspire passion for photography through outings and in-house programs presented by its members and visiting artists. For $35 a year we get:

Lectures presented by artists engaged by WWA to present workshops, local celebrity photographers and members
Peer critiques of favorite images
Photographic field trips followed by critiques of images taken on the trips. Examples of photographic outings include the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Art Museum, Hudson Gardens and so much more...
The WWA Photography Book Club
Periodic competitions
And Wine!

Meetings are planned for the third Thursday of each month, from 6 - 8 pm. Outings will usually occur on the weekends, with critiques following at the next third Thursday meeting.Dues associated with the club are as follows: Membership is $35 per year. Membership will be automatically included in a $100 membership level to WWA. To become a member of Click call 303 837 1341 or email click@workingwithartists.org

NEXT MEETING: November 19th @ WWA

Socializing: 6pm
Meeting: 6:30p - 8:30p
Program Agenda
2 Member Portfolio Critiques
Excective Committee Reports

Get Connected: Free night photo session with Illuminate Workshops

It's been several months since my hectic work schedule has allowed me the chance to attend a free night photo session with Illuminate Workshops. The shoot is a great way to connect with other photographers and experience Denver at night. It's a good way to be introduced to the talented staff of Illuminate Workshops because several of the instructors are regular night shoot attendees, including executive director Efrain Cruz and Photoshop guru Armando Martinez. Here are some examples of a my favorite shots I took while out with my buddies in downtown Denver last year. Plus, come on....you know you can't beat FREE!



Here are the details for the event Saturday, May 9, 2009

RSVP: If you have RSVP'd you're confirmed for tomorrow. If you have not yet called/emailed, please let us know to expect you.



Weather: 54°, 40% chance of precipitation.

Time: 8:00 pm.

Location: Illuminate Workshops/Mark Hayes Studio, 23 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO - click here for directions
Parking: you can park in the church lot just 1/4 block north of Ellsworth/Lincoln, (left lane).

Moon Phase: Moon will be one-day past Full.

Plan:
We will meet in the church parking lot.
From the lot, we will walk and shoot through the alley between Lincoln and Broadway, traveling 2-blocks south to Maple Ave. I thought that this could be a good opportunity/location to play with creative flash and portraiture.
We'll cross over to Broadway and walk north getting photos of neon signs along the way, up to the Mayan Theater.


End time: 11:00-ish, depending on the group's energy level.



Notice: Not everyone will make it for the duration, in fact, depending on group-exhaustion, we may end earlier. Please note that some will become tired earlier. If you would like to end the night early, please find someone with whom you walk back to the car. Additionally, please let me know if you leave early. This helps us keep track of everyone.
Due to the nature of this outing and the number of adults attending, Illuminate Workshops cannot be responsible for your safety.


Contact Information:
During the evening we may have to keep in touch with one another, please keep my cell phone number on-hand in the event that you may need directions or get separated. Efrain Cruz (720) 324-0111.
If you haven't already, please submit your cell phone number.


What to Expect:
Our night shooting event is an opportunity for photographers to get together, meet and share in their passion. This is a community event, where anyone can be comfortable no matter what their level of experience. If you have no experience in night photography all you need is a camera, tripod, a self timer (or other shutter release for your camera), Instructors will be available for basic instruction.

Samples from previous night outings and night photography in general: http://bit.ly/h9rlb

We are all looking forward a great evening. Feel free to email with any questions.


Happy Shooting,
Efrain


Efrain Cruz
Director
__________________________________________
Illuminate Workshops
P.O. Box 6023
Denver, CO 80206

website: http://illuminateworkshops.com
email: efrain@illuminateworkshops.com

720.324.0111
__________________________________________

Get Out There: The Biggest Full Moon of 2009

The biggest full moon of the year will be lighting up the dark skies tonight. A perigee moon, normally 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser Moons seen before according to NASA, will be the perfect opportunity to practice your night photography. Last month, a similar moon graced the skies and helped me nail some wonderful cityscapes and holiday light coverage. Here's the best shot I got that night:

The Full Cold Moon

The Full Cold Moon, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

Last week I posted about "The Full Cold Moon" which appears in December. Here is a shot that I took of it during a Denver Digital Photography Meetup featuring holiday lights in the city.

I have always marveled at others' successful moon shots. I could never seem to capture a decent one. Turns out my Canon 70-200 2.8 was the missing element. No other lens I had was bright enough or had enough range to get this much detail. I can't wait to get a teleconverter to bump up that range to at least 400 mm or more so I can get even more detail in the craters.

Get Out There: Shooting by the light of the Full Cold Moon

Today a full moon will grace the skies in Denver, making for a wonderful night photo opportunity. Hopefully it will light up your skies where ever you live too! Known as "The Full Cold Moon," December is the month "when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The moon is also called, "The Moon before Yule," or "The Long Nights Moon" by some Native American tribes. The term is appropro because the midwinter night is indeed long and because the moon is above the horizon for a long time.

A bright moon should make for some great captures of the Denver City and County Building tonight when I join several other photographers during a digital photo meet up. Don't be intimidated by night photography. I let those baseless fears keep me away from it for far too long. Once I finally got up the nerve to attend a night photography workshop with Illuminate Photography Workshops, I LOVED it! Watch this video on the Digital Photography School forum to get some tips for shooting in the dark. There's a very different world out there when the sun goes down...learn how to capture it!

This Weekend: Working on My History Photo Assignment

Photo Credit: Friends of Dinosaur Ridge


July's monthly photo assignment is due next Sunday, July 27, and I finally figured out what I want to shoot for the topic: Dinosaur Ridge. On Saturday, I will be heading up to the ridge, which is a spine of sedimentary rock about 3.5 miles between the towns of Morrison and Golden, where numerous dinosaur foot prints and fossils have been discovered, including skeletons of Stegosaurus, Apatosaurs, Diplodocus and Allosaurus. What is more historical than the remains of a creature that roamed the Earth 150 million years ago? Ok, maybe I'm stretching the concept here, but I think it works! :)

Saturday evening, Illuminate Photography Workshops will be hosting another night photo shoot. I am addicted to night photography now, and I have a much better working relationship with my tripod now, so I can't wait to see how much my shots will improve.

Get Connected: Attended a Night Photography Group Shoot

Saturday night and well into Sunday morning, I attended a free night photography group shoot hosted by Illuminate Photography Workshops in Denver. BTW, that's me in the back row of the photo above! I can't tell you how much fun it was to be apart of this creative group of people. It was fun to shoot with friends and professional colleagues John Freeman and Tiffany Trott. Plus, working alongside other talented photographers is very motivational and its fun to see how different "eyes" see and capture a similar topic, such as the Denver Millenium Bridge. I felt safe traveling around the city at night with so many other people around me. And nothing compares to getting to see and experience your hometown as it lives and breathes in the darkness.



Workshop director Efrain Cruz (directing students above) plans to host these events each month, offering former students an opportunity to learn new techniques and shoot on location with workshop instructors like Armando Martinez. But I also think it's a great way to grow Efrain's business. He's creating a sense of community among current and potentially new students in a non-threatening and fun way. Plus, people who attend the event are encouraged to post up their images on Flickr, another great avenue for getting your photography out to a public audience.

Up until now, I have to admit I've loathed my tripod and rarely used it. To be perfectly honest, that contraption scared me and made me worry that my camera wasn't attached correctly and would eventually end up crashing to the floor. But you can't take long night exposures without a tripod keeping your camera steady, so I couldn't avoid the Bogen any longer. Everyone seemed to understand my initial aversion to the tripod and thankfully no one laughed at me (to my face anyway) when I needed to be schooled on how to work it. Hey, cut me some slack, at least I had the bloody damned thing! But before the morning came, I was confidently lugging my camera attached atop my tripod just like everybody else, and my respect and confidence for the Bogen has grown tremendously. Especially since it helped me take amazing shots like these:








See more images from the night's adventure on the Illuminate Workshop Flickr Group pool.

If you are in the Denver area and you want to join us this coming month during our next night shoot, subscribe to Illuminate Photography Workshops newsletter here.

This Weekend: Wedding Photos Presentation and a Night Shoot

I will be presenting all of my wedding photo galleries Tolisa, the bride, tomorrow morning, so send me some good luck vibes! Mike and Jason will be there as well, and I'm pretty excited, as well as relieved to be just about done with this project so I can move on to my "gallery" showing at Heidi's Deli.

I have uploaded all the galleries to my website, save for the reception pics which I want to present to Tolisa when she views them on a slideshow on my MacBook Pro. You can get a sneak peak at some of my favorite shots from the reception held at the Tivoli in this thread. Taking the time to see the photos full screen the way your client will see them has been very beneficial for me. It helped me decide which shots to ultimately keep or reject. It can be difficult to see images or catch mistakes when files are only viewed in thumbnail or monitor screen sizes. I didn't realize so many images were out of focus or had some color balance issues until I blew them up to 100 percent viewing (a trick I learned to spot problematic noise issues from iStockphoto.com).



It also helped to allow more "eyes" to look at the photos. I finally got the nerve to let other photographers on the various forums I frequent critique the images. Most everyone had great things to say, and others were very constructive, yet helpful, in pinpointing some of those tale-tell issues.

I am also going to surprise Tolisa by presenting her with a photo album she can purchase that I created at the Wolf Camera store in downtown Denver. One of the clerk's there gave me an amazing deal and coupon to have the album built and produced right in the store. At first I thought about printing and framing a large 20x30 image, but I think the photo album showcasing the complete story of her nuptials will have greater emotional impact (and more likely lead to her buying the album as well as other prints).



Also this weekend, I will be heading downtown with Efrain Cruz, director of Illuminate Photography Workshops, and several of his students for a fun "Night Shot" outing. If only this event could have happened earlier in the month, I might have had something more innovative and creative to submit for my own blog's monthly assignment (besides the overly done shot of the moon). But hey...I haven't had that much experience shooting at night, so that moon shot was the best I could come up with. It will be fun to learn how to master this challenging photographic technique that really forces you to use all your knowledge of exposure.

Here is a great shot Efrain took during the outting he held last month:





Efrain will likely host a new outdoor session every month for socializing and meeting potential new students. Want to hang out with us and shoot? Email Efrain at efrain@illuminateworkshops.com or check out the school website here.