A great weekend of classes!

This image was shot during our Sharpshooter outing Sunday afternoon. It illustrates the classic In Focus 'ripping' technique (one of many in-camera 'painting-with-lens' techniques). The class also covered basic 'punching' and in-the-field multiple exposure work.

What a fun and exciting weekend of classes for the IFLC. For all of those In Focus students who braved the weather and joined us in Balboa Park... thank you for your courage, tenacity and strength. Your desire to learn what it takes to be an artist with your camera really inspires me. I'm humbled to be your instructor.

This weekend saw literally a downpour of techniques and options. More than 50 In Focus students traversed the colors, contrasts and striking stories found in San Diego's most incredible park. A new group of artists tackled the basics as In Focus I: Mastering the Mechanics began its month long journey. We covered exposure options, aperture and shutter control, white balance choices, focus decisions and more. They pushed and pushed hard. The constant rain only added to our options as we focused on real message building and dynamic results.

In Focus II: A Field Guide to Composition students saw the world a bit differently as we literally walked through the basics of composition, human biases and sociological norms. Capping, anchoring, visual weight and graphic rhythm topped our list of things to do ... and boy did we do it!!! The theories were tough ... but we pushed through and by the end garnered a new found appreciation for the lines, shapes, patterns, colors and tones that surround us.

Our Black and White class was also on hand for Sunday's drizzle. The park took on a whole new flavor as we explored the power of changing colors to tones. We got a grip on our options at the beautiful Art Village, then tested that experience inside the botanical garden. What fun!

Our portrait class also saw their share of shooting this weekend as we kicked off one of our most popular courses with a deep look into the basics. We discovered the power of contrast and saturation, we explored some basic isolation techniques and learned a bit about environmental portraits. We ended our class at the amazing organ pavilion where we used the environment to our advantage. I can't wait for the next class.

But that wasn't the end to our weekend ... Our Sharpshooter's group got together in the later afternoon and shot our way through some fascinating In Focus painting techniques including: punching, ripping and a bit of multiple exposure work.

Next weekend we're off to other locations. In Focus students will be exploring more black and white options and portrait preferences at the rustic Old Poway Park, they'll be blocking, stacking and layering in Old Town and having fun with perspective, depth-of-field and focus in Carmel Del Mar.

It's going to be a great weekend and week. Please if you were in one of our classes this weekend make sure to keep checking your blog this week. I'll be posting images, articles and more as the week progresses. And please, don't forget to upload your own photos. I'm looking forward to seeing them and offering any help I can.

Thanks again gang ... it's a pleasure being your instructor!!!

Below are some images from our classes.