Sunday, May 3, 2009

PhotoCamp Milwaukee

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Yesterday I had my first *Camp experience attending PhotoCamp Milwaukee at Bucketworks in downtown Milwaukee. This was an Unconference with no pre-set sessions. In the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. (I wasn't one of the crazy people who turned up for the 5 a.m. photowalk ;o), everyone introduced themselves and said what they wanted to learn and what information they could share.

Based on these comments, participants proposed sessions they might lead, and these were written down on sticky notes. Then impromptu scheduling began on a huge piece of paper stuck on the wall. People put an X by the session they thought they might attend, and meeting spaces were assigned accordingly, but everything could change on the fly.

At one point, another participant Kelly and I were scheduled to lead a session on "Digital and Non-Digital Photo Collage" (she was the digital expert obviously :o) but since no-one put an X by us, we said, "Just cancel it and we'll go to the sessions we want!" (I attended RachelK's presentation on "All Things Flickr" just so I could learn more tips.)
IMG_7082 Creating the butterfly shadow under the noseIMG_7083x The Butterfly Effect
In the first time block, I browsed three sessions before settling in on the last one that I had expected to attend, "Photographing Models" presented by two professional studio photographers (whose names I need to find) with input from others in the audience. I don't do much portrait photography (unless you count the cats) but learned a lot of useful tips on posing and lighting people to look their best, including how to get a better driver's license photo! (Advice courtesy of kisluvkis: Don't look straight on directly into the camera even when they tell you to. Turn ever so slightly away :o)

I had said in the introductions that I wanted to learn more about Photoshop, Strobist (off-camera flash) and High Dynamic Resolution (HDR). I knew with the last two that I will probably never do anything with it, but I was curious to see the technology behind the results. And when those sessions got too technical for me, I wandered off somewhere else. (I never did make it to any of the Photoshop or post-processing sessions!)
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My favorite session was Simon McConico showing how to do portrait photography with natural lighting (another one I had not originally planned to attend). He posed his models against nearby walls and in the alley across the street with fabulous results. Here we are waiting for the sun to appear from behind the clouds and backlight the model Ely.
IMG_7148 Waiting for the sun to emerge from behind the cloudsIMG_7151 Here Comes the Sun
You can see more pix from PhotoCamp in my Flickr set or the Flickr group pool.

9 comments:

Terri Kahrs said...

Ok . . . I am officially a deep shade of pea-green envy!!!! Photography is my 2nd 'artsy' love!!! Wish I were geographically close to you - I'd have signed up with you!

The photo camp concept is SO intriguing! I can't imagine all of the little tidbits of knowledge you gleaned from these classes. I took a quick hop over to your FLICKR, and it looks like you had a ton of fun! Hugs xoxo

Juana said...

hi Carolyn! thanks for give my dolls a name!
Seems you enjoyed your photo camp! I love photography, as a matter of fact, I came to Italy with my PentaxK1000, dreaming to became a photographer. A friend introduce me in a phographers group...and there I met SignorM., we've got married, and so on...
Anyway, our son became a photographer! And a good one!

Carolyn B said...

I was thinking it would be fun to have an ArtCamp (though harder to haul all your supplies around vs. your camera :o) You both should keep your eyes open in your area because one might pop up! I learned about this one through folks I met in the Cream City::Milwaukee Flickr group, which is very active.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post... glad you had a good time, and enjoyed the "Camp" format of the event...

Simon McConico Photography said...

Great write up! You explain the camp process/idea really well.
Thanks so much for the complament as well. I really appreciate it and am glad that the session was interesting and useful.

Julie G said...

Hey that was my drivers license photo tip!! It works, I swear! LOL. My boyfriend just got a new license too and it eliminated the mullet shadow (shadow from the flash that made him look like he had a mullet on his last pic) too this time.

I think you sat in front of me at that session. (?) on the floor?

Carolyn B said...

Thanks, y'all for putting on a great event!
@Julie - I'll edit to give you credit :D Yes, I was on the floor!

Anonymous said...

ps. Here's a direct link to the pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellybean/3502658808/sizes/o/in/pool-959962@N25/

Carolyn B said...

@Kelly - I think the first part of your comment got lost in cyberspace! :D

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