Summer Photo Class, Cabrillo College, CA

Wanting to learn more about using manual mode in my cameras and some new techniques, I sign up for an Art Photography in the Field class through Cabrillo College Extension taught by Nick Borelli. Our instructions were to bring our camera equipment along with a tripod and wear good walking shoes.

Since I started photography using an Olympus OM-1 film camera, I was already familiar with manual mode, but over the years I got lazy after buying fully automatic digital cameras. Consequently, the class didn't go well at first as the controls for aperture and shutter speed were not exactly obvious on my current Sony cameras, which have great picture quality but an inscrutable user interface. Fortunately, all was revealed in a YouTube video.

Our first assignment is to capture the motion of ocean waves.

Tripods and shoes - check

Back lit waves breaking on the Davenport cliffs

Longer exposures reveal the motion of waves breaking against an arch in the cliffs

As the light fades Nick tells us to use longer exposures to capture motion.

Scott - a photo friend

golden hour light

The class lined up at cliffs' edge

The ocean pours in circles through cracks

in even lower light wave motion reveals itself more

The next morning we are up before dawn to catch first light over the Capitola wharf.

The early alarm was worth catching this shot

The fog rolls in and as the whole class groans, Nick encourages us to work with the fog to take advantage of whatever weather conditions Mother Nature presents us with.

Wharf disappears into the fog

back lit sunflowers

flat light helps showcase color

After brunch, we move to Nicene Marks to practice taking photos of bright sunlight and deep shade in the redwood forest.

Fern lined stream

Shade & sunlight

back lit leaves against blue sky

It's been a fun class Nick - thanks for teaching us to slow down and better appreciate the world around us before hitting the shutter.