Teaching my First Class

    Thanks for checking out my blog this week. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching my first photography class at the Special Olympics Missouri Athlete Leadership Program. ALPs is like Special Olympics college. The athletes pick a degree and they take classes in their major. There are different majors like technology and communications. Then at the end, they take their capstone and can graduate. My class, photography, was an elective for technology. We didn't have many athletes signed up so I wasn't sure how many students I would have. I ended up having 5 athletes on the first day and 6 on the second. When the athletes go through ALPs, they have to have a mentor in the classes with them in case they need help. The class is 4 hours long and they have to complete a practicum before they can move on. Brandon asked me to be a professor last August or September I believe. He gave me some of Indiana's slideshows to help with my curriculum but I added a huge portion myself.  I spent much time on it so that I was very prepared and covered the basics. I was a little nervous about teaching a class but I loved the subject and I knew most of the athletes so the nerves were gone.
   For my class, I had an assistant professor, Sean Brown. He works at Columbia Access TV. He has a lot of video experience and is teaching the video class in the fall so he wanted to get some experience before then. On the first day, I went through the material. Then we went outside and shot with the cameras. I had different demos set up for them. The grandfather of ALPs sat in my class which was a little intimidating at first but he had some great feedback for me. My athletes were pretty quiet in the class and didn't ask many questions. I had a lot of information to throw at them. We made Sean act like he was holding the building so they could try a perspective shot. Unfortunately no one got him holding the building though. He took a picture with a fire hydrant and everyone got a laugh out of that. Overall my first class went pretty well.
  On the second day, the grandfather of ALPs suggested that I try talking a few minutes but before I get too in depth into my material, I take the athletes out and shoot, we come back in and cover the material. Then we go out after they have learned what they are doing and compare pictures. That is exactly what we did. It worked so much better. Miss Teen Missouri was crowned at Mexico Military Academy, where ALPs was being held, the night before and she came around saw all the athletes and took pictures with them. They really enjoyed that. My second class was a lot more lively. The athletes and mentors worked well off each other and they were really into shooting. We came back in for a critique after shooting and I was so impressed with their work. It was so funny, we had to pass the cameras around because there weren't enough for everyone so every athlete used every camera. When we looked at the pictures, every athlete would say they took the picture. Obviously they all didn't take the one picture. Even when their arms or faces were in it, sometimes they would claim they took it. One of my students, Jared, took a picture through a dirty window into an empty classroom. We could pick out faces in the picture. Everyone said Jared could see ghosts haha. It got very deep.
  My class got great reviews at the Input Council from the athletes. I am so glad they enjoyed it because I know I did. I was impressed with all of them and how well they did. Four hours is a long time for anyone to sit in a class. Sean was a great assistant and had fun being the model for our shoots. I hope I get to teach the class again. I have posted some of their photos below so you can see their awesome work.

A Day in the Life

Hey all. If you've been following my Facebook page, you know that I have been doing a photo challenge each day for the month of June. Today's photo challenge is day in the life so I thought I would expand upon this more in my blog. Yesterday I just got back from Special Olympics Sports Camp. It goes until Friday but I didn't stay all week this year. If you've never been, it is a blast. The athletes really have a great time and it is really tiring. So I am going to show and tell you what typical day at Sports Camp is like.

On Sunday night, the campers come in. They get checked in and they get to meet their group. Monday through Thursday, they participate in different sports activities throughout the day. Friday morning, they have a tournament and then go home.

Monday through Thursday, the athletes get up in the morning. Most do not sleep in very long. Breakfast is at 7. The athletes do an exercise warm-up. Then they head to their first sport. This year we offered soccer, flag football, tennis, golf, and volleyball for the morning.

The athletes went to lunch. They got an hour rest. Then they went to their afternoon activities. The activities changed from day to day. They got to fish, play frisbee golf, bocce, noodle hockey, cycling, and kickball. I joined the athletes for noodle hockey for a little bit and let me tell you, it is EXHAUSTING but so much fun.

The athletes go to dinner and then they finish each night with an activity. Monday night they watched a movie. This year, a storm was coming, so the athletes had to head to the dorms before they got to finish it. Tuesday night was Minute to Win It where they complete different challenges in a minute. Wednesday night is relay. Thursday night is always a dance which is probably their favorite activity.  The theme this year was pirate. There were five teams: the Captain Jack Sparrows, Blackbeards, Captain Hooks, Buccaneers, and Jolly Rogers. They wore a bandanna all week that matched their team's color. 

Friday is always a hard day. Nobody wants to say goodbye. New friendships are made. Shaffer does an awesome job putting the camp on. I know how much work she puts into getting everything ready. MMA is a great place to have the camp. We also have a great group of volunteers that work as group leaders, junior counselors, and extra staff for whatever needs to done. Sports Camp is a week I look forward to every year. 

Choosing a Photographer with a Degree

Hey all. This week on the blog, I decided to talk about the pros of picking a photographer with a college degree in that field over one who doesn't. Don't get me wrong, some people just have that photographer's eye and can pick up a camera and start shooting, but a degree helps sharpen your skills.

Learning how to shoot in manual instead of automatic is very important and most average people who go buy a camera and start shooting have no idea what manual is. I went to college and had never shot in manual before and thought I was a photographer. I was so wrong. My pictures changed in quality once I switched. It is a skill that takes time to learn. It involves changing your focus, shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. If you leave your focus on automatic, you might get the person in the back's head sharp instead of the person you were aiming for. If you don't know how to change your shutter speed, the race you were trying to capture will be all blurry. Automatic ISO can make your picture look super grainy. If your aperture is wrong, you could have a very bright picture or very dark.

Editing is a very important process of your photography. Without learning the proper skills, you might make your entire picture have a purple filter and think that looks good. I see so many pictures online of people who started a photography business with absolutely no experience and edited pictures very poorly. Extra limbs on people. Vignetting around every picture. Vignette is almost never a good idea. Editing on Instagram with a filter doesn't count! You can tell professional editing when the photo is sharp, good contrast, no blown out highlights, and good color.

Lighting is also something that is very important. Natural lighting gives a nice look to your pictures. Make sure to shoot in the morning before 11 and from 3-5 in the afternoon when the light doesn't leave harsh shadows. If you are shooting inside, it is handy to have a speed light that sits on your camera or if you are shooting in a studio, it is good to have some studio lights with umbrellas or soft boxes. North window light gives portraits a nice look. I went on a shoot this week and all of the rooms were dark, so I had to use my skills and what lights were available to make the pictures turn out well. An inexperienced photographer would have used their automatic flash, blinded everyone, and the pictures would have ended up blown out.

If you are paying someone to take pictures, I would want them to be able to know how to do these things. Research their pictures. Ask them their experience. Most professional photographers with a degree aren't going to give you your photos on a flash drive either. They have spent hours learning about the craft, and they strive to bring you the best looking prints for you. The quality of prints you can order from them are much better than the Walmart one you are going to go print out yourself. Photographers with a degree are going to cost a little bit more than average Joe with a camera, but isn't it worth it? Your pictures will look so much better and you know they are investing their heart and soul in to those pictures. You don't try to find a doctor without a degree because it will be cheaper. You only trust the licensed ones. Wouldn't you put your trust in some one who went to school and studied hard to make your pictures be high quality? 

Special Olympics

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking pictures at the 2016 Special Olympics Missouri State Summer Games. Special Olympics has been a passion of mine ever since my mom started coaching at our school. I was basically born in to it. I went along as soon I was born and I started volunteering when I was six. I started competing as a unified partner when I was 8. If you aren't familiar with unified sports, it is when athletes without an intellectual disability competes as a partner with an athlete who does have a disability. I have been pretty active since then. Fast forward a few years to my junior year of High School when they asked me to be the Assistant Public Relations person for Team Missouri at the 2010 USA Games in Nebraska. I got to take pictures of the athletes and I was in love with my camera. I knew I wanted to be a photographer professionally.
     Ever since then, I have been a volunteer photographer at an event or two each year. It is rewarding to give back to the athletes and being apart of those moments. When their faces light up as they receive their medal or ribbon, when they finish their race, it is priceless. I feel like I have a second family with Special Olympics. Some of my best friends, I have met through the program.
  If you've never volunteered or been to a Special Olympics event, I highly recommend it. You will walk away with a big smile on your face. You can go to www.somo.org to find out more about Special Olympics and opportunities near you to volunteer it. Now I have some photos from the most recent competition.