05.03.10

A weekend in the gardens (in photo mode!)

Posted in photo at 7:46 am by heidihoho7

It was a busy weekend for both Bela and myself – his story will come next once he arrives home… As for me I signed up for a photography workshop with Nels Akerlund and his wife Anna at the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL.

It’s a beautiful time of year with flowers blooming, trees with blossoms and fresh leaves, big hostas already grown, and rain showers at night which left wonderful drops of water over much of the flora. In other words the perfect time to be taking photos in the gardens.

Our weekend started off with an orientation on Friday night where we met Nels, Anna, and most participants. We talked about the plan for the next 2 days then took a quick tour of the gardens with a light rain misting on us and what would have been perfect conditions for photography; but alas it was just a walk though. Our real fun was to begin at 5AM on Saturday, which meant a 3:15 wake up for me! So after a short night’s rest I was back in Rockford ready for some great photo fun with tripod in hand.

Now i know most of you will be like what? heidi used her tripod almost exclusively?? I know, hard to believe! But there were many wonderful waterfalls and water features and we were out at sunrise so I took advantage of the great light and location and took some nice long shots for my fave velvety water.

We had 4 hours each morning to explore the gardens and see what we could find. Many of us hit the main “money shot” areas: main falls, the south falls with the lantern surrounded by blooms and maples, and the 2 big ponds with koi and bridges. But what was more fun was looking for the small details – the drops of water on the hostas, the inchworm on the Japanese maples, the patterns of rocks and stone gardens, or the textures of the maple leaves or reflections in the water. The small details ended up being my favorite images from the 2 days.

Each morning after our shooting time we’d head back into the basement of the Visitor Center where we’d start downloading our images. Nels and Anna would give a short lecture either on the basics of editing/ file management or give us a demo on Lightroom. This is where i got in trouble (not real trouble I don’t think, but i can be a smart ass)…

Our classroom was set up before we got there and it just so ended up that the 4 nikon users were all in the back row, i have no idea how that happened but i found it quite ironic seeing as how Nels is a Canon user… so some fun was had with that fact … then we go around and find out who are Mac users and who are Windows users… and of course I get strike two with my Win 7 machine… and to finish off the trifecta, i mention that i’m a Bridge user. (Gasps were heard)

So the whole weekend a friendly banter went back and forth in regards to all of my “evils” and a “we’ll convert you to Lightroom just wait”! Of course when something went wrong with the canon/mac/lightroom i was sure to pipe up of course the same could be said for whenever i had issue… like when Lightroom decided it wouldn’t work for me on sunday. (I figured it knew i really wanted to use Bridge so it just helped me convince Nels since i couldnt get it even open or the beta version either and ended up having to use Bridge anyways.)

I don’t think i’ve completely convinced them that bridge isn’t truly evil but at least i was able to show them that it does match lightroom for the basic functionality that they were showing the group (so stop badmouthing Br you Lr users hahahah!!!). And no i’m not sold on Lr yet, yes it’s prettier, fancier and has a nice WB picker but i’m not digging the fact that everything is tied into the library – like when LR wouldn’t open and i figured i’d just use Br – well all my ratings and edits were tied into Lr so I’d have to start all over. I like that Br ties it to the file so no matter where it goes – the ratings and edits go with it! I need to see of Lr has that option but until i find that option i’m sticking with my beloved (and FREE with PS) Br

Ok i digress! after our lectures we’d have time to edit our photos and submit them for a group critique and slideshow. This ended up being the fun part (besides actually taking the photos which of course was the best part of the weekend) – I always love seeing what everyone comes up with at workshops. I am always asking myself – where was that photo taken? Why didn’t I see that? It helps to broaden my horizons and constantly reminds me to look closer, wider, up and down, and look beyond the obvious photos – try to get creative! Ok, and i steal photo ideas too – on sunday i tried to recreate a few that i’d seen on saturday as well as try to do some shots that i hadn’t seen.

I’d been using my 18-200 lens (i know not the best lens in the world but i love it so) and my 50mm macro. But on the 2nd day i ended up breaking out my ultra wide 11-16 tokina so i could do some hand holding. With the bright skies later in the morning, not a ton of them turned out great but i did end up liking a few of them – it gave a totally different feel from the previous photos. One thing that i did see in the slidehow that got me interested was some ultra violet photos another woman had taken – I’m quite tempted i have to admit – they ended up being beautiful and super fun. just another option in the never ending world of photography!

So overall I’m super pleased with my weekend at the gardens. I got some shots that i’m proud to call my own and made a friend or two in the process My only hope is that Nels and Anna don’t ban me from attending more workshops haha!

For a few more images please visit my picasa Anderson Gardens album

Permalink