ADFH Practical Exam #1

Photographing the Festival Du Voyageur was quite the experience. It was bloody cold outside which made it difficult sometimes. It seems that no matter how warm you dress, eventually, the cold will get to you. Other then that, the experience of it was pleasant. I liked the pea soup, I liked the music, I liked the sculptures, but most of all, I really liked capturing all the festivities on my camera's. I discovered just how well I work under pressure, and how you can get the most beautiful pictures of something that's not so interesting by just looking at it from another point of view. Don't get me wrong, I already knew that, but most people photograph things because it's interesting, or memorable for them. When you are photographing a job, sometimes it's not a scene that you would usually grab your camera for, but because it's a job, you have to get a good image, so you have to find one, and that's what I mean by looking at it from a different point of view.

The most challenging part of this whole experience was asking people to sign waivers. I am a little shy with strangers, so it took alot of courage to ask the first person, but the more you do, the easier it gets. The easiest part was just being there and shooting away. I love what I do, so that alone makes it easy and fun. I took about 1000 pictures over the duration of the festival and now have over 600 photos added to my collection, that clearly grows rapidly. I think I would have had less good shots turn out with out White Balance, and the lenses I had.

A couple of weeks ago I received a Univex Mercury camera from 1938, and I loaded it with film in my bathroom (you have to do it all by hand in the pitch black), and brought it out to the festival and learned how to use it. I got some pretty awesome shots from that. I suppose when I print them in the darkroom we'll see just how good they turned out...fingers crossed. Other then that, I was shooting with my digital. My batteries didn't last that long because of the bitter cold, but luckily I never ran out of power. I also had 3 different lenses with me, a 50mm (which I borrowed from school), a 24-85 mm, and a 75-300 mm. I was mostly thankful for the 50 mm because of the lighting conditions in some of the tents. I NEED to buy one of my own.

All in all the experience was very positive and I will go back again next year. Maybe the weather will be warmer.