Hey gang, Well, I decided I had some idle time, and since I've never been formally trained in photography, I took a course. It's Introductory Photography I and it is after the first night (today) BASIC. I was the first to the classroom, and chatted with my instructor and he loved the fact that I had the MZ-S with the BG-10 grip. I had the FA 50mm 1:1.4 on it (we were required to bring an empty SLR to class). He actually used Pentax, but in the studio, it's all Nikon. He said the MZ-S is a ghost? SLR. Because of Pentax's poor advertising it hasn't received it's due credit. He was of the opinion that the MZ-S was equivalent to the Nikon F5. He knew all the specs, saying yes, it only has 2.5fps, etc But coupled with good Pentax lenses was equal. Also interesting is that the multimedia slide show he had going had an older Pentax (LX, I think) and the MZ-6. He was basically pointing out the various parts of new and old SLRs (had a Canon in there with the eye focus thingie). I found myself, since it was SO basic, answering all his questions...then stopped because I realized I wasn't letting the other class members in :) He actually asked if I really needed to be here. LOL. but I do if you read further.
Here's one that I found interesting. He asked simply 'Name a famous photographer' and the first two just said 'duhhhh...I dunno.' The third he asked of course came up with Ansel Adams. (surprise!). I was next, and said Herb Ritts, and he was like, great, a fashion photographer. This went on for a few minutes (most had none to say). Of course his point was that if asked for famous painters, or musicians of the past, we'd come up with a handful, but nobody really knows photographers. I will shamelessly admit I know Herb Ritts for the nudes he has taken of supermodels and celebrities :) So it looks easy. There are assignments, we are given film and have to submit on things like blurred action and frozen action (tough!) and DOF, bunch of others I don't remember, but the one I'm keen on, since I know I lack this is composition. He spends far more course time on that than anything. I'm looking forward to it. The other stuff is old hat to me, but composition I lack and really look forward to learning about it more, as it is so important. My rant, Brad Dobo ****************************************************** Brad W. Dobo, HBA (Eds.) Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://members.rogers.com/brad.dobo/ ICQ#: 16566668
