Photography Class!

Yep, I got a Canon DSLR camera for my birthday from Karl before we were even married, and this week I finally *finally* took a photography class to let me get out of auto mode (I mean, it was so bad that I’ve only been taking my point and shoot for trips, why carry a heavy camera around if I can’t use manual mode?).

I signed up for the class at the last minute – I did my research on Friday late afternoon, and surprisingly, I got a reply back that there was still room in the class! 

One of the main reasons I hadn’t taken the class before, even though I’ve been in Manila for a while and I arrived with that on my “to do” list, is that most classes here happen in multiple weekends, usually 5 Saturdays or Sundays in a row – and I have yet to have 5 weekends in a row in Manila (I know, that’s about to change very fast!). 

Most of the classes I found go through the end of February, which is a bit too close to my due date to risk, so at the end I spent more than I wanted to spend and took a 3 day (very intensive) basic photography class at PCCI here in Makati.

And yep, I am totally comfortable using my camera on manual mode now, the only problem is I have to keep taking pictures so I don’t forget what I learned, but Manila is back to its gloomy day self today (and apparently for the next few days). 

A lot of my pictures are boring, as we had our first morning shoot in Greenbelt, a shopping mall nearby with outdoor space, and that being a place I go to once or twice a week, it was hard to find inspiration…  Plus the main goal was learning to use the camera.  We did a few portrait shots too, but they’re pretty boring, so not posting them here. Here are some of my morning photos:

The end of the afternoon/nighttime shoot was a lot more fun (though I was EXHAUSTED by then), as we went to Roxas Boulevard (near the US Embassy) and were taking pictures of sunset and things in motion, here are a few of them:

My best attempt at panning:

And Manila’s one claim to fame:  its gorgeous sunsets!  (I heard that pollution helps make the sunsets prettier, so I’m not surprised there are beautiful ones here!)

Some of my classmates…

Nothing like a bride and groom who conveniently walk by as you’re learning to shoot!

Capturing motion again (not perfect as I didn’t use a tripod, I need to try this on a busier street where cars are going by faster to get the cool light effect!  Maybe back in DC where traffic does move by faster?).

Making “art” with lights…

Bokeh:

A couple of my classmates also got a shot of the silhouette of my bump against the sunset, and I can’t wait for them to send me those pictures so I can share it here!  (Nothing like being proud of my big belly, huh?)