Wednesday, January 26, 2011

IPS!

This is an incredibly looooong overdue post! I've finally had a chance to sift through the images from my time down in San Antonio, Texas with the Institute of Photographic Studies. Wow! Two weeks of absolute amazingness! =D

Mom and I drove down to the class and on the way we stopped in Austin to see the Capital Building.


The day before classes started we toured the Alamo and ate dinner on the Riverwalk


The workshop was held at T bar M Ranch in New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio


The Buffalo Gap was our meeting room...much learning and laughter took place inside these walls. =)

We were surrounded by beauty and tranquility at T bar M...

The first week of class we went out every day. Downtown New Braunfels, Gruene, the San Antonio Riverwalk and Botanical Gardens were our destinations. Each was filled with unique photo opportunities.






Cowboy boots and hats, and the lone star were never far from sight.


This picture was at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. I was taking a picture of this little house and this gentleman asked me to stay where I was so he could get a picture of me taking the picture. "Pictures are always more interesting with people in them", he said. I then asked if he would pose for me. He was an army photographer in WWII. This photo won me IPS's "Picture of the Day".


Lots of destinations means lots of car time...we rode around in this 15 passenger van all week.

Everyone working together to capture the perfect image.

Ruth was from Minneapolis, and like me, is a huge Twins fan. One night the Twins game was on ESPN while we were eating dinner at the Ranch...we were pretty excited! =D Oh, and speaking of dinner at the Ranch, they cook awesome meals there!

One of the hardest things during PWP 1 was that we could not review our images when we were out on assignment.
We were always excited when our assignments came to an end, and we could finally look at what we had captured!

PWP 1 Group Shot (photo credit: Rob Bennett)

I am super glad that I was able to attend PWP II the following week!
Another week jam-packed with all things photography!

Whereas PWP I was all about getting out and capturing moments, PWP II covered organizing and editing photos, learning how to navigate Lightroom and Photoshop, and more advanced lighting techniques.
 Messing around with fill and off-camera flash...


...and, practicing setting up a photo booth...yes, that's me on the left. ;)

Our big outing during week two was conducting a photo shoot for a client. We broke up into groups and each of us had half an hour to create around 80 images. Here are a few of my favorites of my client, Audri...
After our client shoot, we did a 1,000 hour photo challenge. 9 of us combined to take 1,000 pictures in 1 hour. Our subject? Downtown San Antonio. It's unique style and flavor, the people it consists of, the history it holds. Here are a few of my images...


It was May 5th when we did our 1,000 hour challenge...Cinco de Mayo!





Our last night of class, Mr. Rob showed us some night-shooting techniques. Here's a cool group shot where we used light writing. (Photo credit: Hailey Huggins)

Our final project of PWP II was to spend a few hours photographing T bar M Ranch, chose our favorite photographs, edit them and turn them into two postcards. Here are mine...

PWP II Group Photo (Photo credit: Rob Bennett)

So, you might be wondering, "What is it that makes IPS so great?"


Well, the fact that they budget trips to Starbucks into the tuition costs, might have something to do with it, but there are a few other answers...

Katie, Wallis, Allison, and Hailey

#1: The people! The girls at IPS were great...even though they said "ya'll" every other word and thought I was weird for saying "you guys". We had so much fun learning new concepts and helping each other out. Each of these girls not only has remarkable talent, but also a love for Christ that is evident in their lives. It was a joy to get to know them.
Angelina, Natalia, Ashley, and Kira

#2: The instructors! Our instructors for the classes were so amazing. They brought difficult concepts into understandable terms, and made sure we were all keeping up with everything. They always managed to find something positive to say about our images, even though I'm sure it was sometimes hard to do. ;) More than that, they encouraged us to be world changers. They encouraged us to first and foremost seek God's light, because in His light, we see light. They encouraged us to be amazing, to live a life sold out for Christ.

(Photo credit: Sarah Danaher)

Before I left for IPS people would ask me why I was going all the way down to Texas for a photography class. "Aren't there classes up here," they would ask? I was starting to wonder if maybe I should have just found a class close to home. After I attended the classes, I knew I had gone to the right place. Hearing stories about missions photography, listening to Jeff Myers' session on leadership before we started photography assignments for the day, having devotions at night, and singing "In Christ Alone" while editing photos are all experiences that wouldn't have happened anywhere but IPS.

And that's what makes IPS amazing...it's all about encountering God, discovering vision, and photographing life...yes, in that order. I can't wait to go back! =D
photo credit: Hailey Huggins

3 comments:

  1. Fun post, Meagan!
    What's an estimate of just how many pictures
    you alone took there?

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice! great job! sounds like you had a
    lot of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ LJTwinsGirl...I would say somewhere around 1,000.

    ReplyDelete