Photography Small Group - Manna Church

Welcome to my photography blog! Hope you like my prize winning photo?

My name is Ryan Jackson and I'm not a professional photographer (but my picture definitely says I should be). However, I am passionate about photography and I presume you are as well for viewing this blog.

I am writing this before My Manna Connection occurs so I am sure it was great meeting all of you. If it wasn't great meeting you I just lied to you. However, you'll never know if I didn't like you so just view the first sentence as truth, bury it deep down inside if you feel I didn't like you and move on.

On a more serious note, I spoke with a handful of people about this small group in the past couple of weeks and I am excited there is growing interest at Manna for photography. My intention of this small group is community. I want to build a community of photographers at Manna that can change the world (I'm stealing Manna's quote) through passion and creativity using a shutter, a flick of a finger and love for everyone around us. I love meeting new people, sharing my love of Christ with them and if I can do it with a camera in my hand than praise God even more.

We will be meeting most Saturdays in the morning, before sunset or possibly during the day time. Our meetings will be centered around community but with a specific purpose for each meeting. We will meet to shoot. We will meet to learn editing techniques. We will meet to share pictures. We will meet to share tips and tricks. We will meet to shoot some more. We will meet to learn how to use our cameras. We will meet to share blogs or podcasts or inspirations of photography. We will meet to learn compositional techniques. And we will meet to pray.

Who is invited? Anyone 14 or older with a camera and a desire to dive into photography. Digital cameras are desired for ease of sharing photos but film cameras are great (you will just need to make prints if you want to share your work with the group).

To sign up you need to contact me. Either by phone, email or through this blog.

Tentatively, our first meeting will be June 13th, 9 am at Manna Church. That gives time for those of us who catch more zzz's on Saturday's to hit snooze 8 more times and those who work out early time to check out your bulging muscles in the mirror before we meet. I need to check if we can use a room at that time so check back here for an update on the 13th. If we can't get a room we will meet at JK's deli on McPherson and Raeford for breakfast and photography (maybe we can take pictures of our breakfast) at the same time. I want to meet everyone and talk about our cameras (so bring them.) You can't go into a sports game with out knowing the equipment and plays you are going to be executing and the same logic applies to photography. You need to know your equipment (and basic techniques) to perform well a.k.a. take quality photos.

I look forward to meeting all of you on the 13th and I still think it was great meeting everyone except if you are currently wearing a green shirt. You just smell!

Bless you, check out my other blog entries, leave a comment, and here is another picture that was fun to make. Remember photographers don't take pictures we make them (and I guess I will lay claim to this masterpiece as well)!

-Ryan Jackson-

Fayetteville Photography Group - Meetup

I just did a simple search on google for Fayetteville Photography groups and the first one just started a week ago. The first meeting is on June 6th at 3 pm at the Blue Moon Room on Hay street.

If you are interested in meeting other Fayetteville photographers both amateur and professional and all in between go to meetup.com, find the Fayetteville, NC Photography group and sign up. You will be linked to about 50 photographers in Fayetteville who want to do the same thing as you

Have fun

Chase Jarvis, one of my inspirations as a young, modern photographer quotes "There are 10 great pictures 10 meters from you right now." I like that because photographers make pictures instead of take pictures. Check out his great work at chasejarvis.com

I enjoy going out with my iPhone and not worrying about all the intricate details of a photo and just taking fun, enjoyable photos. Here are a few I enjoyed taking right around my house. The first was a crazy dog barking as I walked by. He was trying to escape his early night prison. The second is a panoramic of Stewart's Creek using an iPhone application. The third was a mallard who was ruthlessly worried about his personal space. I got as close as the picture shows. It was fun trying to get closer. I lost!

The most important part of photography is that you enjoy it. Whether you are shooting a breathtaking sunset or shooting a family get together or shooting a senior picture you HAVE to make it fun for you and the subjects, if applicable. Enjoy the sunset's beauty, make your family laugh and make funny/creative pictures, and have your subjects do poses that are natural and enjoyable and make sure they know you love making their pictures. Also, remember God's beauty is able to be captured at every shutter opening so remember who you are ultimately shooting for. "The beauty of God at every shutter."

Why photography?

I started a passion for photography while I was student teaching in Caledonia, MI. I was teaching 10th grade Biology for 3 block periods and I had the 4th block as planning. A teacher across the hall from my adopted classroom taught a photography elective during the day but had his planning period during the 4th block as well. He took me under his wing for that semester teaching me the finer, basic points of photography and the art of B & W darkroom techniques.

How did you start a passion for photography?

Recommended beginner books

I locked my self out of my house after a speed walk (man I feel like a grandma) workout because that is the only workout permitted with a sling on the arm. Without my keys to the house and a roommate who just left for a round of golf I was hurting for a long afternoon on the porch. Lucky for me my truck was unlocked and it is jimmy rigged to start without a key so I was not completely bored all day by running errands. My errands landed me at Barnes and Noble to look for photography magazines and books. I was rather disappointed at the minimal selection of help books on photography business (NONE TO BE EXACT) but I did find 2 billion books on digital how to's. I wasn't interested in those so I kept looking to see what I wanted to read for a few hours.

I stumbled upon two easy reads for the beginner that broke down key elements of photography with numerous example pictures, short but detailed explanations, and enveloped topics.

The first book is titled "Understanding Exposure: How to shoot great photographs with a film of digital camera. Revised edition" by Bryan Peterson

This book highlights simple techniques on the triangle of photography exposure [ISO (ASA), aperture, and shutter speed] This book will help an amateur or beginner with exposure as not just trusting your camera's automatic settings to achieve proper exposure but rather use your camera's manual setting to achieve a "story picture." If you don't know what the triangle of exposure is or want to start engaging into why some photos are good and others are great this book is for you.

The second book is "Portrait Photography: Secrets of Posing and lighting" by Mark Cleghorn.

I was fond of this book because it gave a beginner or amateur key/fundamental pose and lighting techniques to spark creativity and get the ball rolling in the studio, homes or in nature. The book is set up with a few pages devoted to a specific topic, enough to get one's feet wet with quality information but not too much to bore the beginner who wants to soak up a lot of basic information and dive into each at a later date. I recommend this book for those seeking to the studio aspect of photography rather than the nature or fashion or wedding business.

Both of these books can be found on Amazon.com for a bit cheaper than the bookshelf price and they should ship quickly.

If you have suggestions on books you have found for the beginner or other literature that is helpful leave a comment.

A walk in the rain

I have been cooped up in my house from my shoulder surgery and I needed to get out. It has been raining all day and I said "enough with it" and put on the rain coat and went outside. I took my iPhone because I can't hold my dSLR with only one good arm, being it my left arm.

Use what you have and be artistic in composition. Remember textures, angles, simplicity, lines, focus, etc. If you give each picture a soul its bound to have one.

Ghetto lighting - DPS

There are many tutorial websites that give great tips, tricks and techniques to help photographers of all shapes and sizes. I like Digital Photography School. They send newsletters that are updated weekly. 12-15 different aspects of photography in each newsletter is sent via email varying from gear, editing, lighting scenarios, how to's and more.

In particular, they have a weekly assignment where subscribers take photos of assignments like kitchen utensils, nature, your home, children, macro, etc. I will mention DPS in the future. You should check it out. Its great for everyone of all photography levels.

This weeks assignment is Ghetto Lighting. They assigned it because great photos don't need pricy set ups. They want people to think outside the box and use the cheap, even free, lighting they already have.

My first ghetto lighting picture is using a plant light, 2 flash lights, 3 different colored CD cases and my fan.

Soft Box Take #2

I used ambient light to light my subjects. Some tweaking needs to be done for better exposure. The iphone was good backlighting but I needed more foreground light. The wakko character was better foreground light but underexposed for a softbox in the background. Also, the wakko has some medium shadows on its side I wanted to avoid. Light balance is the goal.

DIY soft box went wrong

I have been stuck in my condo for the past 3 days due to shoulder surgery and I have been focusing on my photography education. I have been looking at a lot of blogs and reading a ton about lighting. The blogs I have latched onto are Strobist and Chase Jarvis. Strobist is solely concentrated on off camera lighting and Chase Jarvis documents his commercial and lifestyle photography to the public very effectively on his blog.

In particular, Strobist made a DIY video on a macro light box or soft box and I thought "why not? I need one and I like saving money." So I picked up the essentials ($10) and made the box out of tissue paper, cardboard box, duct tape, exacto knife, packing tape and ingenuity. I set up the lights and my camera and my subject (iPhone) and took some photos. I started to adjust the white balance to get the correct light balance but it didn't work. I kept adjusting but no luck. I changed the lighting but still no luck. The results were just not what I expected. Set backs are inevitable.

My theory is lighting. I used tungsten lighting with the new energy saver bulbs but the colors just weren't good. I am waiting for my speed light to be shipped then I think it will work. I have some older speed lights but they don't want to turn on.

Downtown Fayetteville

Living in Fayetteville gives you an appreciation for our country on a level I never knew. I am extremely proud to call myself an American and even prouder of all those I call friends who are in the sandbox fighting for our freedom as I write this blog.

iPhone photo

The best camera is the one you have with you.

Fayetteville Photography Community

I have recently become more interested in my art of photography and want to connect to the Fayetteville, NC photography community. I have a passion for photography that is growing exponentially and I want to collaborate with photographers in my area with everything from assignment shoots to techniques to editing.