Photography Lessons

I heard a story, a parable, the other day. It went like this: A carpenter hired a young apprentice. The apprentice was eager to get busy with building houses, too eager to take the time to learn the carpentry trade. "Very well," said the carpenter, "if you are so certain of yourself, go ahead and build." Halfway through the construction project, the lopsided frame he was erecting collapsed. The young apprentice turned in his tools and shamefacedly said, "I have to quit. I'm not a carpenter. I can't build anything." "Excellent," the carpenter replied. "Now you are ready to learn how to build."

Probably about 30 years ago I took a photography class that was being offered through a local camera store. I was still a dedicated hobbyist, I loved taking pictures but was frustrated that so much of what I saw I could not convey into becoming a printed image. The guy teaching the class was a structural engineer but an avid amateur photographer - Don Maccubbin. Don didn't teach me to be a professional photographer. What he did teach me was how the camera worked and how to "see light". And that was enough to put me on a path of spending hours and hours in my spare time learning the art and craft of photography.

And, yes, eventually I did make that huge leap of faith and stepped off the cliff of a sure thing, a 40 hour a week job with a paycheck and benefits to pursue what my gift. Now I make no one that promise, Don was a very special man and I was a very determined student and it took years of time, tears and toil to become a professional. But not everyone has the goal of working on the edge like this, for many people they just want to take better pictures of their families and the life they see swirling around them.

And that I can help you do. If you'd like to enroll for my winter class please use the contact form on my web site: http://www.wadestudio.com/.

You do need a camera that you use in a manual mode, it doesn't matter if it's film or digital. I'm looking for a class size of no more than 10 students so once I reach that goal the classes will begin. And currently I have 6 students signed up.

I will say this also, if you're like the carpenter's apprentice in the parable you won't be ready for this class until you're ready to learn. I'm not looking for hot shot photographers who think they're already pretty good. I'm looking for people with a teachable spirit.