ATPI Fall Contest 2009 Results: THS Students Receive 18 Awards

So I really thought I would be on top of this blogging thing this year. But as usual, I am behind on almost everything.

But I am very happy to announce that eleven of my photography students at Texas High School either placed or received honorable mentions in the Association of Texas Photography Instructor's Fall Photo Contest.

The contest featured 17 different categories, divided into beginning and advanced with more than 7,700 individual entries representing 80 schools came from students and faculty in Texas, Kansas, New York and Wisconsin.

ATPI provides information and resources to teachers and students that work with photography in order to help the photography instructors of all disciplines work to achieve a higher quality of knowledge and teaching of photography.

The image featured above was created by senior Lorin Vega and placed first in the Advanced SportAction category. Lorin's image beat out over 430 images submitted for the Advanced Sports/Action category.

Images below are either placed or received Honorable Mention

3rd place Advanced Student Life - Lorin Vega - Senior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Advertising - Kaitlyn Porterfield - Senior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Open - Caera Phillips - Senior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Studio Portrait - Caera Phillips- Senior

Honorable Mention - Sports/Action - Mackenzie Morrow - Junior

Honorable Mention - Beginning Sports/Action - Mackenzie Morrow - Junior

3rd Place - Beginning Open - Mackenzie Morrow - Junior

First Honorable Mention - Beginning Advertising - Mackenzie Morrow - Junior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Open - Danielle Mays - Senior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Advertising- Danielle Mays - Senior

Honorable Mention - Advanced Advertising - Marian Hill - Senior

Honorable Mention - Beginning Nature - Kandis Harmon - Junior

First Place - Beginning Time Exposure - Heather Ellis - Junior

Honorable Mention - Beginning Time Exposure - John Dukes - Junior

3rd Place - Advanced Open - John Butler - Senior

Honorable Mention - Beginning Sports/Action - Kate Beltson - Junior

2nd Place - Beginning Sports/Action - Kate Beltson - Junior

School Has Begun

School has only been in session a week and I feel like I have been here a month. Because my classroom was moved over the summer and all technology had to be moved the week before our in service began. And my seniors and I conducted a a Photography Bootcamp for our incoming rookie photographers two weeks before school started. So technically I have been here a month.

Enough whining though, I got lots of things planned for this blog this year. My class and I have been throwing around ideas as how to make this site a great place for student photographers find information and a great place for photography instructors to have an online extension of their classrooms. We have decided to utilize resources from my Media Technology classes and Photography classes to produce several short "how we accomplish it" videos. These videos are going to cover everything from how we teach proper exposure to using wireless flash to improve your students photography.

Last school year I started the Effective Aperture Flickr pool. I am encouraging all student photographers and photography instructors to participate in the pool. I am also looking for a couple of photography instructors to help me moderate the pool as well, so if you are interested leave me a comment and we will get the ball rolling.

My students and I have a couple of more ideas to help build this site, so be watching for our weekly updates.

Proposed 2009-2010 Club Shirts

This is the proposed look of the Tiger Photo Club shirt. If you have suggestions or recommendations feel free leave a comment. Also a reminder for all incoming THS Comm Photo I and returning Comm Photo II students, club dues are to be turned in by June 5, 2009.

Summer Photography Assignments

WOO WHOOO...Summer is upon us. The problem with summer for me is this . . . I just got my senior photographers trained and now they are leaving! So, I have decided to implement summer photography assignments and reading for my incoming juniors of my Commercial Photography class at Texas High School in Texarkana.

In addition to the reading I will post assignments for students to complete. Images from these assignments can be posted to the Effective Aperture Flickr Group for critique and discussion.

Also I am looking for other photography educators to be moderators on the EA Flickr group. If you are interested feel free to contact me.

If you are not a "regular" student of mine and are one of my workshop students or even a student or educator from another school, you can purchase the books we will be using by clicking on the reccomended reading thumbnails on the right side of this blog and purchasing these fine books from Amazon.

Below is the required reading for Comm Photo I students at THS.

PHOTOGRAPHY – Ninth Edition

Chapter 1 – Pages 2-13
Chapter 2 – Pages 15-36. Special attention to pages 25-27.
Chapter 3 – Pages 38-63.
Chapter 4 – Pages 68-70, 72-84, 90
Chapter 7 – Pages 139 – 149
Chapter 8 – All of this chapter
Chapter 11 – All of this chapter
Chapter 13 – All of this chapter
Chapter 17 – All of this chapter
Chapter 18 – All of this chapter

The photo above was created by THS photography student Marian Hill. See more of her photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/yeahmarianyeahh

Workshop Was A Success

The first ever Effective Aperture workshop was a success. A total of 10 photographers attended the workshop and are currently posting images to the EA flickr pool. I want to thank all the attendees allowing me to share my knowledge with them and also thank them for their patience with a sick instructor. I also want to thank Patterson's Camera of Texarkana for sponsoring the workshop. Patterson's supplied reflectors, light stands, umbrella and several flash units for students to use during the workshop.

Patterson's also put together an Outdoor Portrait Lighting Kit that includes everything you need to get started shooting outdoor portraits except the Pocket wizards for $250. You can also buy the kit without a strobe for only $99!

Having bronchitis during the workshop and the week after the workshop kept me behind in things I need to get done. Some of the request that were asked of me by attendess have not gotten finished yet. No worries though, I have not forgotten you and will have your request fulfilled soon.

One of the request was for a handy dandy card that explains my methods to achieveing ratios when shooting portraits outdoors. My plan is to create a nice instruction card that can be printed out and placed in your camera bags. I hope to have this as a download by the end of the week.

March 2009 Workshop Itinerary

Preparations for the 1st Effective Aperture workshop are almost complete. I can't tell you how excited I am about this upcoming workshop and how much fun I know you will all have. The Itinerary is as follows:

Monday, March 16
8:30 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Classroom session at Texarkana College Annex.
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Outdoor Portrait Exercises without Flash.

Tuesday, March 17
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Classroom session at Texarkana College Annex.
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Outdoor Portrait Exercises with Flash.

Directions to classroom:
The classroom is located in the Texarkana College Annex that is located directly accross the street from College Bowl in Texarkana, TX. Visit this link to mapquest to get directions.


I would also like to give you a preview of your subjects you will be shooting at this event.

Heather is one our brides from 2007. She is very outgoing and has an infectious smile. One of Heather's bridal images we made is featured at the Paul C. Buff forum. Heather is very outgoing and is one of our favorite clients.








Kade is a senior at Fouke High School this year. He is game for almost anything. When we shot his senior portraits this past fall, we set numerous things on fire during his session. It was great to work with a subject that worked as hard as we did to produce very cool senior portraits







Ashley has been one of my most favorite subjects to shoot over the past ten years. I have shot her senior portraits, bridals, wedding and her family's portraits. She has also worked with me on several personal photographic projects, including my very first merit print.

1st Annual Effective Aperture Workshop

1^st Annual Effective Aperture

OUTDOOR PORTRAITURE & LIGHTING WORKSHOP

March 16-17, 2009

HANDS ON WORKSHOP
Photography, especially portraiture, is not an art or skill that you can only learn out of a book or the Internet. It requires hands on training with proper instruction. And that is exactly what students will receive at the 1^st Annual Effective Aperture Outdoor Portraiture and Lighting Workshop by professional photographer and photography educator Clint Smith. Students will have classroom instruction on basic principles in the morning and will spend the afternoon applying those principles shooting models.

CURRICULM
This is an intensive workshop that not only covers the basic posing of subjects in portraiture, but also the lighting of subjects. Students will learn:

-Basic lighting principles.
-How to choose the correct f/stop.
-To Understand the Inverse Square Law.
-Understanding ambient light conditions.
-Choosing the right reflectors and modifiers.
-How to mix ambient and strobe light properly.
-Maximizing your gear and location.
-Posing by gender.
-Communicating with subjects to produce stunning images.

GEAR REQUIRMENTS
Digital or Film SLR camera.
Media cards or film.
Batteries for cameras.
Zoom Lens or long Prime Lens (50mm or longer).
Pen and Paper.

Optional Equipment
Tripod.
Shoe mount flash – dedicated or non dedicated.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.