Today was a pretty long day in classes, 9am-9pm.  So far, the past two days of classes have been more or less an introduction into equipment: what’s available, staff recommendations, pros, cons, etc.  We also spent some time today setting up student computers.  Mine, of course, was already set up and ready to go. :)  Also today, they had representatives from Bogen and B&H Photo come in and talk.  The B&H rep talked to us about their history and covered their new student program that gives us substantial discounts on many (not all, unfortunately) items in their store.  Then, the Bogen rep showed us an impressive line-up of Manfrotto and Gitzo  tripods and later, Kato bags.  The carbon fiber Gitzo tripods are really impressive and so light.  I’d love to get one, but the price for those things is staggering.  I think I’ll be keeping my Manfrotto aluminum tripod for a while.  The Kato bags are pretty sweet, but I’ve got so many bags and cases already, I can’t really justify more.

The finale for the day was a presentation by Allison Leach.  If you’re not familiar with her, you probably are with her work.  Her photos have appeared in all the major magazines such as People, Men’s Health, Esquire, Vanity Fair, etc.  The list goes on an on.  She showed us some of her work and gave a detailed presentation on what its like being an editorial photographer. (Editorial photographers shoot the pictures that accompany articles or advertisements in magazines.) She also gave us some funny antidotes about working with celebrities.  It was really interesting, but thoroughly convinced me that I have no interest in that type of work.  Allison, by the way, will be our instructor for our Lighting class this summer, which I think is pretty awesome.  Nothing like learning from an accomplished working pro.