Well, week one of the Summer Intensive course at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography is officially finished.  Honestly, it felt much longer than a week.  I don’t know if it’s because we have classes six days a week or the length of each class period (typically 4 hours) or a combination of both, but I feel like I’ve been here for a couple weeks already.  They weren’t kidding when they named it Summer Intensive.  (Although, the summer part needs work.  High’s in the 50’s, lows in the low 40’s.  That’s not summer weather, even in Montana).

The beginning of the week was mainly about preparation.  We covered the basics of what type of equipment would be needed and where to get more (at a discount).  They made sure everyone’s computer was set up properly with the required software.  The covered where to shoot in Montana and how to not get eaten by a bear. :)  And they spent some time getting to know each of us and helping us get to know one another.

And that was just the first day of classes.

As the week progressed, we started covering the basics of photography: shutter speed and aperture.  We covered how to control them in the camera and how they relate and affect the final image.  Most of it was a review for me, but I picked up a few tidbits along the way, such as where to set your focus when shooting a picture with a large depth of field.  They encouraged those of us that were familiar with these concepts to start shooting in manual mode to really drive home the relationship between the two.   When shooting in Av or Tv modes (that’s Canon terminology), it’s easy to ignore what adjustments the camera makes for you.  I found that shooting in Manual in a controlled environment (i.e. indoors) isn’t that difficult, but in a variable environment (such as outdoors on a partially cloudy day) it gets much tougher.  The light keeps changing so if you’re not quick enough between setting the right exposure and composing you shot, you may have to start all over.  It can get really frustrating.  But, I’m working on it.

Tomorrow is a day off so a bunch of us are going on a little trip to a nearby ghost town to, of course, take some pictures.  I’ve never been to a ghost town so it should be interesting.   I’m sure you’ll get to see some results if you follow my Flickr stream.

Now for the really good news…I got my 5D back!!!  The shop where I took it to be fixed was able to do it in house and didn’t have to send it out to Canon.  If they would have sent it, it probably wouldn’t have been ready for 3-5 weeks.  That would of sucked.  But, I’m happy now because I have it back and the repair was only $130.  I was expecting much higher.

Finally, I ran a couple of times this week…or tried to.  Either I got out of shape really quickly or the move from an elevation of ~1500ft to 3300ft has a bigger effect than I would have thought.  The first time, I was sucking wind after about 6 blocks!  That’s pathetic.  I probably only ran about a mile and half before I just walked home.  The second time I probably went closer to two and ran the whole way.  I feel like such a wuss.  It’s been a long time since I haven’t been able to run at least three miles.

Well, that about sums it up from Montana.

Today was the opening orientation at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.  For the Summer Intensive (SI) portion of the program, there are 101 students, 61 female and 40 male.  The age range goes from 18 years to 69 years old.  I wouldn’t say there’s really any age group that really dominates.  There seems to be a pretty even mix.  They told us that in past years there were far more of the younger crowd and less of the older students.  Also, in previous years the female to male ratio used to be closer to 80/20.  So it seems their demographic is shifting.

They broke us up into six groups for the summer.  Each group has around 16-17 students.  Each group attends the various lectures and labs at different times.  Although, they do double up the groups for many of the lectures.   Some days, we’ll be in lectures and labs all day.  Other days, we might only have a couple hours worth.  It varies quite a bit.  I imagine the days without lectures, we’ll be out shooting on our own for assignments.  Most lectures/labs are held from 9am-1pm, 2pm-6pm, and 7pm-9pm.  Some days I’ll only be there for one (or only part of) a section.  Other days, I may have to be there for all three (so 9am-9pm, yikes!!!).  There’s a couple of labs on the schedule that go to 11pm as well, so there could be some very long days in my future.

We didn’t have any lectures today.  It was all about getting to know the staff and teachers and getting to know your fellow classmates.  It was interesting to see where everyone came from and what career paths they left behind to come here.  We have classmates from several countries including Canada, UK, Finland, Denmark, and Australia so my two day drive doesn’t seem so bad anymore.  Some people had been planning this for years.  Others found out last week that they were coming (they were on a waiting list).

Everyone seemed really friendly, excited, and a little scared/nervous.  I think everyone is wondering how they compare skill-wise to everyone else.  I know I am.  But, I don’t think it will matter much once we get going.  I’m pretty excited to begin.  But, I’m also a little nervous about the intensity of it all.  We’ll be covering a lot in the twelve weeks.  But, I remember always feeling the same way at the beginning of each semester in college when we’d were given the class syllabus.  It always seemed like there was no way I’d be able to get it all done.  And then at the end of the semester, I’d look back and realize it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  I keep telling myself this will be the same.  I’ve almost got myself convinced.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a vast majority of Mac users in my group.  I’m heavily outnumbered.  I’d guess at least 90% of the group said they used Macs.  In case you aren’t aware, I’m not much of an Apple fan in general.  But, I will not be converted!  On the plus side, it seemed like their were more Canon shooters in my group than Nikon shooters so I won’t be a total outcast.

We finished the day with a discussion on where to shoot around Montana.  I heard about some really great day trips around the area, so if you are ever planning making a trip out here someday, I can give you some tips.  They covered the Missoula area as well as Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.  I can’t wait to visit some of the spots.

On to SI Day 2!