Nikon Master Class

I had the chance yesterday to attend a Nikon Master Class on Travel Photography in downtown Boston. The class was taught by master travel photographer, Rosanne Panella. It was held at the Radisson in the Back Bay, and was attended by about 150 other Nikon users and fellow photo geeks. She spent the morning giving us tips on approaching people in foreign lands and how to respectfully photograph them, and we learned some compositional and flash techniques. After lunch they broke us into 2 groups and we all ventured outdoors to the Boston Commons for a little hands on learning. They had hired models who were dressed in various costumes, and performers, who were there to smile and pose as we directed. Of course, we were fighting with 74 other photographers, so that made it a little difficult, but I did get the chance to practice some fill flash.





I personally didn't like competing with that many people to get a shot of someone in a cheesy costume, so I did a little shooting on my own around the Commons. The light was very bright and harsh, so I looked for some strong back and side lit subjects...





After our outdoor shot, we headed back to the conference room for our afternoon session. During this time, we learned about what equipment Rosanne brings on an assignment, a little bit about capturing in RAW, and I was nearly falling asleep so I can't remember the rest.

Overall, while I enjoyed the experience of hearing Rosanne Speak about her photos and seeing her slide show of images, I didn't find the class to be very "master" at all. The first hour was spent discussing simple concepts like aperture and shutter speed. Most of it was just stuff I already know. I would probably take another Nikon class, only because I do enjoy listening to other artists speak about what they do, however I wouldn't go with the expectation of learning too much new information.