PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP BY BRET WEBSTER DAY 2 AND 3

I wrote about the photography workshop day 1 by Bret Webster the other day. Here is the link to that. On Monday, 10 February, the participants gathered at the Amricani Cultural Center at 3 pm. Bret told us there is a beautiful moon rise happening and we should go out and capture the moon rise. So some of us went along with Bret to a near by location, about a 7 to 8 minute walking distance to capture the beautiful moonrise and had a great time doing that. Bret was explaining about the settings on manual and how to capture the moon rise at its best. While we were out there, it was pretty warm. We returned  to the Amricani Cultural Center where we were joined by other participants and we headed for the Salmi desert in our vehicles. It was a long drive. By the time we reached there, the sun had set and it began to get quite cold. 

Salmi desert was chosen as there were literally no street lights, so we can experience a totally dark sky with stars which is important when we want to photograph a star studded sky. The moon was far too bright that evening which prevented the numerous stars in the sky from being visible to the naked eye, except for the many that was shining bright. The sky was nevertheless beautiful and we did manage to capture the sky with the stars and moon. Bret said we could do this again during his next visit on a new moon day, which would be the perfect for capturing a star studded night sky. We learnt a lot as Bret started to explain about the technicalities and settings by going to each participant and helping them out with their cameras and setting. We did a lot of light painting photography as Adel, who heads a photography club volunteered to do the beautiful designs in the back drop of a dark desert. 

On the 3rd and final day of the workshop which was held on Tuesday 11 February at 6.30 pm, particpants gathered at the Amricani Cultural Center and shared our individual work with Bret on the big screen. This helped us share our work and hear valuable comments, tips and suggestions from Bret on areas of improvement. There were some shots that were quite awesome and Bret suggested they be sent to NASA and National Geography. He explained about working with camera settings in manual mode. He discussed the importance of adhering to work flow which can help us organize all those hundreds of photos we take.  'Experiment, keep taking lots of pictures and don't take the same shot again, take from a different angles and look for that perfect shot hidden in the pictures you've taken', was one of Bret's many advice.  

I must admit, we all wished the workshop extended for a few more days. It was great to have Bret Webster hold this workshop. Like I said earlier, it was not only a learning experience, but we had plenty of fun. A big thank you to Bret Webster, the U.S. Embassy and DAI for organizing the photography workshop.