It has clearly been a very special day.
I’ve been very anxious up until today, I was worried something would happen and I won’t be able to do the course. I wanted to do it so badly. I kept looking out for spots on Yuri (my worst fear was that he contracted chicken pox from Joe – he can still be ill any time till Saturday), but he seemed to be fine.
So this morning I walking him to the nursery, got myself nicely dressed, and put on make up, and set out to Caversham. The traffic was better then I expected, and I managed all the roundabouts, and did not get lost. I arrived about 10 minutes before the start. And I felt great! I had a good night sleep too, so my mind was very alert.
The studio was very nice, adorned with the beautiful photographs – portraits mainly – on the walls, and a collage of Freddie’s snaps with various celebrities. Half of the studio had a proper studio set-up, white screen and professional lights; the other half had sitting area, and at the end a little kitchen, very neat.
2 ladies were already there: Claire and Bekky. We started chatting, and then Laura and Susy arrived. Irene was very late, and we had to wait for her, but it was great opportunity to find out things about each other. It was funny that there were only ladies on the course, but Freddie said that it’s not surprising and in general women take this course more than man. It was a very interesting mixture, Clair with her entertainment business and a wedding for which she id hired to be a photographer (very determined to learn how to take good wedding pictures); Irene, whose husband died and who needs a hobby to keep an interest in life.. she had the most expensive camera – 8000 pounds! Even Freddie said it was the fist time someone had a camera like that. Bekky, a mother of 2 children, who is looking to start a business; Laura, working for the department of work and pensions, and being sponsored by her employer, so she can take photos for the internal magazine, and Sussy, from Devon who just wants it as a hobby and potential extra income.
Freddie, was very charming and funny. His voice and manners reminded me of Christian though, but I tried not to make this influence me negatively.
There was lots of jokes and stories about people that he knows, and other people who took the course. He thinks only 5% of photography success is due to technical knowledge, the rest is communication.

We learned all the basics, ISO, white balance, aperture, shutter speed, etc. Most interesting was about the light and composition, I liked the rule of thirds!
Some of the things I already new, but lots was new, and it has not quite “sunk in” yet – hopefully after tomorrow I’ll have more confidence.
I’ve been using Freddie’s camera for the course, which costs 5500 pounds, it was huge and heavy, and it was very exciting to be able to work with a piece of equipment like that!

We were served beautiful lasagne for lunch with a fresh salad. And after lunch we started practicing. First assignment was taking picture of the shoes on a wooden plank. In the darkness, with just a torch light we were creating art! The shutter speed was 30 seconds, and we could “paint the light” the way we wanted to. The results were stunning.
Then we took pictures of the flowers on the black background, and again it was amazing. Correct camera set-up and lighting were doing miracles.
After that we learned about studio set-up for portraits. And at the end we practiced taking portraits of Freddie. I had to go, as it was already after 5:30 , so we will see the results of today’s work tomorrow.

I’ve been trying to apply what I learned on my basic camera at home. At first I was just getting very dark images, but then I understood how to change the settings. Still a long way to go, but this is so exciting and stimulating!
I am so glad I’ve decided to do this!
And it coincided with my driving breakthrough, I fill very happy and free!