CPR

CPR: Creative Photography Retreat = a chance to become a better photographer, meet new friends, and learn from the some of the best scrapbooker/photographers. I had a marvelous weekend in Dallas, TX (if you exclude the 102 degree weather with 85% humidity!) learning as much as my brain could take in! We spent 16 hours in class, lots of hours outside of classes taking photographs, and very little time sleeping! Here are some of my photos:

I met Donna in my classes; we had the same track so we spent two days learning from each other. She's from the Houston area and was a great photographer and mom of 2 girls. We had to go on a photo scavenger hunt and this is one of the pictures I took of "natural light."

I met Kristin in my very first class; she didn't have any other classes with me but what a wealth of information she was. She was well on her way to being a professional photographer and she helped me gain confidence in my shooting skills (she encouraged me to shoot in "manual mode" rather than in auto mode (aka dummy mode! by our instructors!). This photo is taken in manual.

Kristin took this picture of me during dinner. I am having a ball!
One of our classes focused on wedding portraits. I'm telling you, this is hard stuff! Our instructor had couples set up to come and "recreate their wedding" and I love this shot. She is telling us we need to be aware of where the groom places his hands (I'll let you figure this one out!!!).

Our hotel had a beautiful pool; the only free time I had was when the pool was closed so no swimming for me!

This is a picture of a flag outside the hotel at the CompUSA building. The entire building was reflective glass and I loved the design. I also wanted to give a perspective to the next picture:

I took this picture standing in front of the flag. The building formed a "V" at this point and both of these flags are reflections of the flag pole. I entered this photo in the "Best of Dallas" competition and won an honorable mention (5th place). The coolest part was I took it in manual mode, edited it as best I knew how and really was pleased with the outcome. I had never entered a photo in a contest before and to receive an honorable mention on my very first entry was amazing! I feel very blessed and excited about this! I now have a 13 x 19 photo of this to hang in my scrap room! What a great weekend!