Day 8
Today Willie asked us to use only one lens for all of our shooting for the day. He picked the lens and everyone shot with a different one. This exercise challenges your photography skills as you have to create the photo instead of simply change the lens to capture the scene. We had a lot of fun with this – the participant who was using the 100mm found she was shooting alone at first because everyone else was shooting with a wider lens and close-up. After a while everyone was shooting from all sorts of distances as they got used to what they could do with just one lens!
We started our shooting at the Ferry dock – capturing graphic images in the rain, reflections and shiny metal. One shot was a super close-up of a white chain against shiny metal – very graphic, another was a stunning shot of the Ferry floor – stark colours and patterns dividing up the space. As like any sport or pastime the clothes make the experience – we were all dressed properly so the rain only added to our creativity.
From there we ventured along the coastline taking a Korcula island road that hugs the seashore. The sky was magnificent, filled with huge grey and white clouds and the sea churning with waves and wind. We started our shoot up high on a lookout giving us panorama views of the seaside village of Racisce – the angry sky was a stunning backdrop for the orange roofs and anchored sailboats.
As we descended into the village we noticed the rain soaked road and how the light made it stand out. Something to include in the foreground of our shots of the vibrant foliage and stone stairs and walls. Willie found a great way to accentuate colours by shooting through the rain-streaked windshield! We continued along inland to the village of Pupnat and continued our study of reflections, angles and soft, muted light.
The afternoon was dedicated to our third review. We specifically compared our panorama images to see what each participant had created with this view and their lens. This was a very informative exercise showing us that we can create photographs not just record them.
We were scheduled to go to Brna for the sunset and on our way we were in the right place at the right time to capture a still angry sky and the most vibrant double rainbow over the mainland. When we ventured on to Smokvica and Brna to assess the sunset possibilities we found that they were not going to happen down by the water so we made an about turn and got ourselves into position on the hill top overlooking the western side of the island. We had wide vistas of sky with clouds of blue-grey, white and all hues of yellowy-orange with islands and mainland to provide depth in the photos. The results were strong, eerie compositions.
When we got back to the Pension a feast of lightly deep-fried octopus awaited accompanied by squid and lobster salad, salt fish and soup.