volunteer
...now browsing by tag
Monday, December 21st, 2009
The workshop pace picked up on Friday and into Saturday, culminating in the presentation of the project designs to the client, Hospitalito Atitlan. The client was blown away! The group came up with five different potential designs, and the hospital is trying to decide which one to use. They are all outstanding works.
After the client presentation just about everyone relaxed at a party along the lakefront. Unfortunately, it was about that time that some evil bug got hold of me. I won’t go into details on the chills and my other experiences of the afternoon and evening – let’s just say the bug had me confined to quarters for the duration, and I missed the party and the final dinner that evening.
What a great group though – after the dinner everyone came up to my room to check on me and say goodbye. We really come together like a family at these workshops, and the last day is an emotional mix of elation over the success of the week and the sadness that it’s over.
After a long day of travel on Sunday I arrived back home in Maryland, and picked right up on Monday where I had left off on shooting an annual report for one of my clients. Then, just to really make the point that I wasn’t in Guatemala anymore. The now famous “Blizzard of 2009” embraced us this weekend here in the Mid-Atlantic.
What a dichotomy – one Saturday walking through Santiago as Christmas festivities were in full swing, complete with a palm-leaf tree in the town square. The next, just a week later, buried in 20” of snow!
It makes the prospect of the next Design4Kids workshop in June that much more inviting. We’re considering a “Master Class” for the more advanced, experienced Fotokids. Keep tuned here and at www.Design4Kids for more to come on this workshop. And if you have the talents and experience to share – in photography, graphic design, marketing, entrepreneurship – seriously consider in joining us as a volunteer mentor. There’s no way I can fully describe the incredible fulfillment and richness of emotion that comes from working with these kids.
Feel free to contact me for more info.
Posted in Candids, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: candid photography, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, kids, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Today the group took a break from the teaching and project work and went for a day trip across the lake to Panajachel. The largest town on Lago Atitlan, Pana, as its often known, is the tourist and ex-pat mecca of the Atitlan area. This makes for a busy and photo-op rich environment.
One on Pana’a attributes is that all three of Atitlan’s volcanos – Vuncans Atitlan, San Pedro and Toliman are all visible from the town’s harbor. Heading up into town and all streets are predictably lined with shops offering local clothing, jewelry and all manner of souvenirs. It’s a colorful gauntlet, and if the shops don’t entice you the street vendors are always there with their offerings.
But we weren’t there to shop. Bree Hankinson, who runs the Fotokids program in Santiago, created The Amazing Photo Race for the kids (and the mentors). We teamed up in teams of three and went out into the town to solve a cryptic list of photo assignments. It made for some very creative thinking and rewarding inter-cultural teamwork between the kids and mentors. Not to mention some interesting interpretations and translations of the photo list!
Tomorrow its back to class and work on the project.
Posted in Cameras, Candids, Creativity, Digital Photography, Portrait, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Cameras, candid photography, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, kids, landscape photography, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
We began the day with the less experienced kids in the group, and introduced them to the basics of exposure control – aperture, shutter and ISO, and the relationships between them. These kids have worked with digital point & shoot cameras and have a respectable grounding in composition, and this shows them how to get consistent, predictable results in their photos.
We had them shoot a bracket from -2 to +2 and then showed them how to import their images into Lightroom and make adjustments to their photos, recovering much of their under- and over-exposed frames.
It’s exciting to see the lights come on when the concepts sink in and they “get it”. Ana, one of the girls from “the city” (as Guatemala City is know down here) observed that the shot she liked best wasn’t the “correct” metered exposure – recognizing that having the skills to control the exposure allows you to interpret your image the way you visualize the final result.
Next we repeated the two classes with the more experienced members of the group. While most of them claimed to understand the use of aperture and shutter, it was clear that they all had only a little experience in applying the concepts of manual exposure control in their photos. Once they realized what they really can do by making the camera do what they want, they got totally into the process as well.
Tomorrow is an “excursion day” – no structured classes, but rather a creative play day, with activities that allow the kids to apply and practice the concepts and techniques they’re learning this week. Can’t wait to see what they come up with!
Posted in Cameras, Candids, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Photoshop, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Cameras, candid photography, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, Photoshop, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Monday, December 7th, 2009
The third Design4Kids workshop began in earnest today in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala.
After the travel day on Saturday, staying overnight in Antigua, and the half-day drive to Santiago de Atitlan on Sunday followed by the opening introductions, today saw the first full day of the workshop.
The group traveled to the Hospitalito Atitlan, the clients for this workshop, to meet the doctor and staff and discuss the design project. The workshop will focus on designing a poster or series of posters to create awareness of diabetes and it’s consequences among the local population.
Not only does Guatemala have the dubious distinction of having the highest number of amputations from diabetes complications in the world, but the disease, its causes and methods of prevention are not widely understood by much of the population
The rest of the day was spent creating a pan for the project and assigning teams who will work on several potential options for the client.
Tomorrow the classes begin, with workshop director Jeff Speigner teaching graphic design, and Eric Lolkema and I teaching photo techniques and post production. Everyone is excited and ready to get to work, and this promises to be another fantastic week.
Posted in Cameras, Candids, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Cameras, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, travel photography, volunteer
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
I’m making the final preparations for the third Design4Kids workshop in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala. Leaving in just a week! Eric, Jeff and I have become the core group of instructors there, and we’re really coming together as a team. Naturally it helps that all of us have the same passion – teaching the skills we have to give these kids an opportunity to develop a career path and success for themselves.
The kids come away from the week with much more than new technical skills. They learn how to work with a client and create a project from conception to delivery. They develop abilities that will help them grow in every area of their lives. The creative processes that they learn and develop through photography and graphic design give them insight into creative problem-solving thinking that they’ll use in everything they do.While it’s certainly a good thing to give people something they’re without and will use up right away – food, medicine, and the like – it’s a tremendous feeling to give them knowledge that they will use to become self-sufficient and productive for life. It’s truly “teaching them how to fish” rather than just giving them a fish to feed them for a day.
The more I teach, the more excited I am about teaching becoming a greater part of my life. Both at the workshops, and also in the classes I conduct back here at home, it’s a fantastic feeling to see how much enjoyment and value people receive from what I have to give. I’ve added a parent & kid class in January so that young (11-15 year old) people & a parent can learn some photography basics together. It’s already filling – really popular!
I do intend to post more frequent updates from Guatemala this trip. Keep checking in, and spread the word!
Posted in Cameras, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Creativity, helping young people, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Finally! After four months, I’ve uploaded the photos from the June Design4Kids workshop to my website. Much of that time was waiting for the site to be up and running. Take a look at www.stuestler.com – look around the site and let me know what you think.
In case you haven’t seen my earlier posts on the workshop, Design4Kids is a group of volunteers from the photography, graphic design and marketing world who volunteer and get together to teach creative, business and life skills to groups of young people in Guatemala.
We’re affiliated with Fotokids, a non-profit organization teaching photography in several programs within Guatemala and now Honduras. Every six months a select group of these talented young people are selected to come with us to Santiago de Atitlan for a week-long workshop, where they actually work with a client to produce a marketing or promotional piece.The goal of the workshops is to help the kids develop the skills and knowledge to operate their own design studio. That is now a reality, in the form of Jarakamba – a studio with offices in Santiago and Guatemala City.
We’re less than a month away from the next workshop, scheduled for December 5th thru the 13th. We’ve all been working tirelessly to prepare a program to help the students succeed, and the excitement is building. Check in for new updates as the day arrives!
For more information:
www.design4kids.org
www.fotokids.org
Posted in Composition, Creativity, Learning Photography, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Digital Photography, helping young people, kids, learn photography, photography workshops, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
(c) 2007 Stu Estler
Have you ever wondered why it is that two people, standing side-by-side, even with the same cameras, can each take a photo of the same subject? One takes a dramatic, emotionally-charged image, while the other’s photos are … dull, uninteresting – you just don’t get that emotional “aha” that you get from really great photos, that feeling of becoming drawn in and becoming part of the picture.
In the 25 plus years I’ve been a professional photographer so many people have asked me how to improve their photos, that I’ve taken all of the knowledge, experience, techniques and tricks that I’ve leaned over my photography career and put it all together in a photo course.
Here are some of the things I cover:
- Have you ever taken a great shot, and thought “wow, how do I do that again?” You’ll learn how to use all those controls and settings on your camera so that you are able to reliably and easily get consistent results from your photos.
- Imagine how the impact of little differences in framing and composition can have a dramatic effect on the impact of your photo. You discover how to compose your pictures to capture and lead your viewer’s emotions.
- We’ll look at design elements in a photograph, how they affect your photos and why they’re such a critical cornerstone in taking really great pictures.
- You’ll learn how to see and understand all about light – front lighting, side lighting, back lighting, the color of light, how different times of day makes a difference … remember, photography is all about light. Even the word photography means “drawing with light”.
The course is a self-directed, self-paced program, delivered online via email and a website where you download your weekly lesson. I’m close to releasing the online course, but first I want to fine-tune it to be sure I’m on the right track with what everyone’s looking for.
Before this course goes live, it’s important that I’m certain my students are achieving the success they desire.
What I’ve decided to do is put together a class – a live face-to-face class – as a Beta-test to put the finishing touches on the course.
I’ll get input from all of the members to learn exactly what is most important – what you’d like to learn to help improve your photography.
We’ll meet for an hour once a week, for six weeks, partly on location where I can demonstrate and you can practice techniques, and partly inside where we can review photos and see examples.
Now, since you’re reading this photo blog, I’m guessing you have some kind of an interest in photography. So how about chiming in and helping me out?
What three things are you most interested in learning about photography? Doesn’t matter if you’re a working pro or a new beginner. Those of us who are working pros all know the way we got here is through constantly learning. And if you are a pro, what are people asking you?
(c) 2009 Stu Estler
This will also help us develop the program for the next Design4Kids workshop in Guatemala this December. So even if you can’t come along and volunteer this time, you can still participate in helping out the kids.
So go ahead and leave a short (or long) answer in the comments below.
I realize it’s kind of hard to find – it’s buried at the end of each post, as “responses”. I’m still looking for a template I like that handles comments better, haven’t found one yet. Any ideas there are welcome, too!
P.S. – If you’re in the Washington DC area and would like more info on the live class, let me know how to contact you.
Posted in Architecture, Cameras, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Portrait, Travel, Uncategorized, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: architectural photography, Cameras, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, people photography, photography workshops, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Just a week and a day to the beginning of the 2009 Design4Kids workshop in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala. This year’s “dream team” of volunteer instructors has been assembled and is ready to go.
Started by FotoKids founder Nancy McGirr, this is the second Design4Kids workshop and the third workshop with the young people in Santiago. They continue to learn and develop their photography and graphic design talents with the purpose of operating their own design studio in the Atitlan area.
As in the past, the group will receive a real assignment from an actual client, and they will determine the client’s needs, design the concept and create the project. The team of volunteers is made up of commercial artists, graphic designers and photographers who will guide them along in the process.
The kids will be polishing their skills in design, photography and Photoshop, and along the way, they’ll develop and expand their creative talents, and learn possibility thinking that will teach them new ways of looking at themselves, the world and their own potential.
There’s more about the project and the team at http://design4kids.org and a complete overview of the Fotokids organization at www.fotokids.org
Posted in Cameras, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Learning Photography, Photoshop, Technology, Travel, photography workshops | No Responses »
Tags: Cameras, Creativity, Digital Photography, helping young people, kids, learn photography, people photography, photography workshops, Photoshop, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Isn’t it interesting how one little thing can make a dramatic change in your life and the lives of others?
For some time now I have had a goal to work with young people to help them realize and develop their potential, using photography as the tool to stimulate and awaken their creative abilities. I have no experience in working in or with this type of organization, and have struggled with the logistics of creating one on my own.
A close friend and colleague of mine, who knows that I am developing an online course to teach basic and advanced photography (www.thephotomentor.com), saw a post on a forum he follows that he thought might interest me, and forwarded it.
The post was a request from a fellow creative – a photographer by avocation and a graphic designer by profession – looking for a few more volunteers to help teach a workshop with an organization called Fotokids (www.fotokids.org). The group works in Guatemala teaching young people to develop their personal abilities and professional skills in photography and graphic design. They are doing the very thing I want to do!
As you can imagine, when you see an opportunity for something you so strongly desire handed to you, you waste no time, and immediately take advantage of it.
The week-long workshop in June will have the kids begin with a real project from a real client, and take it from concept through to delivery. I’ll be teaching photography and Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop techniques, which is the software the kids currently use. Here’s a link to their blog, which tells about the workshop: http://design4kids-santiago.blogspot.com/
There is absolutely no doubt that his is a fantastic opportunity to share my knowledge and give to these kids, and I’m certain that I will learn and receive even more from them and sharing this experience with them.
I believe that there are two lessons in this: that when you truly believe and focus on the things you want, you attract them to you – often in ways you never expected – and that the way to make a dramatic change in your life – and to positively affect the lives of others – is to take action when you are presented with an opportunity.
Right now the only things for certain are the dates – June 17-25, 2009 – and the location – Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. Stay tuned.
Posted in Cameras, Composition, Creativity, Digital Photography, Photoshop, Technology, Travel, Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: Add new tag, helping young people, kids, landscape photography, learn photography, photography workshops, real estate photography, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
Monday, March 16th, 2009
I just returned from a short trip to attend the memorial services for a life-time family friend. Though not related by blood, he was my “Uncle Rudy” – as close as any of my blood relatives.
His wife, my “Aunt Barbara” insisted that the weekend was not for mourning – it was to be a celebration of a life well-lived. He had just turned 91, and had been ill for several months, so she had a time to adjust and say good bye. Rudy lived a rich, rewarding life and had accomplished everything he wanted to do.
In his 45-year career as a doctor he had given greatly to his community, and had received much in return. They traveled the world together, and experienced all the richness that life has to offer.
Seeing his life remembered in the photo-collage that the family had created was heart-warming and inspiring. It triggered memories of times from my earliest years spent with our families together. It’s amazing how just a single photograph can bring back so much, and recreate such happiness.
True to Barbara’s wishes, the weekend was a time of happy remembrances and a reuniting of family and friends. We all tend to think of the people close to us but time and distance has a way of separating us and we never find time to keep in close touch.
It’s a bit of a painful reality check to see how we can all drop what we’re doing and find the resources to come together to say goodbye to a loved one, but don’t seem to be able to justify the time and expense to get together to enjoy each others’ company while we’re all still here.
The weekend provided a chance for reflection and renewal for me as well. And it gave me an opportunity to connect with a young member of the family who I had known of only by name, who is now a high school student and an avid budding photographer. We hit it off right away and it will be exciting to help guide and mentor her as she progresses and grows. And maybe it’s also a way of continuing the legacy of our families’ connection for new generations.
I suspect that somehow Rudy had a hand in that . . . J
Posted in Cameras, Creativity, Portrait, Travel, Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: event photography, helping young people, kids, learn photography, people photography, portraits, teach photography, travel photography, volunteer
