For many years the MacBook has been a workhorse for students and staff in many school districts. In January of 2011, the MacBook was still Apple’s second-best selling laptop. Then, over the summer, they discontinued the model for consumers. That was very concerning.

However, they still offered the model for education. I met with our Apple reps in December to begin discussing the refresh of our teacher laptops, all of which are MacBooks. I expressed my concern about the MacBook going away, and they assured me that there was no indication that was going to take place. If it did, they promised, there would still be plenty of stock remaining once an announcement was made to purchase the units we needed for our refresh.

This past week, I received the email I knew was coming. The MacBook was dead. As our reps promised, there was an end of life inventory left, but those units were going to go quickly, so anybody who wanted/needed any had to act immediately. Which, for anyone trying to work outside of a budget purchase cycle, is impossible. I asked if they could reserve the necessary units for our purchase, and they said they could not do that. They needed a PO immediately, which we simply weren’t in a position to do. As I was frantically trying to work out the means for us to make the purchase, I got a second email. All of the end of life stock was gone.

So too might be their focus on education.

Here’s where things get infuriating. The new solution for schools is an “education-priced” MacBook Air. For $999 when purchased in bulk.

The MacBook Air comes with a 64 GB hard drive (welcome to 2001), 2 GB of RAM (non-upgradeable), 1.6 GHz processor, no ethernet port (to connect to ethernet costs an additional $29 for a USB dongle), and no optical drive. All of these are significant steps down from the MacBook specs. And, we could get the MacBooks in bulk for $849.

So, we get to pay $150 more per unit for a whole lot less. Awesome.

The MacBook Air is an excellent computer for road warriors. Which, our teachers are not. We are now expected to pay a premium for the portability of a device that we don’t need to be ultraportable. Our reality is that we need much more than 64 GB given all of the multimedia work our staff has now started engaging in. We also need an optical drive as our staff use theirs literally every day. We need the ethernet port as that helps us balance the load on our wireless given that we are 1:1 in grades 5-8 and are looking to add grades 3+4 next year.

When I expressed this to our Apple rep, he explained that while he understood, the position of Apple has recently been to encourage schools who don’t favor the Air to look at the MacBook Pro. Awesome, again. So, we now have to spend $250 more per unit. Yes, those units would have the functionality we need, but we’re not in a position to spend $1,100 per device for all our staff members. That would be $62,500 more for the purchase. That’s significant.

What are you doing, Apple? Because by all rights, it looks like you’ve worked very hard to force us away from using you in our institution.

We’re starting a focused effort in my district to get our teachers connected on Twitter. The effort is more than just getting people to superficially use social media, but rather, it’s to help our staff see how powerful the experience of connected learning can be. This isn’t new, I know. Learning happens largely through connections.

The difference is in the way it scales.

I’ve been on Twitter for almost three years now. Looking back over that time, I simply can’t believe how much I’ve gained from the connections that Twitter helped facilitate. I look over the list of people whom I now connect with regularly on Twitter and easily 98% of those individuals I never knew prior to utilizing the medium. Many of the ideas we are implementing in my district have come from the ideas of those whom I’ve had excellent discussions with on Twitter. Even some of those I’ve had not so excellent discussions with.

I believe our staff can find the great value in the connections found within the medium. Because it’s the people that comprise the tool. That’s the value. The people. The ideas. The connections. The conversations.

So, if you see any of our people stumbling their way through that disorienting first stage of adoption on Twitter, please offer them a hello. A condolence for having to associate with me. And, a thought or two to keep them coming back.

And, hopefully, you can bring along a few of your people as well. Because it’s the testing and interrogating and discussing and negotiating of our ideas that help us all become better at the craft we ply. And for that, the more, the merrier.

Share. Connect. Learn. I wish that on you all.

*If you have any resources, links, ideas, etc. that might help us along our way, please feel free to leave them the comments below. Also feel free to add your Twitter name and what you do as that will help us compile a list of people on Twitter outside of our district.

**Special thanks to @pegkeiner and @LFedtech for all the great ideas, input and patience with the project.

Parental involvement is one of the most important influencing factors for the educational success of students (source).

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in the creation of the video above. The video was shared during a parental involvement evening at one of our elementary schools.

All of the students in the school were given a half-sheet of paper with the question, “How can your parent/guardian help you with your learning?” The answers in the video were the unguided responses from the students and represent a sampling of the 264 total responses collected.

I believe the essential message from the students was both clear and powerful. Students want the attention, investment, and care of their parents. They want to sit down and simply spend time with the most important people in their lives. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. It’s powerfully evident.

The content of responses themselves are also very interesting. The vast majority of students asked for help with reading, math, or homework.

This year, we significantly increased our students’ access to technology. We are now 1:1 in grades 5-8, and we have grade level carts of computers at each elementary building in grades preK-4. We are also having excellent conversations about how we should be changing the way we are engaging teaching and learning to create well educated students for the 21st century. I know many people don’t care much for the 21st century nomenclature, but I think it sets important context for our district and community as clearly, the world in which we live now is dramatically different than it was 20 years ago. As it will be when our students complete their formal education in the years to come. We are working to let that impact the way we create learning experiences for our students. We are only three months into the full implementation of this change, so I think this video provides us an excellent opportunity to set a baseline with this type of feedback from our students. I believe if we ask the same question one year from now, we will get a variety of different responses.

The video also presents us, as a district, with an excellent opportunity to consider and discuss the student responses. Are their responses what we hope they would be?

What is it that we hope they would ask their parents/guardians? What does what they say tell us about what we’re saying? Or doing?

If you were to ask your students the same question, what would they say? How could that inform your practice? Your district’s direction? Your focus?

It’s been a while since we talked about photography or video work. Let’s fix that.

Tonight I submitted four entries for the MontBlanc one second video contest. I’d recommend you do the same.

But, that’s not the challenge. It can be if you need it to be, but I have a derivative that I’m going to try, and I’ll invite you to do the same. This idea is a direct inspiration from what’s happening on the MontBlanc site, so I’d recommend you take a little time to go check out the cool stuff being posted there.

I’ve talked about living in the seconds before. It’s something I still think a lot about. The MontBlanc contest reminded me that we can do a lot with a second. Yet, often we try to work in minutes, if not hours, if not days. But it’s the individual second that comprises each of those. And too often in video work, we try to use too many consecutive seconds to tell a story that suffers because of it. Watch this to see just how effective a string of one second clips can be.

So, here’s the challenge

• Make a video.
• The video must be from 30 to 60 seconds long. Anywhere in between, but not outside of either threshold.
• The video must be composed of one second clips. The clips can be either photos or video. But each clip must be exactly 1 second.
• Make the video tell a story.
• Post a link to your work somewhere. Preferably in the comments below so we can all enjoy, but anywhere where others can enjoy it is really the important part.

That’s it.

Go. Be creative. Make something you’re proud of.

We’ve set the groundwork to start the discussion, but now it’s time to actually jump in. Which, I fear, is often the challenge with social media, ed tech, conferences, and the greater majority of exercises in education. It just sits down at discussion. The legs stop moving and only the mouths seem to work.

Let’s get beyond that.

Starting now.

I think this is a good place to begin. It’s only a brainstorming document, but I’m hoping it will lead to good discussion, which will guide where to go from here. I wish we could all find a way to just get together for a week and dig into some meaningful discussion about it all that would yield some output that could help guide the way technology is, and isn’t, being used in learning. Since we don’t have that luxury, I do believe we can make great progress using the means and minds we have available to us.

So, please add to this document. Invite others to add to it. Check back and react to what’s being built.

We can work collectively to decide where to go from here once the discussion starts taking place. We can negotiate the output. We can start to organize it all. Hopefully, we can find common venues to hold face to face discussions about it. Parts and all of it.

But we first have to begin. I’m hoping you’ll help.

There’s no doubt this will be challenging. It will be frustrating. It will take time. But, I believe it will be worth it.

I’m hoping you believe the same.

About technology.

About education.

About how the one impacts the other. And the other, the other.

I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to work in a district that is now offering our students incredible access to technology in their learning experience. I’ve long heard about the exciting possibilities afforded students in a 1:1 program, but now having the opportunity to be part of it first hand, I’m rather shaken by just how powerful this all might be. Because this could change everything. That’s not overstating it.

My question now is, what is everything? What is it that will change? What is it that should change?

For so long, the perceived value of an educational institution was the access to knowledge and information that being present in the institution provided. Teachers were the experts of content and poured forth that content upon the minds of the masses seated in desks before them. Whether you believe that to be right or wrong, that was the experience that nearly all of us had going through school. I was taught a chapter of something, completed worksheets about the something, took a test on Friday about the something, and forgot that something shortly thereafter. This perception of the value of education is no longer relevant to the reality of life. Likely, it never was at all.

When I was a kid, I was also beholden to others for the answers to many of my inquiries. If I was at home, and I wondered about something, I typically had to wait until I got to school or went to the library to uncover the answers to my questions. More often than not, that meant the questions went unanswered.  Sadly, I was ok with that at the time.

Technology has fundamentally changed our level of access to anything. And, everything.

I’m now wondering how far this change can, will and should go. We’ve been having these conversations in my district. About moving beyond the digitization of old pedagogy.We’re collectively working to figure out what it means to have every student sitting with ubiquitous access to one of the most transformative and disruptive technologies in history at any given moment in the school day. About what that does to the notion of content. About how we can move to work in the lives of our students to create young historians. Eager scientists. Insightful mathematicians. Powerful authors.

That has me wondering.

What should technology change about the way our students engage learning? Truly and unequivocally change.

I think we need to start engaging this question in earnest. Because doing what we’ve been doing for decades, if not centuries, isn’t likely what needs to be done now. The landscape has changed. The tools have changed. The context has changed. We have changed. But in most cases, our approach hasn’t. Attending most conference sessions and professional development workshops on technology will demonstrate that almost immediately.

So, I’m hoping you’ll join me in this thought experiment. I’m also hoping we’ll be able to move it beyond an experiment quickly and put it into practice in a way that makes a difference for our students and their learning.

Give it some thought. I’m hoping, somewhere and somehow, you’ll share your insights.

I’m hoping we can get together, and wrestle with this idea. Collectively engage in the process and do the very difficult work that needs to be done. To reimagine what learning could look like. What it should look like. Because the technology really can, and should, change the way we are approaching learning.

It’s a huge task. But we have to begin somewhere. I believe we can do it.

I believe we have to.

We are working to partner technology with a culture of learning to build creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and problem solving. We are working through what we believe the new learning landscape means for our students, their learning, and their future.

This fall we began our implementation by equipping each student in grades 5-8 with their own netbook running Linux. We also added a grade level cart of netbooks at each elementary building for grades 1-4 and an iPad cart at each elementary building for primary students. We also have 2 carts of MacBooks at each elementary building and 6 carts of MacBooks at the middle school for higher-end multimedia projects. I’ve written more about our device selection here and here.

While getting the devices into the hands of our students is a critical part of our initiative, it’s not the most important. Now we embark upon the work of changing the learning experience for our students. We’re only a month into that process, but we have already seen exciting and encouraging change taking place. We plan to share our story as it unfolds.

I believe the 5th grade student at the end of our first video says it all. He was asked, “How has the netbook changed your experience with learning?” His response was candid and entirely his own.

This is our beginning.

http://vimeo.com/32478996

I’m a bit frustrated and discouraged at the general lack of critical thinking taking place in educational technology today.

I’ll give you a couple examples, and I’m sure some people will take the opportunity to disagree with me. Which is good. Because it will provide evidence both for and against why I’m frustrated.

I know I’ve been talking a lot about netbooks lately. Many people have responded to this post I wrote a while back, and I still think it’s an important conversation to have. Because some people are way too caught up in a device that costs way too much to do way too little for our students. Let me break this down.

First of all, people who have responded or written back about this topic saying my focus is too device-centric are wrong and didn’t take the time to read what I said at the outset of the article above. Our goals for our students are to empower them to learn how to learn. We want them immersed in experiences that will afford them the opportunity to develop their skills of critical thinking, problem solving, written and oral communication, collaboration, and creativity. The coined “21st century skills.” And, of course, we want them to continue building a solid foundation of general knowledge. That’s what we want. Now, how do we get there?

When I talk about a netbook running Linux, many people lose their minds. Because it’s not an Apple device. We are getting our HP 1103 for $267. That’s a total cost. We are running ubermix with over 50 applications. The software is rock solid. If something happens to the software on the device, it has a quick restore function that allows us to restore the machine to its original state in less than 20 seconds, while still keeping all the student files. It has full access to the web, and by full access I mean it runs everything like Flash and a completely native and full Google Apps experience that requires no work arounds. It has full access to all cloud services we utilize with students. It has a web cam. It has the LibreOffice suite, along with a wide variety of other applications for a wide variety of uses. It runs Audacity for students to create podcasts. It has a light-weight video editor. You can save and share files from a USB key. It has Scratch to help kids learn problem solving and programming. It has over 6 hours of battery life, and it wakes immediately from sleep. It presents a real, immersive means to address all the 21st century skills we are aiming at.

But, it’s not an Apple. Which some people just can’t stand. I’ve had the same conversations over and over on this, and I just don’t get it. Because people are convinced that spending at least $500 for an iPad, plus the cost of apps, to have a machine that actually does less overall, is the right thing to do. And I know there are many free apps out there, but many of the valuable apps teachers want to use with students come at a cost. Again, let’s review the purpose of why we are selecting a device. Look at that list above. Yes, an iPad can do many of those things, but the netbook can address those skills just as well, and I’d say better, than an iPad can. And, the students are in complete control of the device. They have full admin rights. They aren’t restricted to the experience that we (or Apple) are dictating for them. The netbook is still a better writing experience both for the speed and accuracy of typing and the experience of moving between applications when composing. If the solution to the speed and accuracy issue is to buy the keyboard for the iPad, you can add another $70 to your cost.

So, let’s think critically, and let’s focus on students in grades 3-8 for the exercise. Because as stated above, I do think the iPad is a wonderful device for primary age students, but the netbook is the stronger option for grades 3-8.

You can have a device for $267 that does more to accomplish the goals above, is easier to manage, is easier to maintain, is cheaper to own, and allows students to entirely experiment and learn how to operate. Or, you can have a device for twice the cost that is the opposite. Now before you melt down entirely, yes, I do think the iPad is a compelling device. It’s just not the right tool for the total cost, experience, and goals as set out above.

Let me give another example. MacBooks. I’ve had the same conversation as the one above, only substitute the MacBook for the iPad. At a cost of around $800 for the unit, plus the cost of software licensing, and possibly Apple Care, we’ll assume an average cost of $900. In fact, that is the figure that Jeff Mao states is the price that Maine paid for their MacBooks in a recent refresh of their 1:1. That means for the price of one MacBook, you can get 3.3 netbooks. Let’s discuss.

One quick point of clarification. I think Apple makes incredible hardware. I would rather have my iPhone than any other phone on the market right now. My MacBook Pro is an amazing machine that I love using for video and photo work. I say that to negate the “you’re just an Apple hater” argument. That’s not what this conversation is about. It’s about thinking deeply about what we’re making available to our students and how we are being fiscally responsible in our process.

So, thinking deeply, the netbook allows students to do 90% of what a MacBook can do. At 1/3 the price. That’s important. Because it demonstrates that 90% of the time students would have more machine than they need. So, if we can accomplish the goals stated above 90% of the time with a $267 device, why would we do otherwise? The most immediate response to that question is multimedia work. I agree with that. Video work, in particular, is a much better experience on a MacBook. And, I absolutely want our students to be creating using video. So, we provide two carts of MacBooks at our elementary buildings and six carts of MacBooks at our middle school that teachers can check out when they want to do heavier multimedia projects. We do this understanding that kids aren’t spending the majority of their time on the devices creating videos. If they are, something is wrong with your curriculum.

Let’s break this down a bit further. For our middle school, we have approximately 1,060 students. Equipping each student with a MacBook would be $954,000. Equipping each student with a netbook is $283,020. That’s a difference of $670,980. Is the 10% of what a netbook can’t do worth $670,980? As mentioned, we have six carts of MacBooks at our middle school that are available for projects. These carts were purchased prior to our 1:1 implementation, but even if they hadn’t been, we could have purchased them, with the carts, for $172,000. That would still leave us $498,980. That is a significant figure.

So, people who are telling me that a MacBook is still the right device for this scenario, I really need to see some critical thought in a rationale that justifies that difference. Because we can accomplish all the goals at a fraction of the cost by using a 1:1 netbook and several checkout carts of MacBooks.

And just because this is already a silly-long post. Let’s hit one more example. Device control.

A tech director shared recently that they force all the schools in their district to lock down their student computers to the degree that students can’t change the desktop background or modify the location of any applications. He said they do this because it liberates the teacher. And that’s all backward. Because we want to liberate the students. We give our students full admin control of their netbooks to actually learn how the device works. We encourage them to experiment and get creative and find out what makes the thing work. If they mess it up, we have the quick 20 second restore to get them back up and running. Isn’t that the kind of inquiry we’ve been seeking for our students? Don’t we want them to have ownership over the device? We talk a lot about problem solving and innovation, yet we lock down one of the best conduits to authentically learn these kinds of skills? I don’t get that at all.

So, that’s where I’m at. I know many people are doing great things with iPads and MacBooks and even full laptops running Windows, but I’d argue you could do all those great things at a fraction of the cost with a system that will be more effective and allow students more freedom in their learning.

And, I would imagine, a couple of you might disagree.

I have a Nikon D700 that I use for all my photo work. It’s truly an incredible piece of technology. The full frame sensor captures outstanding images, and I couldn’t be happier with it as a camera for photos. It does, however, lack one major feature. It doesn’t shoot video. Of any kind. So, about three months ago I picked up a D7000 for the video. To be honest, I’m a bit more excited about Canon’s DSLRs for video work, but I already had a serious investment in Nikon lenses, so purchasing a Canon wouldn’t have been wise. Having now shot a few videos with the D7000, I’m happily impressed with what it is capable of producing.

Starting to experiment with video has been a tremendous experience, but it still feels a bit like I’m trying to brush my teeth with my left hand. I’m not very efficient, and I feel like I’m stumbling my way through right now. I have had the chance to make a few videos, and I do believe I’ve learned some things that might help you if you are thinking about working with video. Especially video on a DSLR, but I’m very new at it, so I’m hoping maybe you can help me out as well as we move forward together.

I’m going to use the recent #Engchat 2011 video I created at ISTE to give you some ideas of how I’m approaching my video work and learning right now. Hopefully this will be helpful.

http://vimeo.com/25746212

Approach

When working with video, you still must think like a photographer. Composition is absolutely paramount. And the story trumps all. You need to take some time to consider how you want the video to flow, and consider capturing shots that will tell your story. Here’s an example.

http://vimeo.com/24579656

It was the first real video I created with the D7000, and while there are a host of technical issues, I’m happy with the story it tells. I worked to capture the emotion and the ebb of the event. I think capturing quick little shots of things we might take for granted helped with the story. The shot of the programs being handed out being one example. I was very happy with the way you could see and feel the nervous excitement of the students as they waited to go on stage. The teacher giving the students a thumbs-up as she directed them down the aisle was perhaps my favorite shot of the video. Those are the kind of moments I hope to catch. And, I hope to consider a compelling angle with which to catch them. As I said in my last post, capturing images from an angle we see everyday does little to add interest to your work. Think of a unique perspective that will help build upon your work of telling the story.

With the #Engchat video, I didn’t know what to expect of the event. I hadn’t seen the venue, I didn’t know how many people would be there, and I had never participated in an #engchat session before. My goal, then, was to go with whatever happened, try to capture the essence of the event, and do so without getting in the way. Turns out, the place was awesome for the video. It had very interesting light as it had a big stained-glass window section that let in nice, filtered light, and there was an ambiance that created the perfect backdrop for the video.

About 1/2 way through the event, I realized I had to rethink the video. Originally, I envisioned the video having no spoken word tracks, and I thought the shots I could capture would tell the story with a few text slides throughout. I had to scrap that idea when I realized all I really had were clips of people looking at computer screens and typing. I didn’t want to force something into the event that wasn’t really a part of it, so instead of trying to contrive something for the sake of the video, I thought that perhaps doing an interview with Bud after the event might work as the backbone for the story. Did it ever. Bud is a master storyteller, and all I had to do was ask him a few questions about the event, and he provided the perfect foundation for the video. From there, it was just a matter of fitting in the right footage over his interview to help people truly see the story. I think it worked because I stayed out of the way and let the story drive.

Technique

I still have much to learn here, so please understand I’m not saying any of these things are the correct way to capture video with your DSLR. I’m sure there are many people who can help me better understand the technical techniques to capture the best video possible. I hope some will speak up and help us all.

I heard Scott Bourne speak a lot about techniques for shooting video in Photofocus, and one piece that I think is critical is understanding the role of shutter speed and frame rate in video. There is a way to utilize frame rate and shutter speed to get a cinema quality to your video. In order to do so, you should experiment with shooting at 24 frames per second for the frame rate and try to maintain 1/50 for the shutter speed. You can read all the gory details of why that is in something called the 180 rule, and I certainly don’t understand all the finer technical points of that, but I do know that shooting under 1/50 will give your video a smeared, motion streaked quality to it. Shooting over 1/50 will give it a more staccato look and feel somewhat akin to the action sequences in Saving Private Ryan. To get the smooth, cinema quality, aim for 24fps at 1/50. To accomplish that, I shoot in shutter priority to make sure I maintain 1/50. I let the camera adjust the aperture as necessary, and I manually adjust the ISO. I will talk in a future post about the importance of aperture and ISO and what they mean for your images, but just know that the higher the ISO, the more digital noise will be present in your images. Depending on your level of comfort, you may not mind some noise, but I try to keep my images as clean as possible. In order to do so, I try to keep my ISO as low as possible.

I shot the #engchat video using a 50mm 1.4 Nikkor lens, which allowed me to get nice depth of field shots.Being able to roll through multiple focal points in a shot adds interest and depth. I set the focus ring to manual, so I could manipulate the focus as desired. I’ve found that starting a shot intentionally out of focus and slowly rolling into focus creates a natural transition between shots and can be effective when used intermittently throughout a given video. I’ve experimented with variable zoom length lenses, and I’m just not good enough yet to use them effectively, so I’m going to stick with prime lenses for video work for a while until I can better maneuver through different zoom lengths in a single shot.

The major issue I’m dealing with right now is camera shake. Most DSLR cameras do not have video stabilization. This tends to leave noticeable camera shake during hand held shots. While sometimes that more organic look helps with the feel of the video, I certainly need to get the camera on the tripod more often for the times when I want a stable shot.

Audio can also be an issue. The background ambiance of the Philadelphia streets worked well for the #engchat video interview, but there are many times when more focused audio is needed. I think my next purchase will be a microphone that fits into the camera shoe for capturing better audio capture.

I edited the video in Final Cut Pro X, which I think is amazing. I know there are a number of professionals who are upset with the application’s recent overhaul, but for someone at my level, I think the program is perfect. You could certainly also use iMovie to make something like the #engchat video. iMovie 11 does an excellent job with HD video editing, and I think it would be perfect for most people starting out with video.

Finally, I think brevity is key for videos like this. We’ve all been subjected to watching other people’s videos that are simply way too long. Be thoughtful about every shot you end up allowing into your final story. Shoot more than you think you’ll need when capturing, but then be absolutely stringent about what you choose as final footage. Don’t include shots just because you think they’re cool. Include them because of what they do for the story. And let less be more. Almost all videos could be made better by being made shorter. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true.

I certainly plan on digging deeper into video moving forward, and I’ll share what I’m learning with you as I go along. If you’re playing along, I’ll go ahead and give another assignment. Make a short video, 3 minutes max, and work on telling the story through composition and brevity. Also, if you have a DSLR, shoot at 24fps and 1/50 for shutter. Share a link in the comments below for the rest of us to check out.

For my next post, I’m going to speak about something that is important both for video and for photography, the incredibly important relationship between a subject and light. And I’ll share my thoughts and ideas on how you should be thinking about light to capture your best images.

This is going to be tough. The starting. Because I’ve a lot to tell, and the pieces don’t line up in single file easily. Like a second grade class waiting for the drinking fountain after gym, I guess. Each idea wants to be first in line, and none of them want to wait to be last because they are all too thirsty. My apologies if I don’t choose well, and you suffer as a result as I begin trying to tell the story of how I tell stories through images.

I should probably start out with the bits you’re likely least interested in. My story. I’ll keep it brief, but I feel it’s important exposition for you to understand how I’ve traveled this road to date, and how much more traveling I look forward to ahead. I promise to end this first post with something you can actually take away and go play with and examine and experiment with as you walk on your road on your journey. And I promise to move forward from here and talk less about me and focus on the process of capturing images. If you want to skip all the exposition, feel free to just jump down to the “Something Useful” section below. Which, I know, is quite an assumption. That it will be.

I’ll start by saying I’m a very inexperienced hobbyist. If you are looking for serious professionals, I’m not that. I’ve grown to love the hobby, and I’d say I’m on the final step of nurturing the hobby into a full passion. But there’s still a whole lot I’ve to learn. There are many things I have no idea how to do. But there are things I’ve been shown or have figured out that I think could help you. If you do want to follow some professionals as they publicly share their expertise, I would highly recommend you check out Scott Bourne and Chase Jarvis. Scott does a tremendous podcast about all things photography, and Chase makes the kind of photos that I alway wish were mine.

I’ve also had the good fortune of making friends with some other hobbyists. There’s lots to be said about learning aside others as the sharing and trading of ideas along the way makes everyone the better for it. That applies to any learning, I’m sure. I was lucky enough to get connected with Melanie Holtsman, Ken Shelton, Karen Blumberg and Brady Cline early on. I’d recommend you do the same if you can. I always learn from them each time we get the chance to get together to make some photos.

Going back a bit further, I was greatly influenced early on by a good friend, David Pohlmeier. David needs to stop hemming and hawing and start taking photos again. He’s too talented not to. David was an art major, and what he has taught me about composition and seeing beyond just the viewfinder and lenses and technicalities of shooting has been invaluable. That’s the part of all this I hope to be able to help you all see as well.

Finally, I have to go back to the very beginning. I’d say this all really started the day my father let me borrow his 35mm Minolta to take to my 8th grade photography class. There is a sweet black and white photo hiding itself safely somewhere of me in my big skateboard hair with the Minolta slung around my neck in the first days of that class. And though that was the only actual photography class I ever took, it started something. Something that would lay dormant for 15 years until I got my first dslr camera when my wife and I found out we were going to be parents.

And with all of that established, I think we should get the real starting started.

As I’ve working through how I’m going to approach explaining my photography, and my recent explorations of video, I realize I can’t do it all in one post. I’d like to, at some point, address all the following items.

• Composition
• Exposure: understanding the relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO
• Metering
• Lenses
• Post processing
• DSLR video
• Light
• Equipment

And after all that, I think I’ll start documenting my learning as I continue from here on my photography journey. So, let’s begin. For real.

Something Useful

The very first thing I have to tell you about capturing images, whether those be in the form of a photograph or a video, is probably quite predictable. Most people already know it. But I don’t think enough people actually put it into practice. Before you think about equipment, or technique, or any other aspect of capturing images, think about story. Because you don’t take pictures. You capture a story. You make something important, something that can easily be as powerful as words. This, for example, is what I believe to be more than a photo. There’s a story here.

So the next time you’re getting ready to make a photo, stop, even if it’s only for a brief second, to consider the story you want to tell. And let that dictate where you go next. Which may well mean you have to go somewhere you weren’t considering. Like right up in front of a bunch of people. You have to be bold. It took me a good long while to learn that. And there are still plenty of times I have to remember it. But if you’re going to be happy with the stories you’re making, you have let go of being timid. It’s a must.

Also, think about composition. This is absolutely paramount. I’m going to dedicate an entire post to this topic as it’s probably one of the most important parts of any of this. Just about everyone owns a camera of some sort, and 99% of those people could immediately make their photos 100% better if they considered composition. Two quick tips on this for now.

One, try not to ever center your subject. There are times when you will want to break that rule, but for the vast, vast majority of the time, get your subject out of the center of your shot. Read about the rule of thirds or the Fibonacci Spiral to help you see why you typically want to move your subject out of center.

Two, consider your perspective. Just as pretty much everyone alive has a camera of some sort, those same people often snag photos of kids. This is an excellent example of utilizing perspective. Because the majority of the kid shots you see are boring. Sorry, I know all the kids are cute, which usually saves the photo. Sort of. The issue is perspective. Because almost everyone takes photos of kids from a perspective we all see all the time. They take the photo standing up, from above the kid. But good stuff happens when we get down to their level. The photos gain a much higher level of interest. Like this. And it isn’t just with kids that this works. Find unique perspectives to shoot from. It adds a great deal to your story, and interest to your work. One more example.

I started with my first DSLR just about three years ago. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned since then. It’s been tremendous. I’ve put many fun hours into the hobby, but I feel I’ve grown quite a bit over this three year span. Getting good at making photos doesn’t take nearly as long as people think. But it does take commitment, effort, and a willingness to risk. If you’ve finished this entire post, clearly you have all three.

So, if I can go ahead and pretend I have any kind of power with which to assign you tasks of practice, I’m going to advise you do these things starting now. And maybe even you’d be willing to report back what you’ve found and what you’ve learned and what we can all learn from your learning as you put these into practice.

Your assignment.

• Forget about what kind of equipment you are using or what kind of equipment you wish you were using for a few days. Let’s work to get the most out of what you have at hand.
• Be bold about capturing your story. Stop worrying about getting a few steps closer, and just get to the spot where you need to be.
• Think about your composition. Unless you’re being extremely intentional, stop centering your photos.
• Think about your perspective. Get down on the ground with the kids to take the photos. You might have to apply the first part of this assignment, but get bold and get low. Lower perspectives are almost always more interesting.
• Join our Flickr group. I set up a group for us all to use as we learn together. Look at other images, ask other people questions, comment on other’s images, and above all else, participate.

Assignment Update 7/3: I think it would be good to actually give people a task to accomplish. So, if you want to join us, here’s what you can do. Join our Flickr group, and add two or three photos practicing the items above. Give a brief explanation about your shot and what you were working to accomplish. If you’re working on composition or perspective, explain that to us and tell us what you believe the shot accomplished. Then, we can give you feedback on the shots.

I’m really, really looking forward to this journey we get to take together. Now, let’s get moving.

Up next: My next post will shift over to video. I’ll break down how I made the #engchat 2011 video from approach technique.

Thanks to my little sister for the use of her Flickr photo.