The Writing and Photography Blog of Kevin J Sabo

Over this last weekend I attended a photography workshop with Greg Johnson, the Tornado Hunter.

I’ve learned a lot about photography in the last couple years, however the basic course I took the weekend reenforced the foundation that I had built. The course was definitely worth the time and money that it took.

Using humour, and his 20 years of experience, Johnson led the dozen or so students through the basics of shooting in manual mode. By the time I left there yesterday we all had a firm understanding of the trifecta of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, and how the computer in the camera isn’t always right in its exposure of an image. Through the weekend we also covered tripod use, flash, composition, workflow, and perhaps the most important part of all, story telling.

As much as the weekend built on an already solid base, it left me with some food for thought as well. Johnson actually tailored aspects of the weekend to the fact that I shoot for the paper, and he gave me some ideas how to turn the mundane into something dramatic.

I honestly can’t wait to put some of these techniques and skills I’ve learned into practise. Johnson also said he will be coming back to the region in the spring for an intermediate course. If finances allow at that point I may have to see about signing up.

Mentally, I’m tired after the weekend, but feeling good. It was a busy weekend, with both days being full days, but I have tolerated them well, and am happy that today and tomorrow are going to be a little slower paced.

Kevin