The University of Tennessee has a great non-credit photography program that is part of the Professional and Personal Development Outreach. During 2008 a couple of my friends were taking classes and mentioned it to me. I love photography and it sounded fun, so I signed up for a few classes. Before I knew it, I had completed the program in a little over 10 months.  One of the first classes a student will take is Fundamentals of Digital Photography I.  It’s really targeted towards folks that may have just gotten their first SLR and want to learn how to use it or folks that have decided that they want to really understand what they are doing with their camera.

From time to time, I will help out by serving as an adviser on the field trips, especially if it’s a nice day.  The instructor shoots Nikon, so he can get a little lost when it comes to Canon cameras.  The weather was really nice on Saturday, though it was a little colder than i thought it was going to be.  The above photo is a panorama I stitched together to give you an idea of just how many students are in this class.  The instructor and two other advisers are in the photo but the rest are all students. Sometimes the students are very shy and don’t ask any questions, though I know they have them.  Other times they have questions galore.  When I’m serving as an adviser, I usually don’t shoot much.  When I shoot, it’s usually to demonstrate the technique or documentary as the photo above.  Getting a great photo isn’t my priority.  Getting proper exposure is always a priority.  Secondary is getting a good composition.  With those caveats in mind, below is a few images from the walk.

After doing a seminar on the basics of exposure to the Student Photography Club at UT on Thursday night, some thought it would be a good idea to do a photo shoot today. The plan was to meet up near the Convention Center and the Sunsphere about 1:00. The downside to shooting that late in the day is that you really have to pay attention to shadows and the lighting. The upside is that there is a lot of activity to photograph. As we were waiting for people to show up, there were lots of motorcycles passing. It turns out the Easyriders Bike Show was taking place. I used this as an opportunity to practice some panning shots as well as bikers on the way to the Convention Center. After waiting about 15 minutes, it appeared that everyone that was going to show up had shown up, so we proceeded to make our way through Downtown Knoxville. As we made or way to Market Square, we ran into a mob of people following this comedian around. The comedians was Neil Hamburger. It turns out it was all part of the Big Ears Festival that is taking place this weekend in Knoxville. Some of the other photographers became a part of the mob. We followed them until it ended. I was actually kind of glad it ended. The comedic style just wasn’t funny for me, though I can see how others would find it funny. We concluded by making our way back to World’s Fair Park. There have been a few other outings by the club, but I haven’t been able to make them. Hopefully there will be many more. Here’s a few of the images from this afternoon.