Alt Summit Design Camp

As I mentioned, yesterday was insane. I woke up at 7am and did not stop until 7pm! I scheduled too much but I'm so glad I did everything I needed to. I really did not want to spend our vacation complaining to Antz about how I don't know how to use my Nikon DSLR camera. I started researching photography classes because none of the YouTube videos I've watched were helping. I was looking for a hand-on experience where someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong *because really it's either the equipment I'm using or it's me!* Turns out Alt Summit announced a photography class taking place in Los Angeles. I was torn about signing up, I knew it was on Olivia's last day of school so I would have to find a babysitter and I still had a long to-do list for our trip to complete. I didn't want to take on too much. I decided, Liv can just stay late at school and I had to take this class so I would get the best results from my camera and end my frustration. I did a lot of hustling and the drive to and from Venice was stressful but I made it to everything on time and didn't get any speeding tickets. I really enjoyed the class. It was taught by 20 year photographer, Tracey Clark and everything she said made perfect sense. She looked at my camera and determined it was my lens that was the problem and showed me the settings that would give me the best photo results. I learned about finding the natural light, depth of field and composition. This really has improved my photo shooting. I was happy to see my friend I met at the last cake club, Ellen was there too. I met so many wonderful bloggers and fellow amateur photographers. The venue was really cool. It was held at the Microsoft Experience loft on Abbot Kinney. Please forgive me, I was so busy chatting and snapping photos of these gorgeous florals, I didn't take any proper photos of the amazing loft. I hope you can get a sense for how great the space was. The natural light coming from the skylights made it the perfect place to shoot. I was even able to drop by my favorite stationery shop, Urbanic. I am so happy I took the chance with this class. I can't wait to apply my new techniques and tricks during our trip. This only confirms that I must go to alt summit in Salt Lake City!!

Bing, you have won me over with your vibrant florals

My favorite wine, Blanc de Blancs by Sofia Coppola

Tracey was a great instructor. I liked her philosophy that the equipment doesn't have to be expensive to get the best results. She showed us how to use our iphone camera to take better photos. It's all about finding the light.

You can almost see the incredible skylights in this photo

I had to grab that tiny Eiffel Tower. It was made with the Microsoft 3-D printer!

We received these mini collapsible light reflectors as a gift from Bing

 

I can't wait to try my reflector out on Liv

I can't believe I  took this with my Nikon J1!!

Thank you so much Tracey, it was a pleasure meeting you!

So happy to see Ellen again! Thanks for the tips for Amsterdam

I headed outside with a new set of eyes and skills

I could spend hours in this shop

So I may have purchased something for Olivia's 4th birthday *it's ten days away!!*

#thanksbing