speaking the language of photography

Earlier last week I received an email…

From someone who found me on flickr asking if I would speak at the photography class he was teaching.  I read the email 50 times and thought, “Um, you have the wrong person.”  I finally replied and said I was more of a hobby photographer and didn’t think I would the appropriate person to “speak” at a photography class since my knowledge is very limited.

He replied and assured me I was exactly what he was looking for and that the environment is very laid back and everyone would love me.

I’ve been a wreck all week thinking, OMG, what am I doing? I’m the wrong person for this.  What if they ask me something I don’t know how to answer?  I was a nervous wreck.  It was horrible.  I was emailing back and forth with the teacher, “C,” all week and it made me feel a bit more excited but the nerves were just not going away.

I slept close to nothing Friday night but I was fully prepared.  I created a slideshow, I had a point of reference sheet for almost anything I could think of that they would ask. C assured me that they’d probably ask more photoshop type questions.  Which, well…I’m good at that, so yay!

So I get to the class and everyone is super sweet and nice.  It ended up going longer than the allowed time.  The questions people were asking me, some had nothing to do with technique and more about my personal style.  Apparently they had visited my flickr account.  This one guy, “T,” even printed out a couple of pictures asking me what lens I used for this and that.  It was very flattering. some of the stuff he printed was really old too, stuff i shot with just a regular point and shoot which floored some of the students.

After class, T and I went to the camera store where I convinced him to buy a new 50 mm lens to try out and it he seemed more than happy.  We also compared a couple of telephoto lenses.

Every time i walk into the camera store i wish i had thousands and thousands of dollars to just splurge! We kept joking around about that.  And he kept making fun of me because they know me by name at the camera store. LOL  Hey! what can i say! I have an unforgettable name! bwahaha

We had a chance to get some coffee and talk photography.  As it turns out T, is an accountant with a hidden photography passion.  He never tried it because he thought he wasn’t “creative” enough.  Six months ago he saw an ad for this class and decided to just go for it.  He just went on and on, telling me what he’s learned so far and how he read ahead.  He has this plan during the holidays to go back home and take everyones portrait.  He said it’s better than hiring models .  He told me his dream is to be more of a sports photographer.  I gave him email addresses of two sports photographers I know.  One is a woman, who could teach him a lot, she’s kind of a bad-ass. She shoots mainly for the cowboys and mavs. The other is this sports photographer I know who shoots mostly soccer games.

Anyways, it was really interesting to see him so excited because it reminded me of how I use to feel.   I love to see when photography brings out this sort of passion in people that I can relate too, it feels good.

This morning I woke up to some emails from some of the people I met yesterday thanking me and even asking me more questions.  It feels really awesome. I’m glad I gave it a shot, because most of me really was on the fence.  Most of it was stage fright, and I’m happy to say I didn’t give into it.