Church, Review & Late for Sunset
This morning I went to church for the first time since my first Sunday here. The previous Sundays I had gone somewhere with others to take pictures. I must say that not only do I have a fun group, but it is also made up of some excellent people. And among those people are some Christians. Jan was a dead giveaway because she mentioned that she had worked at a Christian bookstore. With Elisha, I could just tell based on her conversation and demeanor. Another girl named Xanti ended up joining us as well. I met them at a Missionary Alliance church that Jan had visited once before. We entered the building and found ourselves among a zoo of parents and kids there for the free pancake and fruit breakfast. After sitting and chatting a while, we went into the sanctuary and realized that we had poor timing and were visiting during a special children’s service. The music, play, message, and everything was catered to the kids and showing their parents what they had learned during their week of Vacation Bible School. This was all well and good, but not exactly what we were craving during a summer that will only allow intermittent church attendance. The service lasted just over an hour and then I headed to Wal-Mart (again) before going home for the afternoon.
At 6 we had a review session with Neil. Even though it was only supposed to cover the basics of exposure, both Thomas and I decided we didn’t want to miss anything Neil had to say. It ended up being a great couple hours that allowed us to sneak in some advanced learning. The first 30-45 minutes were review, but after that he got into the Zone System and explaining how he metered exposure. Neil’s amazing when it comes to performing these steps mentally and it’s fun not only to hear him explain ideas, but to hear how he thinks through the process. He brought some photos from his trip to Russia and explained how he metered the light in each scene. These review sessions are optional, but there’s no way Thomas and I are missing any of them with Neil.
After the review, I went with Thomas, Mia, and Kirsty up north to Nine Pipes for some sunset pictures. We didn’t get going until after 9 and arrived shortly before 10. We missed the good light by about 20 minutes, but it was still nice to jump in the car and go see a new place with other people. I ended up getting one nice shot of a light trail left by passing cars and a semi. This worked well as one of my required shots for class the next day.
On the way back home I stayed quiet most of the trip. We were listening to some urban, thug, whatever-you-want-to-call-it music from a San Francisco artist. I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he was one angry, bitter dude. He was obviously anti-American and anti-military. In those situations I can’t have a normal conversation and pretend that I’m not hearing what’s being said. So, I didn’t say anything, mainly because I don’t know any of them well enough to do so without sounding preachy. But man did that music rub me the wrong way. It almost made me want to go back to Wal-Mart and talk to the people who love this country.
