Review my lecture outline...please!!

[William W]

Thanks for addressing some of the questions that I asked.

Specifically answering:

I need to know what, if any, bones are missing and in what order they may be best represented.

1. Generally, the bones missing are, in respect of addressing this statement “ . . . of course the list consists of what may be called reminder points rather than precise wording.”

I re-iterate that precise wording for ‘reminder points’ are of an absolute necessity.

*

2. Considering the audience is ‘beginners’ and the majority have not read the manual, but each will be holding a different camera, then best order to present the lecture? /discussion?:

Beginning with the camera and how to power it up, then give an outline of the various functions of the camera AND an explanation of the USES for those functions.

For the audience that you describe and especially noting that most of the recipients of the 100 such talks that you have given, have provided a majority feedback imploring you to: ‘teach me the camera’ - then that is the answer to your question – so stick with that.

WW

[lukaswerth]

This is a four hour program for beginners. Of course the list consists of what may be called reminder points rather than precise wording. I intend to reorganize my existing lecture to conform more closely to a workflow. I have found that most people never read the manual that came with their camera. Who can blame them? Many manuals are very long. One thing that discourages many beginners from reading the text or moving from fully AUTO is a lack of knowledge of options, buttons and dials, menu, or introduction to terminology. The students are holding and using the camera as we move through terminology, buttons and dials. So this is a list of discussion points not a hammer to bang against outstretched fingers. Much is in the delivery. Nevertheless learning requires work and I work their little brains hard. I have given about 100 such talks and most people say. "Teach me the camera." Certainty, I add inspiration, philosophy, and helpful hints as we go along but an outline aids organization. The list is a skeleton not the body. I need to know what, if any, bones are missing and in what order they may be best represented. Knowledge is power. You can't bang out a Pieta merely because you love sculpture or adore your hammer and chisel.

Well, let's put it this way: leaving Michelangelo aside for the moment, how do you think would, let's say, Leonard Misonne
(see: https://www.google.com.pk/search?q=l...rDoBsw&dpr=0.9 )
deal with a contemporary camera if he would be brought back on planet earth in these days of the early 21st century? Or Alfred Stieglitz, or Weegee? Would they first make themselves acquainted with every detail, or would they look into the major parameters, relish all the automatisms, the instant check on the exposure, and start exploring the possibilities according to their fashion (Misonne landscape/light, Stieglitz Cityscapes, Weegee events/people caught in surprise)?

I believe the principles of photography have remained the same since their times (if not its social applications), and while tools change, their purposes remain the same. Photography is now and was then about rendering tonal values/colors, quality of light, aperture control/depth of field, resolution, composure. This is what I would teach (have done so, in fact, on occasion to my students) Cameras come and go, they will be different again a few years from now. It seems to me you take the bells and whistles a modern consumer/prosumer camera is teeming with as photography's essentials.

I think I know what I am talking about: I have only since 2012 taken up a DLSR as a main tool for my expressive photography. Before that, I used analog view cameras (still not given them up altogether). You can hardly imagine a bigger jump in tools, but I think it's secondary: what matters are the principles of photography.

Lukas

[edwardchang]

Thanks for sharing.