August 25, 2017

It was  a great week at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop! I was happy to attend and I really learned a lot.  I'd like to conclude by posting this group photo that the instructor, Brandon Johnson, took while we were at Madrid.  See if you can spot me!

August 24, 2017

On the fourth day of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, we learned about taking portrait photography, and in the afternoon we went out to Madrid to work with the models.  It was a challenge in the different lighting situations that were present but I did get some good ones:

August 23, 2017

On the third day of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, we learned how to edit photos in Lightroom.  We had the afternoon free to go take photos at the location of our choice, and John, Arvitta, and I went up to the Audubon Center, which turned out to be a lovely location full of beautiful birds.  I got some great photos there and again down in the plaza where we went to meet up with the group and eat dinner at Tomasita's.  Afterwards, Brandon, the instructor, gave a demonstration of light painting, which is where you take photos with insanely slow shutter speeds and use a flash to create a visual effect.  Here are the highlights, closing with the "light painting":

 

August 22, 2017

On the second day of the workshop, we learned a bit more about using Lightroom and due to some inclement weather we changed plans, from going up to the mountains to instead making a visit to the plaza.  There I had the chance to meet some friendly local characters and get some great photos:

August 21, 2017

I have returned from the office from two weeks' worth of professional development and personal travel.  I was very happy to attend once again the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This was the second year in a row I have been fortunate enough to attend the workshop and this year I took the class "Basics of Digital Photography using Adobe Lightroom."  It was a great class and I really learned a lot that is going to help me be a better instructor for the kids here in Travis County.  I will be posting highlights of the photos I took during the workshop throughout the week, starting with these photos that I took on the first day of the workshop which was last Monday, August 21st.  As this was the first day of the workshop, we had not gotten into the guts of using Lightroom so most of these are unedited:

August 17, 2017

The Travis County Awards Banquet for 2017 took place last night at the Creedmoor Community Center and the event was a success!  We were happy to welcome two of the four Travis County Commissioners to the event:  Margaret Gómez of Precinct Four and Jeff Travillion of Precinct One.  We are always happy to welcome our elected officials and hope all the commissioners can make it next year!

It was also a great event for our 4-H families and supporters, and there were a lot of awards presented that evening.  I took photos of all the awards recipients, which you can see below: