I started off the class on May 6th, my 22nd birthday. With final projects wrapping up and celebrations to be had, Junction couldn't have come at a better time. I tried my best to pack smart, but you never know what you will need on a 15 day adventure with Wyman! Not only will we be shooting around Junction, but this trip includes a 5-day field trip to Independence Creek, which is in Terrell County 22 miles south of Sheffield, off Interstate 10 on Highway 349. So after packing up my car and mailing out the last of my client's photo orders, I headed down highway 87 towards Junction.
I arrived on campus at 5 PM, just in time to check in and move into the "Hummingbird Cabin", my new home for the next few weeks. I'm sharing this with all my lovely, amazing photos gals - Erin, Santasha, Kori, and Joanna. Erin was previously assigned to the outdoor, non AC units, but when her other cabin members decided to stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing cards the first night, she payed for AC and moved in with us! We usually get up around 5:30 every morning, much earlier than most other classes, so she definitely wouldn't have had enough sleep living with those crazy girls. Our cabin is connected with a classroom - a Nature Poetry class to be exact. Since we're usually off campus during their class times, we don't run into them, but it's strange because their room is joined with our bathrooms ... could get awkward at some point!
At 6 PM the first day, we had dinner and a welcome meeting in the dining hall, then met up with our class at 7 PM Wyman's class meets in the Academic Building near the front of campus. We grabbed our seats, checked out film and light tables, then watched in awe as Wyman shared with us some of his photographic abilities. He ran slide after slide up on a projector and told us all the details about each shot he took - everything from the history of the land to the exact lens and shutter speed he took each image with. We all want to grow up and be like Wyman some day. I hope I'm speaking for everyone when I say that THIS GOT US PUMPED!
We all returned to our cabins awaiting the start of our first day out in the water. We woke up at 5:45 AM, packed our gear into the "mystery van" and headed out to the 377 Falls at 6:15 AM. We arrived about 30 minutes later and hiked down a rocky hill to reach the falls. The sun had not quite come up yet, so each of us waded around the water to find the perfect vantage point to photograph the sunrise. Unfortunately, our beautiful sun was blocked by haze and clouds, diffusing the light too much for what we had planned. Some students shot a few rolls, but most of us took this as a learning opportunity. We got out our digital cameras and played around with angles, lighting, and shutter speeds instead of wasting that on a roll of film.
I've included a few of my favorite shots from that morning. Since this class is primarily film based, I haven't had a chance to shoot a whole lot of digital, but I am going to make it a point to from now on. That way my blog posts aren't totally delayed since I'd have to scan in my slides once they are processed.
Well, it's lunch time so I'll have to finish up this post later. The title includes "Wild Bill's Ranch," which needs its own post all together ... you'll see why! We are going out to this ranch again this evening in hopes of getting some midnight full moon shots of the Llano River. I'll include some digital images and all sorts of crazy stories when we get back from that tonight. Enjoy these photos until next time!
-Lynsey
Brent's Manfrotto tripod set up in a rock bed, waiting for the perfect lighting.
Jerod Foster and fellow class members shooting at 377 Falls outside of Junction, Texas.
Water cascading over the river at 377 Falls.
Lovely rocks :-)
Here is Erin Edwards: she is a great photographer and so HARDCORE! The very first morning we were out there, I snapped this image of Erin as she submerged herself in the 377 Falls to get that perfect shot.
