The Essence of Fire Island

This past weekend the Friends of Fire Island National Seashore (FFINS) held their first ever "The Essence of Fire Island" art exhibition. There were 34 artists that entered and from that 18 pieces of artwork were selected as winners to be published in a FFINS 18 month calendar.

The judges were Susan Bela - Publisher of Great South Bay Magazine, Dave Hensen - President of Friends of Fire Island National Seashore and Chris Soller - Superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore.

The calendar is a fundraiser for Friends of Fire Island National Seashore. You can purchase the $15 calendar starting June 5th at the Sailor's Haven Gift Shop, Watch Hill Gift Shop and Wilderness Visitor Center at Smith Point Beach. FFINS is also accepting pre-orders of the calendar now. Forms are at the Watch Hill Ferry Terminal in Patchogue.

All the artwork will be on display and available for purchase until May 31st at the new Watch Hill Ferry Terminal, 160 West Avenue in Patchogue. Until Memorial Day weekend, the ferry terminal is open on the weekends from 1pm - 4pm. Go see the artwork and buy a calendar, including a photograph taken by this Blogger - "A Fall Day at Talisman Beach".

Is NYIP A Scam?

I received my first unit from the New York Institute of Photography a few weeks back. There is never enough time to blog about it or to do my lessons. Finally I figured out I can do my reading during the 45 minutes the kids are in Karate class twice a week. I have made it through three lessons and got all the questions right on a test! I remember stuff from all those photo classes I took. There is another test I need to mail to my teacher along with my photos from my photo assignments.

As far as I can see it is not a scam. I looked into other correspondence photo schools and as soon as I got their info in the mail, I was getting that scammed feeling. NYIP has recently updated their lessons geared to digital. In the blogs I have read that was the one drawback to NYIP. The lessons seem very up to date, but if you are still using film - the lessons are for you too.

The lessons are informative and are geared towards a seasoned amateur like me or someone who is just starting out with a simple camera. NYIP stresses there is no need to go out and buy all the latest photo gadgets. They emphasis that it is the photographer - not the equipment that makes good photography and I totally agree. The equipment helps, but if you do not have the eye - that will not make a good photo. I have a digital SLR and I love it, but I have taken some great photos with my cheapo $20 digital camera that has tape holding the double AA batteries in.

Lesson One is "Eye of the Photographer", Lesson Two is "The Camera", Lesson Three is "The Lens", Lesson Four is "How to Use Your Camera". I have CDs and DVD to go along with these lessons too, but have not found to time to play them yet - I will. Check back! =)

Finally Credit

Finally I get photo credit in The Bayport Blue Point Gazette! Seven of my photos are in the paper this month. With two on the front cover and two on the back cover. I am very excited. It is not a paying gig, but gets me exposure and practice and it's an outlet for all these photos I need to take all the time. The Bayport Blue Point Gazette is a totally local paper dealing with only these two towns on Long Island. Last month I had two photos in The Bayport Blue Point Gazette, but they forgot the photo credit.

For the June edition I covered the Bayport Memorial Day Parade, SEA-BBS Festival and the Bayport Fire Department Big Bucks. Yeah!
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It's In The Mail!

It came in the mail today! A package from NYIP! It is not my lessons, but the free stuff I got for signing up with them. It was a big, heavy box with five photography books. "Neil Leifer: Portraits" - a big hard cover coffee table book with all the famous people Neil Leifer photographed. "Ansel Adams and the Photographers of the American West" - another big hard cover 250 paged coffee table book. "On Assignment Photographs by Jay Maisel" - a smaller paperback book with photos from this photographer. I guess these three books will give me some inspiration.

The next two books look really useful. "2008 Photographer's Market" - where and how to sell your photographs. It lists 1,450 places that will buy your photos and is a thick paperback book. Cannot wait to start to read this book. And the last book is a small paperback called "The Photojournalist's Guide To Making Money". This is a smaller paperback book - 240 pages, but cannot wait to flip through it.

Where are my lessons? I want to start!
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I Got It!

I received some mail today from New York Institute of Photography - guess they cashed my check. They gave me the lowdown on the lessons and my first unit is in the mail - on it's way to me. It will include a DVD and CD plus assignments. There are a total of six units with about six lessons in each unit. I also have my very own instructor - Chris Corradino. He seems to have excellent photography credentials. He is available to me via phone, email, fax and mail. Chris will be critiquing my photos via audio CDs. I hope this is all as good as it seems because I want to brush up on my photography skills. I have been very actively practicing photography, but the last class I took was in college about 15 years ago. There are also a bunch of lessons on starting a photography business. But I am still going to Google Chris Corradino to see what he is all about.
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Why Not Make A Career Of Doing What You Love?

I did it last night - went to the Bayport Post Office and mailed my tuition to The New York Institute of Photography! Don't tell the hubby! I really researched it and as far as I can tell - it does not seem like a scam. It is a correspondence school and a lot of them I looked into are scams. But NYI has 30 lessons and each unit has photo projects. You mail your photo projects to your own personal advisor who critiques it on a CD that gets mailed to your house. It covers every aspects of photography.

From my research on this school online I could not find anyone who was unhappy with it. It covers all aspects of photography. One blogger's advisor was actually a lady who worked under Ansel Adams! Also it's the only school the magazine Popular Photography recommends. If you sign up to get their info wait a few months cause their first offer is not their best. They also send some bells and whistle stuff - like a NYI Press Pass that I sure will give me access to The President.

I will try to keep you updated with my progress with the school. I am doing it as a refresher for me because I really want to do something with photography and always have since I took my first photo with my Mom's camera with the 126 film and flash cube! I joined the photography club in the 6th grade, took classes and in high school and college and even worked at a photo studio. Here's their web site NYIP.Com
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