I have not been a student for many years. Like, a lot. More than…ten. Maybe more than 15. So when I signed up for Franklin Habit’s Photographing Your Fiber class at Knitting in the Heartland, I was excited but also a little nervous. And with it being photography, something I’ve played around with but never officially studied, I was afraid I’d come across as the newbie I am. I didn’t know what to expect as I packed up my camera, manual, and sample projects. Would I be expected to take photos for his review?? And if so, would they suck?

Well, it turns out that all my worries were for naught. The class was wonderful, Franklin was delightful, and I learned SO MUCH. I even learned that I already knew stuff about photography–important concepts about lighting and composition. It’s more the technical side of it where I need the help, and that’s where this class helped the most. It was lecture-style, not enough time for hands-on work, but I kept the camera in front of me so that I could scroll through the menu and find all the settings as he explained them, and pulled out the manual during the short break to find out more. I was so excited to learn about the White Balance setting and aperture and shutter speeds and how all those things actually affect the photos! Part two of the 3-hour class touched on less technical things like props, tools, and models. He talked a lot about getting creative with what you’ve got on hand rather than buying expensive tools, since that takes money you could be spending on yarn. My favorite bit was the light box demonstration. I totally need to build my own now.

Really, it was the perfect beginning photography course for me. It taught me just enough to start playing with my camera more, to experiment with all the different settings and just have fun with it. And then later on down the road, when I feel comfortable with those things, I can look into a next level course. I enjoyed it, and him, so much that when the class was over, I dashed to the vendor fair and grabbed a copy of his book, “It Itches”, so that I could have him sign it for me, which he did graciously.

And then I accidentally stopped at another booth that was selling wrist rulers, because the black one I have is the tiniest bit too small and also it’s hard to read the black. Therefore I really needed the 17″ gray version. At least I didn’t buy more yarn!