john_smith163

Sharon,

 

Early in the year you will have plenty of time with your dog in the afternoons and nights as the schedule isnt too harsh at that point, in the middle to the end of the year is where time becomes very tough to come by, you will spend nights at the school working at times. I know that while I was there, there were a couple students who brought their dogs in on a regular basis and had them with them in studio or in the computer lab while they worked.

 

And as far as surfing is concerned, Hallmark is on the western side of Mass and so is a ways away from the coast, and also the majority of the time you're at school it will be fall and be pretty cold, or winter and very cold. However I bet you could do some very early on or very late.

 

Anyway, hope this helped some, and best of luck!

 

-Brett

Hallmark Institute of Photography has the best 1-year program around, best program in general in my opinion. www.hallmark.edu

The ZD has been out for over a year in europe, however it has not been available until recently in the US.

If the other responses werent enough, I am yet another current student at Hallmark, and have no problem or hesitation telling anyone interested that Hallmark is without a doubt the best choice for a photographic education. Going to Hallmark was easily the best decision I have ever made, and I dont regret it for a second.

 

Sure there are plenty of past graduates who are no longer working in the photography industry, but is that the schools fault, or the fault of the individuals. The school is a tool, a foundation for your career, beyond that it is the responsibility of the student to take it the rest of the way. And I believe, now during portfolio review more then ever, that you get out of this program exactly what you put in. Some students who dont work hard and dont take the program seriously dont end up with good portfolios, and those that do, have great books. It will be the same out in the working world, if you're not willing to put in the work to find jobs, you'll fail.

 

Oh, and I came straight from highschool to Hallmark, and there is no truth to the idea that someone straight from highschool shouldnt or cant make it through this program, because I have, and many others my age have as well. Do more of the younger group end up not finishing or failing then do of the older students, probably, but that also may be because the older students are career changers, and so must be 100% sure that this is the right choice, while some (some!) kids coming from highschool just come because they're parents tell them they have to go to school and they think photography is fun, when in the end it isnt the right choice for them.

 

I am moving to NYC at the age of 18, and with my education here at Hallmark I have no doubt that I will succeed.

what you're looking for I think is known as an infinity table. It's simply a table with as you thought, a sheet of white acrylic that curves from vertical to horizontal along its length. You use two lights to light it, one from behind, and one from directly beneath and adjust them until you have even exposure.

Exactly what tom said, the whole idea of window light is soft light, the light you would get from a north facing window(which receives no direct sunlight). It was the inspiration behind the softbox. So if you cant get enough light out of a window, say if its a dark rainy day, if you have a softbox, you could simulate it with that.

 

-Brett

Once you get your light meter, you are looking for a about a 4 stop difference between your exposure and the reading on the backdrop.

Rick Souders has a pretty good book out in which it shows you the shot, and then shows the diagram of each light set up next to it and explains it. And he does some very nice work. It includes a lot of other things aside from just food, but I believe thats the majority of the book (we have it at Hallmark) I've only gotten a chance to flip throgh it, but it looks very good.

 

www.soudersstudio.com

 

http://www.tatteredcover.com/NASApp/store/Product;jsessionid=abcS-quTg9EOyg32vHr-q?s=showproduct&affiliateId=000081&isbn=0817433090

You could check out the Hallmark Institute of Photography. Its only 10 months and very intense, but its amazing, I'm actually going right now and couldnt be happier with my decision to go there. However it is on the opposite side of the country as Brooks.

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I shot one of my friends hockey games using my XT with 75-300 f/4-5.6 and got decent results. I used ISO 1600 with shutter speed 1/200s and the lowest aperture I could get for different focal lengths. For the most part everything came out well, I just stayed away from the very fast action and everything stayed sharp for the most part.

I went into the cold with it for the first time today. I went to my friends hockey match, it was an indoor rink and probably about 20*F or so inside the building. After an hour and a half or so of use the camera certainly got cold, and I encountered no problems whatsoever. This may just be because it wasnt exremely cold, but we'll see. Worst case scenario if the shutter issues do happen up on the mountain I'll just use my Rebel GII instead.

 

And if you keep the camera warm and bring it into the cold and back into the warm that certainly cant be good for it either, with condensation and all. Then again a Canon tech would probably know more then meee ^_^

Thanks for the help so far!

 

As long as I keep the camera in the bag when I go inside I should be fine right? Should I have it in a plastic bag as well even for the short time I'll be in the lodge just for precaution?

 

And another thought, as far as batteries go, if I'm not going to use the camera for a while, should I take the battery out and put it in a pocket to warm it up as well? Keep it as warm as possible whenever possible?

 

Thanks!

I live in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and this winter I plan

to take a lot of pictures up at the local ski mountain. I am shooting

a Canon Rebel XT and am wondering what sort of precautions I should

take with the cold (anywhere from 20*F to -20*f) weather and my

camera. Would it be a good idea to put hand warmers in my camera bag

so that while I'm not using the camera it can stay warm, or will the

change in temperture going in and out of the bag cause the camera or

lense to collect condensation? Any help or suggestions would be

appreciated!

 

PS I apologize if this is the wrong place for this question, but it

seemed appropriate.

I dont know much about their actual the actual program at Rockport, but I have a friend going their for film. Just be aware its a small school in an even smaller town, from what my friend has told me its an amazing school, but there is nothing to do, just not much of a social scene I guess. This is leading him to actually transfer out of Rockport, so just be sure to visit and make sure its for you. Like I said, its an amazing school for photography and film from what I hear, just veryyy small.

I am personally looking at Hallmark Institute of Photography in Mass. It is indeed quite expensive for a 10 month program (about $31,000) however it seems to be a great program. They focus half on the actual art and craft of photography and half on the buisiness side of photography, what one would do to be successful/competitive in the buisiness world. It is a certificate program, so there are no gen. ed. requirements, you get right into photography. For me it seems like a great program, I'm going to visit and have my interview this weekend, I'll post up again afterwards.