I found Katrina Davis' nature photography class through a special deal on SFGate, which I believe is the same as the one offered on Living Social. Katrina basically offers this 3 hour course every Saturday and Sunday morning in various locales throughout the East Bay. Wanting to take full advantage of my new Sony Nex-5, I decided to plunk down 29 big ones, and chose March 5 at Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve (http://www.yelp.com/biz/robert-sibley-volcanic-regional-preserve-oakland) as the location, since I had never been there.
From the get go, I could tell that Katrina is very energetic, and passionate about what she does. If you like your instructors to be young, hip, and in tune with current trends, yet still experienced and knowledgeable, Katrina is for you. The class was about 10 - 12 individuals of various ages and backgrounds with many different types of cameras - everything from basic point and shoots, professional DSLRs, to hybrids like mine.
Although technically a beginners class, there was a quite a range of expertise levels. Some were just a step up from knowing how to press the power button, while others were a tad more advanced. Even so, Katrina was easily able to give everyone the one on one attention they needed, and also made sure that they all knew how to use their equipment properly. At the beginning of the course, she went around inspecting everyone's camera to ensure not only that each person understood how to use it, but also that she herself understood, as to make it easier to help with proper settings later on.
Now, I wouldn't call myself an absolute noob when it comes to cameras, but until now, I had barely done anything more than the most basic of photography, never bothering to mess around too much with the ISO, shutter speed, F-stop, etc. No more. After this short class, I now feel more confident to switch off that intelligent automatic mode, and straight to the once seemingly unfathomable... manual. *gasp!*
Katrina brought us to various spots around the park with interesting landmarks and photo opportunities, and at each site, she would teach us a new technique. Such methods include creating depth of field in trees and grass, bringing out the color in the sky, capturing light in dark areas, and maximizing size and volume of small areas. Every so often, she'd review our pictures to see if we were grasping the concept, and would give pointers on what improvements could be made.
Above all, Katrina made the class fun with her exuberance and sense of humor, and even though we were all nerds with cameras taking pictures of trees and insects, everyone seemed to have a blast. I'd definitely recommend her course for anyone showing the slightest interest in photography. I'm not saying you'll instantly turn into Ansel Adams or Herb Ritz, but you'll definitely come out with a much greater understanding and confidence in your picture taking prowess.
Furthermore, not only does Katrina teach a class, but she also has her own photography business doing weddings, events, modeling portfolios, etc. If any of you out there are looking for a photographer, I definitely wouldn't hesitate to refer you her way. I'm fairly certain that your experience with her as your photographer would be nothing short of an awesome time. read more