Earlier this year I signed up for one of the famed Bryan Peterson photography workshops.  I looked forward to it for months, counting down the weeks, until weather.com suggested that a hurricane was heading straight for NYC, the very same weekend I would be attending my outdoor photo workshop.  Hrmph!  I was not pleased.  The night before the workshop was to begin, Bryan gathered all 8 of us in his hotel lobby and cheerily explained that he was excited to “weather” the storm, and that he hoped we would all join him.  A few people flew home immediately, worried that the hurricane would be dangerous.  As the only New Yorker in the group, I of course stayed.

We luckily got a beautiful Friday to shoot and learn from this photography master whose books have changed my relationship with my camera.  Bryan had us traipsing all across Manhattan and even into Brooklyn, shooting the sunrise, models, macro, architecture, and a beautiful sunset over the city.  The next day started out nice, but soon the outer bands of Hurricane Irene started drenching us with her rain, and after Mayor Bloomberg called for forced evacuations of certain parts of the city as well as a full stop to the subway system, lower Manhattan soon looked like a ghost town.  Bryan brought us all to Times Square, which was still magnificently and eerily lit, and we had a blast experimenting with panning on the few cars still on the road (taxis and police cars).  The last day of our workshop, the few remaining students and I dressed in our ponchos and rain boots and took to the streets again, praying that our cameras wouldn’t crap out on us.

Bryan was just as I had hoped he would be:  enthusiastic, energetic, a bit unpredictable, and full of knowledge he readily churned out at every step of our way.  If you are interested in photography, but the thought of taking your camera off of “auto” scares you, you must run to your local bookstore (or go to amazon.com) and buy his books.  All of them.  But especially “Understanding Exposure.”  It will change your life!

Thanks Bryan, for an amazingly fun, informative, and puddle-jumping weekend!  Until next time 😉

*please note:  the photo of me splashing in the puddle was taken by Bryan Peterson