Beall and I were taking a walk down the streets of an old mining town in Colorado today when we ran across this magnificently jowly bulldog with a pink underside and polka dots. She was just sitting there by herself, tied to a post, and patiently waiting in true bulldog style for her owner who was nowhere to be found. I have been shooting this week without flash using an old 35mm Leica lens from the 1960s, and a newer 50mm. Because the weather today was in constant flux (over the course of the afternoon it went from sunshine to snowdrifts), I needed to experiment a good deal with various exposure settings to get any pleasing results. I finally settled on one which resulted in the picture above. Hooray for jowly bulldogs!

And this brings me to the point of this blog: One of my personal objectives this year at the 2007 Christian Filmmakers Academy is to improve my skills as a lay-photographer. Peter Pallock is there to help me and filmmakers from across the nation develop their still photographic skills and sensibilities, especially as these skills relate to the craft of filmmaking. Peter has trained hundreds of photographers around the nation, and is kindly offering his services this year for the 2007 Christian Filmmakers Academy.

For those who will be attending the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, Peter will be offering an introductory session called an “Introduction to Prizewinning Photography.” This course offers practical introduction to the basics of still photography, and will cover simple, applicable ways to improve your still photography skills while offering insights into the broader application of those principles in the world of video.