Technology/Equipment Grant
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education
The project goal is to purchase a Nikon 20mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 to increase my ability to better capture the Milky Way to produce fine art photography as well as use the skills and images I gain to better teach Milky Way photography -- this is an increasingly popular subject. I plan on capturing 40 three- to five-star Milky Way shots with each lens within the first year of owning them. With the 20mm, I'll capture shots with detailed foregrounds. With the 35mm, I'll capture pictures of the galactic core. I currently have a Milky Way presentation that I give to Milky Way Photography students and that is available for photography clubs. The missing component is how to photograph the galactic core and how to use fast lenses to capture both the Milky Way and a visible foreground. I will use the lenses to add four slides on each subject to my Milky Way presentation. Because my measurable outcomes are based on numbers, the method of evaluating the outcomes will be to see if I achieve those numbers. For the goal of taking 40 three- to five-star images, I'll count the number of images at the end of the year. The difficulty with Milky Way images is that the Milky Way is photograph-able with perfect weather for about 7 to 10 days a month. With average weather, that drops to 3 to 5 days a month. During a typical Milky Way outing, I capture 2 to 3 three- to five-star images. Typically, I make it to 2 to 3 locations a night. From November to April, the galactic core is below the horizon, so those months are less than ideal. That gives me a pace of 6 to 7 images a month from May to October to reach my goal. My first scheduled Night Photography Workshop in 2016 is in August. To measure the goal, I'll count the number of slides for each of the subjects.
My project goal was to purchase a Nikon 20mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 to increase my ability to better capture the Milky Way to produce fine art photography as well as use the skills and images I gain to better teach Milky Way photography -- this is an increasingly popular subject. My measurable outcomes were to capture 40 three- to five-star shots. The difficulty with Milky Way images is that the Milky Way is photographable with perfect weather for about 7 to 10 days a month. With average weather, that drops to 3 to 5 days a month. With the weather that we've had this Milky Way season (May to October), I've been able to get out 3 days. I've taken 4 five-star images and a dozen three-star images. Considering the weather, that puts me well ahead of pace to hit my goal by October 2016 as planned. The 35mm has allowed me to capture 3 five-star images of iconic locations on the north shore of Lake Superior. I redid my night sky presentation for photography clubs using four images created with the lenses that I bought with the grant. The first presentation of the year with the new slideshow drew approximately 150 people at the Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The new slides were a hit. My first scheduled Night Photography Workshop in 2016 is in August. To measure the goal, I've counted the number of slides that I added to the class. I've reached my goal of 4 to demonstrate how to capture the Milky Way's core and Milky Way images with bright foregrounds.
Other, local or private