During my time at university there might have been a few classes I've skipped, a photography class, however, with internationally acclaimed adventure photographer Patrick Morrow won't be one of them.
Morrow was born and raised in Invermere, a little town with a population of 3,470, tucked between the Rockies and Purcell mountain range in the East Kootenays. He's climbed to the highest point of all seven continents, travelled the world photographing as well as filming expeditions and taken pictures for outdoor magazines and stock photography companies.
The best part?
He's the instructor for the week-long, outdoor adventure photography course I'm taking. There's lots to learn from his classes and even more to glean from the many anecdotes he frequently shares. He told one about putting his foot out to catch a wide-angle lens that had slipped from his hands, but instead, he ended up drop-kicking it into the canyon - always bring backup lenses.
Tuesday was a beautiful day, so we drove out past the airport to Cinnamon Ridge and had a lovely time wandering around, experimenting with our settings, posing for "potential promotional" pictures and eating a picnic lunch sitting on the snow beneath a bright sun.
It's been amazing working with him. I learned more stuff in the first day of class than I did in the two weeks of photojournalism we briefly covered in school last year. Not only does he, of course, know how to take great pictures, but he's explained a lot about the business aspect of photography too.
Morrow took journalism at SAIT in Calgary when he was younger and worked as photographer for a newspaper for a few years. It's been really encouraging talking to him because he has realistic, but positive advice for freelancing work, which is something I need to hear after all the gloom and doom I've been told thus far.
He's a great teacher and definitely passionate about what he does. I'm sorry it's only a week-long course.
