photogenX DTS

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Thanks for visiting the official photogenX DTS blogspot!

Please browse through the various blog postings for specific information relating to the photogenX DTS. Our next DTS starts on April 2nd 2009! For applications and info about YWAM please visit www.uofnkona.edu.

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For further opportunities and information about photogenX please visit www.photogenx.net

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The Nature of the photogenX DTS

The first thing that people usually ask us is, will this give me a true discipleship experience?

The answer is an emphatic YES! Our core curriculum and structure is pre-set by the International DTS center (www.ywamdtscentre.com). We adhere to this leadership body as well as the requirements set by the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii. You will participate in a genuine discipleship experience and study classic DTS topics such as "The Character and Nature of God", "Evangelism", "The Bible", "Missions", "Father Heart of God", "Hearing the Voice of God" and many more.

The second thing that people normally ask is, how then does photography work in this framework?

Typically every morning will start with either worship, prayer or a devotional, then we will receive teaching on the topic of the week. In the afternoons and the evenings we will get down to the details of learning the skill of photography. However photography at its core is a practical skill. There is a certain amount of theory involved. But once you have the basics, your skill grows as you actually get out and take pictures. So we will be proactive in getting you out of the classroom and around our island to take pictures.

The third thing that people often ask is, how does missions and photography go together?

We live in the information age. Communication is vital to the survival of any organisation Christian or otherwise. In missions we must communicate with professionalism as well as with clarity. Photographs are essential to this. Through photography we want to train you to become relevant communicators of what is happening in the world and what can we do about it. We want to teach you how you can see the world with God's eyes and capture his heart with your camera. We believe that there are many hidden treasures out there which God is about to show us so that we can present it to the world.
We will also use photography as a tool of evangelism. As we take pictures we will make an effort of getting to know people so that we can share the gospel with them.

Exhaustive Equipment List

**Please see post below for Basic Equipment List

You may find the following helpful in terms of giving you details for photographic equipment you could need/ want.

This is adapted from recommendations from the School of Photography run in Kona, Hawaii.
Initially written by Dennis Fahringer.

Extra equipment.

• an external flash with bounce and swivel.

I’d recommend the Canon 550EX flash.

• a circular polarizer

Get one large enough to fit the filter thread of your ‘fattest” lens. You
can get step-down rings to fit it to smaller diameter filter threads on
other lenses. I’d recommend Hoya brand. Other good brands are B+W and
Tiffen. It needs to say “circular”, not just be a round filter.

• rechargeable batteries and charger

including a spare battery pack for your camera (which probably comes with
your D-SLR). For AA batteries for your flash, NiMH batteries are best. Get
a charger for less than 2 hr. charging, such as Maha/Powerex. For NiMH
batteries and chargers, I’d recommend you check this Web site

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/mhc401fs.htm

• a way to carry your camera gear,

A means to carry and protect your equipment, such as a sturdy camera bag in
canvas or Cordura in a light-reflective color such as gray or tan, if
possible. Alternatively, you can use a hip pack, which puts the weight on
your hips, photographer's vest (which you may find too hot to use in
Hawaii's heat), or a photographic backpack.

I prefer Domke brand (the F2 model) but Lowepro, Crumpler, Tenba, etc. are
other choices.

Though not required, I would personally strongly suggest your having a
sturdy tripod to use which is tall enough to go to your eye level when
you’re standing without using its center column.

I prefer one with a removable ball-head to one with a pan/tilt head. I’ve
found over the years that many of my students have had blurred photos of
flowers and other close-up subjects, landscapes, night shots and others
which could have been much sharper had they used a tripod.


Ways you could save some money, with perhaps some loss in quality:

• older model Canon, Nikon or Fuji D-SLRs, sold used, perhaps from eBay
online.

• lenses not made by Canon or Nikon (such as Sigma, Tokina, and others to
fit Canon or Nikon bodies)

• battery packs not made by the maker of your camera

• it’s possible that Sigma or Sunpak may make a flash with the exposure
compensation that makes the 550EX preferable to the Canon 420EX.

• other brands of digital cards than Lexar.


Ideal, but not required ;-)

• Lenshoods for your lenses, ideally plastic, metal, or rubber, (in order
of preference).

• Screw-in skylight filters to protect each lens of a quality brand.

• your own Apple laptop, running OS 10.3 or newer (Panther), with SuperDrive
(internal DVD burner/player/CD burner/player), 1 GB of RAM (or more), 14" or
15" screen. (Our College is nearly all Mac users, rather than PC users.
I can only help with tech support for Macs.)

• Adobe Photoshop CS software

• Having an extension cord for using your flash 3 ft. (1 m.) away from your
camera is also valuable to have.


Getting what you need:

The Lord can provide the equipment you need in many ways. You may be able to
find someone willing to lend you the equipment you will need for this
course. You may prefer to buy (brand-new or used). Someone may give you the
equipment you need. (Don't rule this out: God has done this for others!)

We buy most of our photo equipment and supplies from a mail-order photo
store in New York City, B+H Photo/Video. (New York is a city which offers
some of the lowest camera prices in the world.) UofN-Kona is on an island
without a major camera store.

Contact Information for B+H Photo-Video:

Online:

Web site: http://bhphotovideo.com

E-mail to Order: photo@bhphotovideo.com (to order)
E-mail to Check the Status Order: ord-status@bhphotovideo.com
E-mail About Used Camera Gear: used@bhphotovideo.com

B+H Photo/Video
420 9th Ave
New York City NY 10001
USA

From within the U.S.:

Telephone orders: 1-(800)-947-9954, speed dial 633 for 35mm equipment

Fax for orders: 1-(800)-947-7008

Customer service (telephone): 1-(800)-221-5743 or (212)-239-7765

Customer service (fax): 1--(800)-947-2215 or (212)-239-7549

They are among the most well-stocked, lowest-priced, quickest-shipping
mail-order photo dealers I know of in the U.S. I would recommend ordering
with a credit card.

If you order with a credit card with a billing address and bank outside the
U.S., you’ll need to fax them the front and back of your card and expect a
bit of delay with getting your order sorted out with them, because its a
foreign credit card.

One other place to buy just your camera at a low price is:

HELEN JENSEN
NATIONAL GRAPHICS SUPPLY
226 N.ALLEN ST ALBANY, NY 12206-1799
USA

Wk: (800) 223-7130 ext. 3182
Other tel.: (518) 438-8411
Fx: (800) 832-2205 (or 518-438-0940)
email: reply@ngscorp.com

This is a company recommended and used by Patrick Murphy-Racey, one of our
guest teachers. They supply cameras to many newspapers in the U.S. Don't
expect Helen to be able to answer a lot of technical questions or give photo
advice, please.

Please try to make sure that your equipment is in good working condition
before coming to the school. If your camera or other equipment needs repairs
once you’re here, it will probably take a month or more to get fixed, as we
don’t have camera repair folks on this island.

Basic Equipment for photogenX DTS

Another question often asked is, what basic equipment do I need to participate in the school?

1. The basic requirement for the photogenX DTS is that you have a digital camera.

The recommended camera is a Canon Rebel or a similar SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera (300D outside the
U.S.) The next higher model would be the Canon EOS-10D. Another option if you have a sizable investment already in Nikon lenses is the Nikon D70.

Just a word of advice, you will really want something like a Canon Rebel. You could get by with a cheaper point and shoot digital camera, however past students have expressed regret that they were not able to get as much out of the school as others. In the end students have often gone out and bought SLR cameras, but by then much of the school had already taken place.

2. You will need an assortment of lenses.
Try to buy the fastest lenses you can afford (faster meaning larger maximum aperture, like f2, f2.8, f3.5) and ones which
are Canon USM (Ultrasonic, making little or no noise when auto-focusing).

We recommend that you get a selection of lenses: for example a wide angle lens (17-55mm), a zoom lens (80-200mm) also get a standard macro lens.

3. Acessories

Things you should have:
Minimum 1 GB data chip (get 2 or more)
A battery charger with extra batteries
Travel bag

Things you would love to have especially on outreach:
Extra chips are always good!
A flash
Tripod
Enough storage for your pictures (think about an external hard drive)

3. Laptops are not a requirement, but would be very help to store you digital images as well as editing them. The new Mac Book put out by Apple is a nice piece of equipment.