Tutors Gallery: Ms. Yolande Scheepers

An occasional series of biographies and images by tutors and staff

Biography

Since I was I little girl, I have always been interested in photography. I used to take images with my dad’s old Kodak. Once earning a salary; I bought a few cheap point and shoot cameras which ended-up in the garbage bin! I just couldn’t afford the camera equipment I have always dreamt about!

After many years in the Aviation Industry I resigned and went to live in a country far, far away where it was impossible to continue a career in Aviation. My husband encouraged me to pursue my dreams and bought me my first digital camera: a Nikon Coolpix5700. Wow, I was in heaven and I started studying photography through School of Photography.Com

On completion of my studies, I began working as a Freelance photographer specializing in Portrait photography, freelancing for the local newspaper, judging photo competitions locally and for SOP. My big break came when I was employed as a Tutor for School of Photography.com teaching Basic and Glamour Photography.

I now own a Nikon D70.Both the Nikon D70 and Nikon Coolpix5700 aided me in winning numerous awards and competitions, including a Fujifilm price award.

Image 1: Yolande and son

Me in person, red hair, freckles and all, and guess what? Rainbow man (image below) took this image, not bad, as a model and a camera assistant he is getting to know the ropes of photography

Image 2: Rainbow Man

I had to submit a series of 5 photographs for a project and the images had to tell a story. The project was called Rainbow man. Using a white sheet as back ground, I used the Nikon Coolpix5700, zoom lens, tripod,various colors body paint and the Nikon Speedlight SB-80Dx to bounce the light of a white ceiling.

It took me 12 hours in total to complete this project, I only had my model with no other assistance, thus I had to paint the model with body paint, wait for the paint to dry, add another layer, wait for the paint to dry and then take a few shots. At first we were uncertain as to how the images will appear, thus I started off by just painting the models feet, and from there I worked my way up until the model’s whole body was painted. One very patient model I must admit, but it was one of the most rewarding projects I have ever completed in photography.

Image 3: Silhouette

A silhouette at sunset, 3 very willing models and female photographer, thus I could take my time as my 3 male models were quite eager to pose for me! I used the Nikon D70 with a AF Nikkor 70-300mm lens.

Sometimes it does have its advantages to be a female photographer!

Image 4: Soft Focus Baby Portrait

I wanted to have the baby’s face real sharp against the white fore and background. To enable me to obtain a soft ‘cotton wool’ effect,

I smeared petroleum jelly on the 62mm UV Filter. That was the easy part, try and clean the filter afterwards!

I used the NIKON D70 with a AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm lens and I bounced the flash light of the ceiling by using a Nikon Speedlight SB-80DX.

Image 5: Biker

After spending quite some time in the desert on a fairly windy morning, I was about to give up hope, I just couldn’t exactly shoot what I was hoping for. I had two images left on my memory card, a SanDisk Ultra II 512MB card.

I was about to indicate to the ‘biker’ that it was a lost case and we should go home, when he suddenly got stuck in the sand, he tried numerous techniques to get his quad bike out, but to no avail. I thought okay, this is clearly not my day, a stuck biker and no ‘wow’ images, when suddenly this guy did something to that bike and wow!

Never give up hope, sometimes, the very last image is the one that takes your breath away. Shot with the Nikon D70 with AF Nikkor 70-300mm lens and a Kaiser 62mm POL-CIRC Filter.

Image 6: High Key Portrait

A simple portrait, I liked the deliberate over-exposure in the image using only daylight, Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm and a tripod. The image was taken outside in the garden with a white sheet as a background..

Image 7: Reflections

While on a visit to Oman, I was busy taking sunset photographs at one of the rural beaches, when these 3 locals boys came to play nearby. They were pretty interested in the camera and the workings there-off, with a few hand signals, much of the language lost in translation, I managed to show them how a digital camera works, you take an image and you can immediately view it! They were very willing to pose for the camera, just so that they could view themselves on the LCD screen again.

Without even realizing it, I caught their reflections in the wet sand, the water mirroring on their arms and chests and they all nearly had the exact same pose, as for the boy on the right, he distinguished himself as the leader of the group, the one who speaks some English, thus having his one arm lowered in front of him, makes him stand out even more.

I used the Nikon Coolpix5700 for this image, on my knees getting wet.

Image 8: Sepia Toned

Using the Nikon D70 with built-in flash light and the AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm lens. I used a black blanket for the background, once satisfied with the original image, I simply used photo shop to convert the image into sepia and the result was a very satisfied customer in the end.

Very small babies are easy to work with, just make sure their tummies are full and they won’t need a nappy change soon and you have an easy no-fuss model to work with!

Image 9: Dunes

This was one of my very first images which I submitted for a Landscape competition and I was awarded a 4th place! The image was taken just after sunrise with the Nikon Coolpix5700. My lucky day, no wind!

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