What are you doing next Thursday, one week from today? Most of us in the US will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our family and friends. FOOD, FOOTBALL, and FUN are the words that come to mind when we think about Thanksgiving. Unless your Scott Bourne, of course, who thinks about capturing that perfect photograph on this one day a year. Or, at least he used to until he made it.

For those like Mr. Bourne who love photography, there is something else that is occurring next Thursday, one week from today. It is the Photowalking Utah’s 2nd annual “Turkey Shoot” hosted by Harley Pebley (click on the Photowalking link for details). I will be attending and will be bring one of my Thanksgiving guests along who has an interest in photography.

Come and join us as we walk the vacant streets of Salt Lake City capturing streets, buildings, and alleys that are car and people free. A rare opportunity.

Now for the “isms” part of the article. After posting the article on Scott Bourne’s seminar yesterday, I have taken to calling those things I came away with at the seminar “Bourneisms” or sometimes “Re-Bourneisms”. One of the “Bourneisms” I walked away with came in the form of one word uttered by Mr. Bourne; “sketch”.

This particular word has had me thinking pretty extensively about sketching and how it might be applied to photography. I believe that sketching might be the key to something I have been lacking in my photography; that is, organization (Mr. Bourne expounded on the concept of storyboarding in conjunction with the word “sketch”). I do not spend much time thinking about what I might photograph when I arrive at the location I have chosen, because typically I have not been there before, or if I have, I have not looked at and thought about what I want to capture when I get there.

I believe sketching might be the key. At least the key for me. So this is what I propose to do in testing how sketching might benefit me as a photographer in conjunction with next week’s “Turkey Shoot”.

I have asked Harley Pebley to provide me with the route that we will be taking next Thursday. He has indicated that he will be “scouting” the route in the coming days. Just a side note… “scouting” would now be a “Pebleyism” for me.

Several years ago my wife purchased for me a really nice leather sketch case with replaceable sketch pad and colored pencils from Barnes and Noble. She knew that I like to draw from time to time and thought it to be a very nice gift. And, it was. Unfortunately, I don’t draw very well, so I did not really use the pad and case. It sat on a shelf in my bookshelf until last night.

That great gift my wife gave me several years ago is going to come in handy over the coming days. I will be scouting the route that Harley determines at the time that has been pre-determined for the photowalk. I will do this with my sketch pad in hand to sketch what I would like to photograph prior to next Thursday. My hope in doing this has its roots in the pre-visualization, sketching, and storyboarding discussed by Scott Bourne on this last Tuesday night.

My desire in the end is a hope that the results of putting in some leg work prior to the leg work of the walk will produce better made and well thought out images. I also think that by doing this I will waste less time looking around for something to shoot. It is my desire to “go pro” as an architectural photographer one day soon and I believe with that comes some responsibility to know what I am going to do and how I might go about doing it.

Another side note… I have coined a “fryemeism” I think (fryeme is my Twitter handle). I am going to call what I am going to attempt to do, “Photographic Sketch Scouting”, combining the “Bourneism” and “Pebleyism” I discussed above. I am sure I am not the only one who has thought of or done this and there is probably an official name for it, but I felt left out not having my own “ism”.

I appreciate Harley for his willingness to assist me with this venture and I am sincere when I say come join us one week from today on Thanksgiving. Who knows, you might learn some more “isms” like; Leggisms, Torrenceisms, Nicoleysisms, Pazisms, Wogisms, and, OH YEAH… more Pebleyisms.

If you promise not to laugh at my sketches, I will post them here with the completed photograph to show how this concept worked out. Look for that post the week after the “Turkey Shoot”.

CbyM