Photography 101

I've had a manual camera for years. Even before I changed over to a digital camera, I owned a 35mm SLR camera. You know, you're supposed to set your own exposure, shutter speed, and aperture? Yeah, Greek to me also. I dabbled a little in trying to learn, even took a college class, but it just never clicked. I came out more frustrated then ever before and continued to take pictures "point and shoot" style, totally unsatisfied with the results most generally, even tho my camera was capable of taking fantastic pictures. So I finally broke down and enrolled in an online photography class even tho I've been disappointed before with a class. Maggie (my teacher) is sooooo much easier to understand and has a wonderful way of breaking things down into understandable steps. With each week we have different assignments after reading our lesson. Then we upload photos to her for critiquing. Although I haven't had time to upload anything yet, (it's not mandatory), I did have time today to finally take a few pics with tips that she has taught in class over the last 3 weeks. Now mind you, these are pics totally with me setting all the settings myself. No automatic anything except focus of the lens. Tho I'm not there yet, I can already tell a difference in the pics I've taken. I was even able to take a few printable pictures from a concert in a dark auditorium when I was setting way up in the seats of course using no flash, as we all know flash does NOTHING in a dark big room unless you're right on top of your subject! I've hung alot of bird feeders outside my window, so am hoping I can lure some really beautiful birds up to pose for me. Of course that in itself poses a whole new set of challenges! But I'm encouraged finally that I WILL master this camera of mine and make it do what I want it to do! I'll keep you posted! In the meantime, enjoy a few pics I snapped this morning of our apple trees in bloom! Have a great day!

I'll be posting some layouts in a couple of days for upcoming workshops. I'm so loving some of the papers in the new summer catalog!