A year with my camera...

A Year with My Camera started today... my first online photography class, and my first photography class in thirty years. I already feel part of an exciting community of people who want to improve their photographs. It's a free year-long class, and it will be a fun year.










Perfect reflections on Lake Crescent, March 2017

For years I've watched my online friends journey through what I like to call keyword classes: each day (or week or month) they're given a word, which forms the basis for a photograph or essay. I've been tempted to join in, but could never figure out how to make such a class fit into my life.

Then last fall, I learned about a class that sounded like a perfect fit for me. Taught by a photographer in England, the goal is to get us off auto/program modes and comfortable in manual mode, and learn how to use our dSLR's controls to get the images we can see in front of us, but struggle to capture. 

As a warm-up and for fun, she sent us a list of 30 topics to capture. Things like vintage, older than me, abstract, pattern, and just two colors. Things to think about when taking (or finding) a photo to match. Because I procrastinated and didn't sign up for the class until the end of December, my approach was to search through my photo library for an image that fit each word. This is my photo for "Break the Rule of Thirds."

So, here I am, playing along with a keyword class, something I never thought I'd do. And to my surprise, I liked doing it! It got my creative juices flowing, and I'm looking forward to a year-long journey.