A long tough learning curve.. for me anyhow.

A couple of years ago my husband gifted me with my first DSLR. I won't lie, I was terrified of that..contraption. So many buttons staring back at me, a menu with choices I had to make that I knew nothing about. I babied that camera, or rather it babied me. I kept it in automatic mode. Hey easy peasy, nothing to it!
I knew I had an innate sense of composition before even knowing what exactly what composing a picture meant. So off I went shooting happily away in auto mode... Until the day I asked an old friend how he got that 'silky' look to his waterfall. I saw words like 'manual mode' and ' f-stop'. wth??  


Crap. But my interest was peaked.I knew it was time to step up to the plate, expand my knowledge base. I wanted a photograph like that.Bad.

Thus started a long long learning curve, one I'm still on today. Yup, got the silky water down almost pat but I also want to rock at 'panning' or do an awesome panoramic and stitch it together. I show an aptitude for 'macro', I love getting down and 'belly shoot' but things likeTV mode still frustrated the crap out of me. I dislike TV mode. A lot.

Where's all this going? I'll tell you. 
It's going straight to those who take a moment to comment on my efforts. 
I've worked very hard learning a subject that terrifies me. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I am willing to learn and well.. if truth be told, I ain't that old.Yet. (Hmmm..is 49 considered old these days? Isn't it like the new 30 or something?)

It gives me headaches at times, the sheer volume of technological know-how involved in the art of photography. I get a crappy shooting day and I want to pitch my camera in the river. I mean,come on,who the hell do I think I am anyways?! 

On occasion when I do take a good photograph I am aware quite a few people click in to view it and off they go. What they may not realize is the sheer volume of decisions needed to get that photograph. The speedlite flash that was as hard to figure out as a bicycle in 100 pieces. The white balance I choose, the shutter speed or aperture needed, the shooting mode I decide on. They don't know how utterly critical I am on myself or the number of photographs I delete because it's not tack sharp or that I don't have ( or understand!) photoshop to fix my problem with a certain photograph. I guess it's not up to them to understand at all but I can tell you it is a lot of work.


To those of you who take that moment to comment on my photographs, you guys make all the hard work worth it. I can't begin to express what your comments mean to me. I LOVE when you tell me how or what a particular photograph makes you feel. Why you liked it..perhaps why you didn't. (art is subjective after all) And if you are a fellow photographer, please please tell me how I can improve on it. I am willing to learn!

I'm by NO means an attention whore. If you know me in real life, you KNOW this to be true. This isn't what the comments do for me. The fact that you lovely people care enough to show you appreciation goes a long way to recognizing and acknowledging what goes into it. 


So to those who nod my way I thank you, sincerely, with heartfelt appreciation. Those who enjoy from afar, keep enjoying. It does makes me happy to know you've dropped in for a look. 

Jamie