a little secret...

I'll let you in on a little secret.  You may not realize this.  It may not be extremely obvious around here, but I love, Love, LOVE to take pictures.  I always have.  From my very first Le Clic 110 that started my love of cameras (but mine was Yellow and Green),

which then turned into a succession of various little black boxes that I inevitably dropped, and not just on the ground.  I've fished (literally, with a fishing pole) a camera three times out of the St. Lawrence river because I dropped it while standing on the end of the dock.  One camera survived that dip twice, and was also almost tossed overboard on a cruise when I tripped.  {Picture me, 11 years old, with my hand hanging between the deck and the railing over the side of the ship with the camera dangling, open, film hanging out over the side of the ship...seriously.  And I was too afraid to tell my mother I'd broken another camera, so I just didn't take anymore pictures of that trip.}  My family teases me that I break cameras just so I can upgrade.

My friend Liz introduced me to my first SLR when I was 18.  Ooooh, love at first click.  I loved that Canon Rebel.  I just loved the way it felt in my hands.  Looking through the viewfinder to see whatever was in the box at that moment.  We went to Puerto Rico and I think I used about 20 rolls of film that trip.  I have a duffle bag full of photos between the four of us that went to prove it.  I'm not claiming to have any sort of photographic expertise here. I've been a full auto kind of girl (Thus the "snapshotographer" part of the title to my blog).

I had one other SLR before I stepped into the beautiful world of digital SLR photography almost four years ago.  I thought having the immediate playback of the photos I'd been taking would finally teach me to get off Auto and attempt Manual.  Um, no.  I was very wrong.  Harland even paid for semi-private lessons with this slightly bizzare bio-chemist turned wildlife photographer (and a darn good one), but he assumed I knew too much, and talked way over my head.  I learned a few compositional rules and stuck my tail between my legs and headed straight back to Autoville, USA.  I took a one day "photo safari" in D.C. with Harland's sister, Belinda (She's getting pretty good at landscapes, herself), but back to Autoville...again.  Very frustrating!

So here's my real secret, that I couldn't say out loud until now (because that's just too much pressure for one very self conscious girl to handle): I've been taking a photography class online for the past six weeks.  I was worried that I'd just be wasting time and money AGAIN, but guess what?  I get it!  Finally a teacher that understands visual learners.  And I can't believe how simple-ish it actually is.  I'm not a creative genius or anything, but I can finally understand and correctly expose a picture...and I've been shooting strictly in manual for almost a month now.

It's a huge accomplishment for me.  My life long love of taking lots of pictures hasn't changed a bit.  I just wish I'd realized how much I loved it before college, so I could have majored in something I love.  I'm not sure I even realized you could major in photography.  Also because taking college courses when you're not a full time student is $$$! Live and learn.

My first class ends soon.  I loved it so much, and learned so much, that I'm taking another class from her.  Hopefully I'll have much more eye candy for you here on the good ol' blog from here on out.  Although it is getting cold, and this Pond doesn't go out of doors once it gets below 60 degrees.

I'm not Ansel Adams, but these (from yesterday) are a huge improvement over my pre-class pictures:

Grace outside of Target (Did you think I was kidding about taking pictures all the time?!  Target is exciting too!):

Grace receives credit here:

Abby:

This one is my favorite:

Harland might hate me for posting this: