loveliness.

I’m not a very good photographer, that is just a fact. I love to take pictures, I used to go through a point-and-click camera every six months because I always had one in my purse, banging around, being stepped on, dropped, sat on, etc, because I never wanted to be without a way to take pictures.

That being said, I don’t technically know a lot about photography. After I bought myself a Nikon DSLR last January, I thought it would automatically improve my pictures exponentially, and it did, but also it just added more buttons and dials that I had no idea how to use, and I ended up taking pictures on Auto every time.

This year, I vowed that I would learn how to at least use my camera, so when I saw a Basic Photography class in Walnut Creek, I decided to sign up. The morning of the class I was so tired, and the urge to stay home and make a lazy breakfast with the boy was almost overwhelming, but I tried to remember my goal and summoned the motivation to get out of bed and go.

And I’m so glad I did. The class was with Source Photograhy, and the instructor, Gene, is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We spent about an hour and a half talking about photography; light, ISO and aperture, and then the rest of the 3 hour class practicing and taking pictures.

He had lots of lenses that he was happy to let people borrow, and the best part is that once you attend a class, you can come back to that class as many times as you want for free, if you didn’t quite get something the first time, or just want to practice.

He lets people come in and use their studio to practice lighting and studio photography, even allowing people to bring in their own models, for free if he is in town. I learned so much in the short class, I know so much more about my camera and photography in general, and I feel confident enough to go out and practice on my own.

He also takes his student out on photography field trips, free of charge, where he’ll let you borrow his lenses and help you practice, so I’m going into the city with him this weekend to do some shooting.

I still have lots to learn, but at least I finally feel like I know what my camera can do so I feel like practicing will be a lot more fun, and less frustrating.