I love photography. Did you know that? I've always enjoyed taking pictures but when I finally bought my digital SLR camera, a Canon Rebel xti, everything changed. That was back in April 2007. I was excited to have a cool camera so that I could take some great newborn shots of the soon to be born Litchfield baby. Willard would be the first of my nieces and nephews (point of clarification-- the first to live around here. Miss Emmy was in NC and headed to Ireland shortly thereafte)... and I was excited to capture that with my camera.
I hadn't realized it would be so, at least not at the time, but that has turned into one of my biggest passions within the realm of photography- capturing the beauty and innocence of children. Granted they're cute and usually not camera-shy and they love to ham it up so that makes it easier than taking photos of adults... but I can always find something fresh and newwith children. Each day is a new world, a whole new ballgame for them. They learn something new... connect some more dots and its amazing and wonderful and fun. Completely unadulterated.
Unfortunately I used my camera on mostly automatic settings for far too long... I read up a bit but found the whole thing very confusing. I asked some friends and read some online tutorials. That helped a bit and I could play with a few of the bells and whistles on my camera, but not a ton. Still, the quality of the camera itself was at least to my benefit. I couldn't get every shot I wanted... but I started looking at things in new ways and trying to find and capture the beauty in even the ordinary things.
After almost 3 full years I finally signed up for a class: the Beginner Digital Workshop at the New England School of Photography. This week was my 7th week (out of 8). It has gone by so quickly, but I have loved every minute of it. I can finally shoot in manual. I understand how the camera works and, as of this week, even how to use my flash!
One thing my teacher said last night really hit home with me, though. She said that photographers, by nature, are drawn to light. It makes sense. Photography literally means- light writing. That really hit home. I tend towards the light versus the dark both literally and figuratively in life. And I'm sure its no coincidence that my primary hobby relies so heavily on an abundance of light in order to see things clearly.
I used a little bit of skill in some of these photos you see here but there was also a lot of trial and error (without really understanding WHY something worked) and a lot of luck... so now I am looking forward to getting some even more amazing shots- on purpose! To continue to seek out things that are bright and light.
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