I Took the Plunge!

Well, here it is! My new toy. In the end, I decided to stick with my favourite brand and purchased the Canon.

I am so excited to finally own an SLR camera. However, at the same time, I am also feeling quite overwhelmed by it. I counted 24 buttons on it, not including the dial with all of the options. Oh boy. What do all of these do? Where do I start? My old point-and-shoot has 11 in comparison. At least I have learned how to charge the battery, put the battery in the camera, attach the lens, flip the screen out, and take a basic picture using the automatic mode. It's been a basic beginning to a long journey!

As I clearly have no clue about what it is I'm doing, I have found two promising online courses to help me learn all about photography. The first one is a Udemy Course, called "Karl Taylor's FREE Photography Course." (Check it out- I made a hyperlink! Yay!) This course offers 6 sections, with 20 lessons. The topics range from Understanding Light to Composition to Advanced Portraiture Techniques. 

The second course is "Best Photo Lessons." This course is a blog laid out in a more traditional format and offers 12 lessons ranging from Exposure to Rule of Thirds to Balance. I think this site will provide some more basic and practical skills. Best Photo Lessons offers feedback from the author of the course, as well as the ability to communicate with other participants on the blog, and on a Facebook page. 

I think that I will have to have a deeper look at each course, and possibly pick and choose which lessons I plan to do. 

For now, I am going to complete Lesson 1: Intent from Best Photo Lessons. 

This lesson asks students to reflect on why we want to take pictures in the first place. The questions are broken down into four categories.

1. Things I like about photography: 

• looking back at memories of fun times with family and friends
• the instantaneous nature of "capturing a moment"
• sharing pictures on Facebook
• capturing the beauty of nature 
• enjoying the feelings an incredible photo evokes at a craft sale or art show 

2. What do I want to achieve with photography?

• create beautiful images of nature
• capture images of architecture and nature when I travel
• create a digital timeline of the people in my life

3. What subjects do I want to shoot?

• flowers
• landscapes (winter scenes, hoarfrost, sunsets, prairies, storms, etc.)
• family and friends in candid moments
• wildlife if possible!
  

4. How do I feel about the above subjects?

• flowers- fascinated
• landscape- peaceful
• family and friends- nostalgic
• wildlife- excited 

I can't wait to start shooting. If you are interested in photography I would love to hear your answers to the above questions! Thanks for reading.