On Friday night, after a long day of work, I picked up my camera and instantly felt a rush of happiness. My new interest has been such a source of joy for me.
For Christmas, my mom gave me a Canon EOS Rebel T3. I couldn't be more grateful. I knew about this gift long before Christmas morning and pleaded with my mom not to buy it - its way too expensive, I repeatedly told her. She always countered my argument with things like, it's time you did something for you and you'll never splurge and buy it for yourself - so its the best kind of gift. She wasn't taking no for an answer.
My dad very nonchalantly chimed in, "so how long have you been interested in photography? You know your pop pop loved taking photos." He then preceded to dig in a drawer and pull out a beautiful SLR camera from the 50's that my grandfather had owned. I melted. My dad explained that my grandfather had bought the camera for himself and had even set up a make-shift dark room in his home to develop his own photos. When hard times hit, he sold nearly anything of value that he owned to make a few extra dollars for his family, except for his camera. He must have really loved his camera to hold on to it through those hard times. My interest in photography took on a new wealth of meaning.
I wish I could sit down with my pop pop and talk photography over a cup of coffee. I'm sure he'd be amazed by the technology we take for granted (we can see pictures before they're developed - what?!) and I'm sure he'd be able to teach me so much.
When I opened the box under the tree, I instantly fell in love. I took pictures of everything I could find in my house on Christmas morning, toggling between the various modes and zooming in and out. You can see some of those photos here.
Two weekends ago, I attended a workshop by Okello Dunkley called, "Take your camera off program mode!" This amazing 3-hour-long workshop quickly introduced me to aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and choosing your own focus. He challenged us to take our cameras off of auto modes and shoot in manual.
On Friday, Scott and I headed to the Baltimore Aquarium and I grasped my camera nervously. I found the thought of switching to an auto mode creeping in my head. I made a firm decision to quiet that pestering notion and sweat my way through manual mode for the night, and I'm so glad I did. I kept grinning at Scott and telling him how much I loved the challenge of taking a great photo as I continually changed settings.
Below are a few favorites from that night. They're not perfect, but I love them. I'm so excited to keep learning.
PS I've been reflecting a whole lot on learning; I'm excited to to post about it soon!
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