Fun With My New Camera (...say cheese!)

When I was younger, my parents gave me my first camera - a little Kodak 110.  It was a Christmas gift...and I can still remember just how excited I was to get it.  I tore into the packaging, loaded the 110 film, attached my little flash cube (ha! remember those?), carefully queued up my shot and .  Photographic geniusness was born.  I remember taking pictures of birthdays, vacations, family and cats.  I had lots of cat pictures (what can I say...I was 8 and the cats were fun to chase around the backyard yelling "wait" and "stop moving").  I loved my camera and taking pictures.  I was always excited to finish a roll and take it in to be developed.  There was a mix of excitement and angst when opening the little yellow envelope full of my newly printed pics.  Which pictures would turn out....which wouldn't?  Wait...what I don't even remember taking that picture!?  There was disappointment when I had a totally great picture except for the one person who blinked or made a weird face; but then there were those shots that magically just worked.  The surprise was all part of the fun.

I used a film camera for a long time.  Digital cameras became all the rage, but it seemed to me like a waste of money to go buy one...until the switch to digital was forced upon me by my best friend's son - who, upon having his picture taken, ran up to me to see what how it came out.  As he looked back and forth between the back of a camera with no screen and me,  he shared with me his confusion at not being able to see himself right away.  When I further confused him with the concepts of "film" and "developing", I knew it was time to move into the digital age.

It's a little humbling being schooled in technology by a 5-year old.


When cameras were built into phones, suddenly taking pictures became an everyday occurrence - and it was perfect for writing my blog.  I could take pictures for my posts anywhere because my phone went everywhere.  And it worked well enough  - until I kept reading posts from successful bloggers about how much better their blogs became once they upped their photo game.  I finally decided it was time to get a real camera.  So I sent off my letter to Santa, asking for a shiny new digital camera for Christmas this year.

Santa did not disappoint.

This time, it's a Nikon D3300 HDSLR complete with a new lens and backpack to haul everything around in!  No more point and shoot like my previous versions.  Nope.  This one has lots of buttons....and dials....and menus....and things that move....and what in the heck did I get myself into????? (insert minor panic attack HERE!)

Luckily, Santa is smart and had the foresight to gift me with classes on how to use my awesome new camera.  So this past weekend, I headed out to the California Center for the Digital Arts and learned how to play with my shiny new toy.  David was an awesome teacher, and by the end of the day, I knew just enough to be dangerous.  I learned how to adjust my camera manually - shutter speed, aperture, ISO.  No more using the "Auto-" mode for me!!!

I don't remember who this person was, but I have about 50 pictures of the back of his head as I messed with all of the different settings.

So with a couple of classes under my belt, and the same excitement of a Christmas so long ago, I ran home with my new camera and started taking pictures of everything.

It may be personal bias, but I think Domino is a very photogenic dog (and I didn't even have to chase him around the yard!).

He was actually quite a good model...until he got distracted.

So I switched over to food....

By the way, it's not food porn, it's food boudoir.

I discovered that candy hearts are fun for pictures:

 Gummy bears, however, are not very photogenic:

 I just couldn't get him to give me the right look....

Dragon was a fun model.

 Domino decided he wanted back in on the action....

Until he got tired and needed a nap.

So with a little more practice, hopefully you'll start seeing some better pictures developing in my blog.  I'm not expecting to become the next Ansel Adams of the blogging world......but maybe I'll get close.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep practicing.

Photographic geniusness.