MomShots

So my friend Scott is in Mexico right now. He is an amazing photographer and just wrote up cool little post about using a point and shoot with underwater houseing while on his trip. I thought some of you might be interested in reading his post. He has some cool photos and some interesting points.

Check out his post here.

One another note…

I have been feeling kind of sentimental lately about photography. This is October 2009 and that marks the two year anniversary since my initial decision to start to learn this crazy art form of photography. My husband was out of town for a business trip and I had my children all dressed up in their adorable Halloween costumes, we had just carved a super cute pumpkin and when I went to take a photo with my trusty little point and shoot camera, I realized it was broke beyond repair. I then mustered up my courage and searched for and found my husbands big scary DSLR (the Nikon D100) and tried to take some photos to remember that day. The problem was that his camera doesn’t have an Auto mode and I could not figure out how to make it work for me. Each shot that I took was too dark and nothing I did was making a difference.

I called my husband to try to get his long distance help but all I got was his voice mail. I was upset and frustrated.

Other than what you see above, I did not get any usable shots from that day. I was disappointed with myself, the camera and anyone else I could blame (I’m sure I tried to blame my husband but that didn’t go over well). I decided right then and there that I would not be held captive by my lack of knowledge with a camera ever again. I vowed to learn how to use an SLR.

I started my quest by looking at the user manual. I am always telling people that if you want to learn how to use your camera you need to start with the user manual. I stand by this. However, starting with the user manual can lead to some frustration if you don’t understand what certain terms mean like “shutter speed” or the ever elusive word, “aperture”. Then there are words that seemed even more strange to me like “white balance”, “autoexposure lock” and “shutter-priority mode”. I found it difficult to start with my user manual because I wasn’t understanding what I was reading and how it related to me.

Instead of throwing in the towel I decided to keep searching, and not giving up on my user manual. I kept it in my camera bag and took it out and read a little bit here and there whenever I learned a new concept or word and then I was more able to relate it to my situation and therefore my little brain was able to process it more thoroughly.

My search took me to the Internet and to the library. I started talking to strangers I would see holding a camera and I was talking to anyone I knew who knew how to use their camera. I was a researching fool!

It was a slow process and I am aware of the vast amount of information I have yet to learn. But I feel that I have learned a so much in these short two years. I have really enjoyed sharing my milestones and thoughts with you, here on MomShots.

I love that photography is an art form that I can incorporate into my daily life. I love the portability of a camera. I love hearing the sound of my shutter closing and opening. I love that photography gives me a chance to explore design, concept and execution in a visual medium as that is something that I always shied away from since I didn’t feel like I had any talent with drawing or painting. I enjoy learning how to be an artist and learning how to find ideas, thoughts and emotions that I can express visually.

I <3 photography!