So, you just bought a new digital camera. Not one of those fancy-schmancy, high-end, second-mortgage-on-the-house digital SLRs, maybe, but you paid a decent price for a decent model - you know, just to "wet your feet", so to speak. And now you're frustrated. Gee, there's a lot of buttons! Which one does what? Why does the lighting suck? Why doesn't the picture you took look anything like the subject you shot? How come the photo that looks great on the camera looks like a blurry mess once you get it on your computer?
At this point, you're ready to despair of ever getting any better at this photography thing and just hide the camera in the back of a drawer so you don't have to be reminded that you spent all that money on the "wrong" equipment.
Maybe the camera isn't good enough...? Maybe you don't have the time it takes to properly learn how the camera works...? Maybe you should just leave it alone until you have more time to "learn the ropes"...?
NO!
No, no, no, no, no, no!
Most likely, the reason you bought the thing in the first place, was because you really wanted to take photos! Electronics and digital photography make the hobby inexpensive enough now that you can forget about film and dark rooms and commercial processing and just do it all yourself. So-and-So does it - why can't you?
You can. You just need to get to know the new little beast you brought home, and the best way to do that is to make friends with it. Take it with you everywhere you go. The more you use it, the easier it will get.
You'll start to notice that the quality of your pictures improves, even if you don't remember actually "learning" anything. Your brain teaches itself by what it experiences over and over. It learns from what your eyes see, and by what your hands do.
Learning new things shouldn't feel like "work"! It should be fun! Take the kids to the beach and take pictures of them splashing in the water and building sand-castles. Catch them when they're not looking - the greatest photos are the spontaneous ones, and you just can't get those by posing the wee ones in their starchy Sunday Best while you get frustrated every time one of them blinks when the shutter clicks.
Take as many shots as your camera card will hold. When you upload those hundreds of photos to your computer tonight, very likely 99% of them will suck. I can almost guarantee you, though, that one, if not several of them, will be so fabulous that your breath will catch in your throat. That's next year's Christmas card, right there.
You did that. Congratulations! Never mind that you have no idea how you did it - you did it! Enjoy it.
Now delete the ones that suck, clear your card, charge your batteries and set off tomorrow on a brand new adventure (yes, the commute to work counts as an adventure).
Get into the habit of carrying your camera everywhere you go. You never know when the shot of a lifetime will present itself, and nothing will disappoint you more than realizing that you left your camera at home.
Memorize your new mantra: "Keys, phone, camera." If you bring the new toy with you everywhere, I guarantee you will become a better photographer. Don't leave home without it!
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Contributor's Note
______________________________________________________________ This article is copyright Les Becker, 2008. It may be reprinted only provided it remains whole, intact, and unaltered, and that this Author's Note appears directly below the text, also unaltered. Please notify Les Becker if you choose to reprint. An email link is provided Where the Walls are Soft.
(http:www.lesbecker.com/LesBlog)
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