shutterbuster.

I don’t want to merely take pictures, I want to be a photographer.

Anyone can take pictures. Turn on the camera, point it at something, maybe twist a zoom lens a little, release the shutter, and presto! You’ve taken a picture. Perhaps one that looks like this:

Yeah, it’s in focus and it’s exposed correctly. But I had nothing to do with that. The people at Canon and whatever film lab CVS used probably had more to do with how that picture came out than I did. And it’s not exactly awe-inspiring. It’s a glove and ball… in the center of the frame… and they’re harshly-lit… with a bunch of harshly-lit grass creating a boring dead space border around them…  I couldn’t even tell you if I at least had the creative vision to crouch down slightly so as to make it seem any more artistic than a crime scene photo.

I wanted more out of my photography, so I started reading. I traded in my film SLR for a used digital (a Nikon D70, in case anyone’s keeping score) so I could see immediately whether something came out well or was yet another hack job. I learned what my camera’s buttons and settings do. I started looking at what other people were doing, not just with the same camera, but with the same lens (or at least focal length). I applied what I learned and worked on my technique as well as my composition.

And, almost as if by magic, I started churning out crap like this:

So by learning how to use Aperture Priority mode and, not just looking through the viewfinder but actually seeing what was in it, I moved up from boring, thoughtless pictures to boring, thoughtful pictures.

Over the months, my eye got a little better, my technique got a little better, and as a result, my pictures got a little better. I started being able to take better-looking shots with my point-and-shoot and with my phone’s camera. I paid more attention to light. I learned a little about how to use my camera’s light meter creatively and how to work with off-camera lighting.

Now, I’m able to take shots like this:

…and this:

Like on purpose and everything.

But even though I’m miles ahead of where I was when I first got that film SLR on eBay, I’m still light years away from where I want to be. And to get there, I’m going to need to improve my knowledge base, my technical skills, and work on developing my photographic eye.

This is where you come in.

I find that I learn better when I’m trying to teach someone, and for me to teach you effectively, I have to know what the hell I’m talking about. In fact, I’ll need to know it well enough to be able to explain it coherently, even if it’s the first time you’re learning it.

Now, it’s one thing to write informatively about photography, but it’s a totally different matter to actually get your point understood. It drives me up the wall when I’m trying to learn something and I can’t picture what’s being described because of a lack of visual aids. In order to spare you that same torture, I’m going to have to apply the techniques I learn so I can illustrate the lessons (mostly with pictures, but there may be a sketch or a diagram in there somewhere).

Last but not least: because photography is mostly a right-brained endeavor, my attempts at educating us would not be complete unless some of the discussion focused on composition and how to develop a better sense of it (there’s that photographic eye I was talking about).

And there you have it: I want to get better at this whole picture-taking thing, and in order to do so, I’m going to have to drag you along with me. So sign up, tell your mom, tell your friends, hell- tell your friends’ moms and your mom’s friends… the more, the merrier!