The Joy of Photography

For Christmas, Holland gifted me an introductory photography course through the Smithsonian. The title of the course is, "The Joy of Photography." Here's a description of the class:

This non-darkroom course is designed for beginners who want to learn how to use their digital or film-based camera as a creative tool. The goal is to gain skill in technical aspects of photography so that they can concentrate on composing beautiful images.

Students work digitally or with color-slide film, and topics include aperture, shutter speed, metering, exposure, ISO/ASA, composition, film selection, special effects, and flash photography. The instructor gives weekly assignments and reviews them in subsequent classes.

Students should bring to the first class a camera (digital or film-based SLR) with manual or override capabilities. Color-slide film to purchase is discussed at that time. Students working in film process it commercially outside of class. Students working digitally must bring images for review on a flash drive or CD or in print. Point-and-shoot digital cameras are not appropriate for this course.

My first class was this last Thursday. We went over some pretty basic manual settings - aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These were all things that I had learned about previously in one of my sociology classes, but this time, it all kind of clicked. I understood how to use the three of them together and how you knew which ones would work and which ones would give you a completely black or completely white image.

Although there are a couple of people in the class who annoy me (coughcoughNOTACTUALLYBEGINNERScoughcough), I'm really looking forward to learning more about how to use my camera OFF automatic mode and how I can take better pictures with the camera. I mean, really, what's the point of buying an expensive camera if you're just going to take the same old pictures you could take on a point and shoot for a fraction of the cost?

Disclaimer: I hope none of you are expecting for me to become some world renowned photographer after this 8 week course. If so, you will be disappointed. It's regrettable that you had to be informed in such a manner. I apologize for any sadness or discomfort this may have caused you.