About a week before Emmy was born I went out and bought a “fancy” mom camera. Clearly since the camera was expensive that meant the quality of my pictures would be amazing and a photographer I would be. Um, yeah. Not so much. I basically have resorted to using my iPhone and snapping a couple of “okay” pictures here and there in automatic.
I have wanted to learn to use it, but truth be told, I thought it would be way too complicated and over my head. Also, with a new baby, who has the time to take a photography class?
Note to anyone who buys a fancy camera: Take a class before the baby gets here or you will be so disappointed when you finally take the class and your baby is one and you realize you missed out on some amazing photo opps. (Oh wait, is that just me?)
This weekend I was invited to take the Mamarazzi class offered by Ashley Thompson and Jenny Collier. If you read nothing else in this post, I highly recommend you take this class! Even if you aren’t a mom (maybe you are an aunt, a cat/dog mom or just like to take pictures of things that move), you will get so much out of this class.
I haven’t really “learned” anything new in forever and it felt so good to actually be stretched and learn a new skill. Also, the camera is not nearly as complicated as I thought. As an auditory and hands-on learner, I would never have been able to look up the correct way to use my camera and teach myself (clearly)!
In the class you not only learn how to use your camera outside of automatic, but you learn about what makes a great picture, how to use light to your advantage and what to do to take pictures if you live in a dungeon (ahem).
While I am by no means a professional (and I hope I don’t embarrass you, Ashley and Jenny), I am really impressed with my rapid improvement in both composition of a good photo and the ability to shoot without the camera doing all the work for me.
And, I have had way more fun taking pictures than I ever thought I would. Here are some snapshots I have taken of little girl in the past two days. As we learned in the class, your pictures should tell a story and speak for themselves. Hopefully these do that!
Okay, this one doesn’t really tell a story except for a story of cuteness!
