A photographer in the making

A couple of Christmases ago, my husband and I received a fantastic gift, a digital Cannon Rebel SLR camera. Until a few months ago, I always though of the camera as belonging to JJ, mainly because he was the one who took the time to read the manual, purchased accessories and lenses, and could take really great pictures. For some reason all the bells and whistles, along with the bulk of the camera was completely unappealing to me. In fact, JJ bought me a tiny camera to carry with me to encourage me to take more pictures. (By the way, I love my little camera).

When Carter arrived and I had a few months to awaken from the "mother-of-a-newborn -fog," I began taking tons of pictures of Carter with my little camera. But when I would upload them onto my computer to view them, the photos were often grainy, out of focus, or had major red eye problems. Knowing that I would be primarily responsible for documenting Carter's milestone moments ( since I'm with him most of the time), I decided it was time to start playing with the big camera.

I began to experiment with the different lenses, focus, and lighting- using Carter as my primary subject. I must have taken hundreds of pictures( thanks to Carter's cooperative attitude), then I would upload them and critique myself. I discovered that using the Cannon wasn't as hard or cumbersome as I first thought. In fact, it's quite difficult to take a bad picture with it. My favorite aspect is the creative part of photo-taking. I've discovered that it is fun to play with angles and lighting. I'm even learning a little about how to use photoshop to enhance my pictures. I actually think I would enjoy taking a real photography class. I'd love to learn how to do creative portraits for my family and friends. I've got a lot to learn, but who knows.....maybe I'm a photographer in the making. But for now, it's a fun new hobby that I really enjoy.

Here's a few of my favorite shots of Carter that were taken last week: