Amazing!

I've been wanting to improve as a photographer... not that there was any chance that I could do anything but improve (although I guess there IS the option of just staying at my current level) as I didn't feel that I could do much worse. There's a sort of power in believing you have nowhere to go but up! So I set out this week to do just that.

What I found was that I need to learn more about my camera and understand the capability it has before I can totally figure out lighting and composition and all the other things that turn a good photograph into art. Yes, just snapping pictures is great and I can and do learn from the hands on experience method best of all. But after a session or two of that this week and feeling frustrated that I had missed some delightful shots, I came home and looked up the things I couldn't figure out during those sessions. Where did I look? Why of all places in the manual that came with my camera! It opened up a whole new understanding of what I was trying to do... AMAZING! The book that made little sense to me when I first got this camera is now enlightening me as to how to make better application of what I have available.

I know that eventually I will have to get out there almost daily and shoot hundreds thousands of pictures to apply what I'm learning if I want to get truly good as a photographer. And like most things in my life, I'm sure it will be a continuing educational experience... read, learn, apply, find momentary satisfaction before the desire to improve hits me again. Then I can read more, learn more, apply more, find more momentary satisfaction until I realize that this is going to be just like everything else I set out to do. No matter how hard I try or how good I might get at a particular task, I will never be satisfied. It is not in my nature!

Perfectionism... bah, humbug! I just want to be satisfied for once with what I am capable of doing! Now that truly would be AMAZING!