Thursday, December 3, 2009

Out of Practice

There was a time in my life when learning something new was such a common experience that I hardly recognized I was doing it. It was expected to be quick, sharp and studious. And it was fun to feel new knowledge click into place.


"A new chemical reaction, huh? No problem!" "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred-ninety-two" "Derivatives, Fractions, Carry the one, Divide" "You want me to memorize every cranial nerve and facial muscle? Sure! I'll learn all the tendons too, and I won't forget where they originate from either..."

My learning muscles were on a regular exercise program, and they were toned and ready for more work!
Well. School was completed. The books were put on a shelf. And my brain started focusing on other things like which outfit I should dress my new baby girl in, and what would be the fastest method of vacuuming my carpets, and what was the bare minimum of sleep required for me to still be able to function the next day. It's sad to realize now that my learning muscles are quite, quite flabby. They act upset at the fact that I want to use them in learning about this camera...and I think they're rebelling.

*Sigh* I've learned for myself what I already knew: a better camera doesn't guarantee better photos. But, hopefully, my learning muscles will quit dragging their feet and help out! My perfectionist personality is telling me that I should wait and only post 'perfect' photos...but if I wait until I get one, I may never post another photo again! So, I'm combating that perfectionist impulse and going for what I have always done in the past: posting pictures that help tell the story of our lives...blurry ones, weirdly lit ones, shadowy ones and all! At least I have three adorable subjects to make up for the imperfections... :)

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. *whoops.. I have some typos in the above deleted comment!

    I should show you my early stuff. It will make you feel much better about yourself! And now I'm sure you understand why I cringe when someone asks to get a list of my equipment so that they can take pictures just like me. If only it were that easy!

    You're doing great! Let me know if you have any questions!

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  3. I SO wish I could have seen McKenzie launching herself out of the jumper! Your kids are just like you- seemingly cautious and calm, but prone to dangerous physical manuevers...

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  4. I get those kinds of photos with my camera and it's suppose to do all the work for me. Oh well. I really like your last 3 pictures though. Very nice!

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  5. OK...BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE the pictures..:)

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  6. McKenzie looks absolutely beautiful in that pictrue. I think yourdoing a great job

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  7. Well I am pretty sure those last three pictures make up for ANY imperfections in the previous ones. Really amazing, beautiful pics.

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  8. I LOVE that you posted the "not as perfect" pictures. The last few super cute shots make up for the others though, right? I swear, I delete twice as many pictures as I actually keep.

    BTW, the new face on your angel ornament made me laugh.

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  9. I think they look great - good for you for posting the 'imperfect' ones. I remember when we got our SLR, I was so confused by all the buttons. I took a class and learned so much! One little trick I love: play with the white balance on it. You can adjust it according to the light source (so shady pictures don't look so blue, etc.). You may already know that, but I thought it was cool.

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  10. If you have any questions let me know. I can tell you that when you get a blurry picture, it is your shutter speed.

    It took me time to learn the craft of picture taking. You'll get it down.

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  11. If these are the bad ones then I can hardly wait til they get good.

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