Well, it was a start.

I went to a class last night. It was a basic digital photography class meant to help people learn to use all the settings on their digital cameras for the purpose and reason they were actually put there.
I have been very frustrated since I received my camera as a b-day gift from Terry a couple of years ago. I wanted so badly to take wonderful pictures and record moment of my kids doing what they love capturing the raw emotion on their faces.
Maybe I set my standards to high to quickly because it became clear pretty fast that a point and shoot camera still involves some technique and knowledge to run. Well, true to being me I decided I would just learn as I went and not actually spend the time reading the manual. Who has time for that? It's a novel for pete sakes.
Turns out, had I spent the initial time reading the manual, maybe one hour out of my life two years ago, I would have found that my pictures would not have been so grainy and blurry for two years if I would have just made two simple adjustments to the settings. Go figure.
This class I attended last night, seemed to be at first like a big waste of time. It was filled with a handful of happily retired grandparents who had received their very first digital camera for Christmas and wanted to learn how to use it. Most of the instructors time was spent explaining what some of the symbols were and helping each one figure out how to find it in their books..Boooorrriiinnggg. I was sitting antsy in my chair ready to really learn, to walk out of that class born again the photographer I imagined I can be...not so much.
First off, my young cocky self thinking I knew so much more than ol' grandpa next to me had to ask to borrow a pen from him, the one I had grabbed out of the truck from the floor didn't work. Really?
Then I had to excuse my self 45 minutes into class because the battery I had so diligently charged was still sitting at home, charging. ( There was a last minute laundry emergancy) No problem, they were waaay behind anyway. So I take off home grab my extra battery and get back just as they were finally talking about the next setting, how to turn off your flash. *sigh*.
The big waste of time I initially thought this class was going to be turn out all right in the end. At the beginning of the class the instructor gave us a hand out that we were vaguely going to follow (we didn't actually with Grandma and her big book having so many issues) so while they were all fiddling with their camera straps and discovering the wonder that is macro, I was forced to spend two hours referencing my camera's manual and learning how to use my camera, like I should have done in the first place.
The class made me slow down and actually focus on one task with out distraction.$40.00 well spent.
Next, editing and sharing. Yay!