You may have noticed the paucity of new posts over the past several weeks. It would be easy to lay the blame at the altar of busyness, but the more honest explanation is that I’ve been working my way through a “sophomore slump” – that frustrating phase that sometimes follows early success.
I was so excited to move off “auto” mode on my camera in February and thanks to “winter landscape” photography workshop we attended in early February, some of my early results in “manual” mode turned out quite well.
But things went downhill from there. I was so busy figuring out the appropriate mix of shutter speed, aperture and ISO that I forgot about some very basic ideas – things like composition, subject matter, etc. It’s taken several weeks and many hundreds of poor photographs to turn the corner. Finally, photography is becoming fun again!
Here’s a peek at some recent, more successful photographs…
This white-tailed hare was foraging for breakfast under the snow during last Sunday’s blizzard
Female Common Redpoll swallowing sunflower seed
Centre Street bridge into Calgary city centre, early one Wednesday morning
In my books, fun = invigorating, which means I have renewed energy and enthusiasm for blogging. Thanks for your patience while I worked things out with my camera!
Wow! Great photos! I’m approaching a similar interval in my relationship with photography and frankly I’ve been putting it off, knowing that there’s a steep learning curve ahead. Thanks for inspiring me to make the leap.
There is a steep learning curve, but once you’ve decided you’re ready you should go for it! There are so many photography resources online. And I also picked up a couple photography magazines from my local library. One article, in particular, really helped with the bird photography. Good luck making the leap.
I think your photographs are fantastic!
Thank you so much! I am regularly inspired by many truly amazing photographers on Twitter and WordPress. I am so glad to have that opportunity – it’s a great way to learn something new about photography just about every day. Sometimes I think about how much harder that would have been 20 or 25 years ago. The worldwide web makes lifelong learning so much easier! Our kids have no idea…