Photography- my therapy!

Okay, I know that I don't post photos often on my Blog site; however, those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know how I'm, well, OBSESSED with photography. I love it. I love it so much that I think my husband gets jealous of it sometimes. Yes. That bad.

Last June, my sweet and wonderful friend, Kat, who is a professional photographer, got into a conversation about photography. I mentioned to her that my point-and-shoot just wansn't "doing it" for me anymore, and that I was looking at upgrading to a DSLR camera so I could get a faster shutter speed. In my novice research, I thought that the best cameras were those with the fastest shutters and best lenses. Well, my novice research was only partially correct, and I will talk about why later.

Anyways, I digress. Back to my story.

SO, Kat happened to tell me that she was looking at selling her "baby", a Nikon D70. I hadn't ever heard of that model (I was only familiar with the D40, D60, and D90...), so I looked it up. It's a hybrid pro/novice camera, so I talked with Brent about it a bit, and decided to buy it from her.

I remember how overwhelmed I was when I first laid hands on that camera. It was so complicated- the viewfinder had a bunch of weird numbers on it, and a graph (yes, a graph!) that showed you your area of focus. When I heard that I had to learn about weird terms like ISOs, F/Stops, Aperture and shutter speed, I had a moment where I thought I may have gotten in over my head.

Well, there is always Auto mode! hehe.

Here is one of my first photos I ever took with my Nikon, straight-out-of-camera (SOOC):

Um, yeah. I had a lot to learn.

Over the next few months, I spent a lot of time learning the "art" of photography. I learned what the terms meant, and I worked for MANY HOURS trying to make sure that I knew how to optimize those terms on my camera. I haven't ever taken a formal photography class, either. When do I have time for that?!

Honestly, it's a lot of work! But I love it.

This picture is the one that helped me go from being a mommy taking a photo with an expensive camera to actually learning the art of photography. I went from having to think that the subject (Dani) had to be centered, and the background had to be in focus...in this photo, the subject is Dani's smile, and the background accents her happiness. I was just learning about the rule of thirds and composition; and suddenly, in this photo, it all started to come together.

Photography isn't about editing. It's not about the programs you buy, the lenses you own, or even the camera you have. It's about capturing those moments that make your heart go pitter-patter. It's about somehow going outside of yourself when you are behind the lens to capture those moments, on film, that you will remember with your heart. The technical things are important; however, the emotional elements help you push to become better and better.

Now, I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I still have A TON to learn. But, what I have learned over this year is that, yes, a nice camera is a bonus, but it's not a necessity. It's really about knowing how to use the terms and skills and (MOST IMPORTANTLY!) feelings and putting them all together. I can set up my camera to get the technically perfect photo; however, if the kids aren't feeling it, we won't end up with any good photos.

I want to capture the kids' childhoods in a photographically beautiful sense. I would love it if they could look at these photos I'm taking and remembering the emotions they felt as I was taking them.

So, the next time someone asks me what kind of camera I have, I will smile and tell them (a Nikon D70), and when they ask what editing program I use, I will tell them Photoshop Lightroom. But I will know, in my heart of hearts, that it's not about the camera or program, it's about the person (in my case, Mommy!) behind the camera.