Best Shots: Sept. 18

I love photography. My love of photography started in high school where I took a photography class and learned the basics of using a SLR camera and developing in a dark room. I loved it so much that I wanted to take another class. You can imagine my surprise and excitement when I found out that the other photography class was listed under art where as the one I just took was under technology. That seemingly small detail allowed me to take a second photography class. I still remember getting my first own SLR: a Minolta SRT 201. I loved that thing. But then I was introduced to digital photography. The instant gratification took over and my digital point and shoot got more use than my film SLR. ...what a shame. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it. I finally picked it back up recently only to find that the light meter isn't working correctly. I could still get good pictures if I used the flash but that took the fun out of manual SLR photography. It was going to cost $173 to get it fixed. If I was going to spend that much, I was going to save up for a DSLR. And that I did! I already had some birthday money I had been saving. I added to that some money I made selling some things we didn't need.

Three weeks ago I bought my first DSLR: a Sony a200. I found it on craigslist and couldn't beat the price. I'm having a lot of fun learning the camera but now I need to work more on improving my photography. My biggest motivator is wanting good pictures of the kids growing up. I would love to have them professionally photographed several times a year. But let's be honest. We do not have the financial means for that! If you've been following me on pinterest you've seen all my photography pins. I've been doing a lot of reading. Now it's time to put it into practice. On Tuesdays, I will post my best shots of the week. On Saturdays, I will be participating in Project 52 over at kentweakley.com. 

This week, I would like to share with you some pictures from a photo shoot I did with little Emily this weekend. I'm looking forward to feedback on my pictures, especially criticism on how to improve. I should also mention that this was the first shoot I did with the manual settings on my DSLR.

What do you like about them? How could I make them better?

I'll leave you with this final picture. It's not focused well but I love it. 

Little Miss Emily showing a little of her personality:

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