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Seattle’s sprinkles returned today, but what better day than to be indoors for a photography class?  Drove down to T-town to meet my girlfriend SuLee for what I thought would be a super intimidating day.  My last experience taking a photo class didn’t turn out as I’d hoped…way too technical for my brain, didn’t start with the basics though it was a beginner’s class and was fraught with forced-creativity homework assignments.  What’s forced creativity?  Homework #1: take a picture of two things, one of which doesn’t belong.  {What?  I spent so much wasted time just trying to ‘create’ an image.}  Homework #2: take a picture in the style of your favorite photographer.  {uh, I don’t have one so let me take 2 hours to figure someone out.}  While I didn’t learn how to effectively use my camera I did learn a good teacher makes all the difference.  After 5 weeks I left frustrated and immediately went back to setting my camera to auto. 

Today was different.  Casual, fun and I learned a lot in just a couple of hours.  It helped that SuLee was there with me.  After lunch we went on a little field trip and took lots and lots of pictures.  All done manually!  It was so gratifying to take some nice photos utilizing things we had learned earlier in the day.   I raced back to Seattle excited to download everything and am energized to learn more…and I know there is a lot to learn!  But I’m no longer anxious or hesitant. Thanks to a great teacher – Nicole!

Just a little sidebar.  I love SuLee.  We’ve been friends for a long time and one of THE best things about today was seeing how excited she was while taking pictures.  A relatively new creative outlet for her, she takes amazing images, mostly of her three beautiful girls.  When I look at her blog, I find myself, quite often, smiling or laughing aloud because she truly has a gift for  capturing each of their individual personalities.  I can just hear the following.  Grace: Okay mom, but I’m not smiling.  Bella: Can I take some pictures now?  Lily: Mom! No more!  While they might protest a little, there is one thing I know for sure.  One day when they look back they will be so grateful that their mom took the time to document their lives growing up.  That is truly a loving gift that most of us take for granted.  I know I drive people nuts with my camera but I love creating memories with friends and family and especially love being able to, at any given moment, pop open an album or the computer, and relive those memories through photos.