Weekly Blog Post 7

I was very little when I had my first experience with photography. As most younger children do, I loved to play with my parents camera. This first one I remember playing with was one of those older, flat, rectangular 120mm cameras that you had to wind to advance the film. My brother and I would beg our parents to load it up so we could shoot pictures all around the house. As I got older, my interest in photography continued.

When I was in the 7th grade, I was part of an honors program at our school that allowed us to enroll in summer classes varying in subject from forensic science to building models with legos. That year I chose to take the photography class. We used black and white 35mm film. We learned the basics of photography in that class. We learned how to manually use a camera, something that has been lost in todays digital camera age. We even had to develop our own film in a real darkroom. Once we knew the equipment and how to make our pictures, we learned how to create a good picture. The instructor taught us how to frame and focus our shots for effect. She taught us shooting angles and how to use them. It was a week long crash course in photography and I loved it.

As the years went on, I did not pursue photography. In fact I had not shot any pictures since that class. Then in my senior year of high school I needed another elective course and saw photography and decided it looked like an easy "A". This class was centered more on digital photography and the different things you could utilize with this medium. It really is almost a completely different form of art from 35mm cameras. Many more things can be done with the finished products on computers. The class did help me to take better photographs with a digital camera and understand its capabilities.

I have always been interested in photography. When I have time I love shooting pictures. It is a great thing to be able to do. I like have an decent amount of knowledge on the subject as well. It has helped me to shoot some pretty good pictures and I am sure it will help in the future.