DAY 1

PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Camera-derie

USE IT OR LOSE IT

Almost everyone owns at least one camera. It could be a film camera, a cell phone camera, or a digital camera. You may have started by borrowing the camera of your parents to take photographs. During the time I employed this tactic, the common film camera models took 110 film. After years of constantly borrowing her camera, my mother gave into my whim, purchased a SLR (single lens reflex) camera and enrolled me in an adult education course in photography. Thirty years later, I now use digital SLRs (DSLRs) in my photography business.

People have a myriad of reasons for purchasing a camera. For some, it may be to record memories or perhaps to satisfy a wish of pursuing photography as a hobby. For others, it may be for business purposes or because they make their livings as photographers. Whatever the reason, surprisingly, a study conducted in 2007 by the Photo Marketing Association indicates that only 20 percent of camera owners actually use their camera to exercise their artistic skills or to master photography skills.¹

Let’s raise that percentage. Through the “Photography 101” topic series, we will study the basics of camera operations and functions and then address different ways to improve your photography skills using a variety of artistic rules and concepts. Finally, we will review methods in printing, preserving, and displaying the product of your new artistic and improved photography skills.

Let us begin the journey from “camera owners” to “photographers”! —CWN