Pretty Pictures

Have always enjoyed great photography.  When you grow up in Colorado, it's easy to take for granted that just about everywhere you look, it's postcard material. But for many years now,  I've made it a point NOT to take it for granted.  And it's always seemed like everywhere I look, I see a picture.

I've hemmed and hawed about buying a good camera, since, well, the 80's??  Can it really be that long?  Yes.  But so many other things took precedence over that aspiration.  That hankering would hit the strongest when I was in the mountains.  And no photo I ever took looked like the one I saw in my mind's eye.

So last spring, I was sorely in need of doing something, anything,  for me.  For me.

I'd been relishing the photos of a blogger I'd found along the way, a fellow Colorado dweller.  You can take a look at his work, here...........Peenie Wallie Slideshows   I even emailed back and forth with Rob and got some tips on some small, point and shoot digital cameras that slacked my thirst for a few years.  But I knew what I really wanted was to understand the art and the science of photography.  To take the pictures I envisioned when I looked at something.

A conversation with a coworker led to making a purchase after finding out that a new Canon Digital SLR would take the zoom lenses my Dad bought for his Canon back in the 80's.  Never thought such a thing would work, but after my Dad's generous "donation" of the lenses and even camera bag.......I was finally in business.

So I've been snapping away, experimenting, and, thanks to the "magic" of everything being digital, deleting 90% of everything I shoot.  But I'm learning.  This week I finally took the next step and signed up for a class next month.  I've hit the proverbial wall at what I can learn on my own.  I need help from a pro.  After that, a PhotoShop class.

In the meanwhile, here's some of the shots I don't hate...........a few I even love.  Mostly taken outside Keystone. I was able to walk some paths and get those shots you can only get by yourself, laying on the ground, sitting on a rock and seeing what you see.

That last one is my favorite.  And the wallpaper on my work computer.  None of these are retouched or tweaked at all.  Don't really know how to do that yet.  Or at least do it well.

But I'm looking forward to the class, and to seeing how much I can improve my skills.  Been too long since that was a goal.