Snapshop: let me tell you a story

My dad gave me my first SLR camera when I graduated from college.

He was a photographer in his earlier days and figured that I needed a "hobby" now that I was "finished" with my schooling. I gladly accepted the big piece of equipment, complete with zoom lenses and extra packs of film.

Thus enhanced my already incredible love of photography.

I took pictures of everything...and I spent hundreds on developing film...

I knew what I wanted to "see" and I tried so hard to produce that in my photographs...

to no avail...

Fast forward a few years...after marriage and a couple kids...my husband bought me my first Dslr camera.  Now, I could see immediately what I was capturing and how to compensate for lighting and action...

EXCEPT that I didn't know what I was doing...Here I had had an SLR camera for YEARS and I'd fiddled with the dial on and off of AUTO, but I only got "lucky" few times...where the pictures were actually worthy of my time.

I'm a teacher by trade and nature...and that means that I love to learn...so I hit the library and google and you tube and camera stores across the city...asking millions of questions and trying to figure out how to capture what I "saw in my head"...

Can I be very vulnerable here??

At one point, I would put VASELINE on my lens so that I could get the blurry backgrounds...do you know how hard it is to get vaseline off a lens?

My dad tried to explain to me all those camera settings (once he realized what I was doing to his gift from years ago) but, his explanations never stuck...I'd get confused and frustrated...

and continued to end up with pictures that were far from what I was envisioning...

So, it came down to using my own skills in teaching to help myself learn...I sifted through the strategies that didn't work and found explanations that made sense.  I watched other photographers and found those that had images that I felt captured my storytelling idea.  It took me a couple years to put it all together, but it was so worth it...

My family's 2014 "yearbook" arrived in the mail yesterday.  Pages filled with story-telling images that my girls thoroughly enjoy leafing through...I mentioned to my husband just this morning, "Our grandchildren are going to get a hoot out of seeing their parents and us in these books...the stories these pictures tell"

My point is...I've been in that spot where I felt like I'd never figure out my camera...I tried to read the manual, but I am a different learner..and it took me countless trials and errors before I figured out what I liked and how to accomplish it!

Here are some examples of ME...MY abilities in the past to present...

If you are like me...a mom who just wants to tell the story of her life...the story of her children's lives...someone who wants her photographs to be worth 1000 words...

If you are someone who has tried to read that manual, you've even ventured into the NON-auto realm of your camera, but you're still frustrated with the lack of consistency in your images...

If the idea of trying to google and you tube and run all over the city trying to figure out exactly what you are supposed to do with that big ole piece of equipment...if that just overwhelms you..

A Snapshop Class IS FOR YOU!!!

I've been in your shoes...I'm a mom whose goal with photography is to capture moments, not just faces & cheesy smiles...but, to also make those images speak for themselves...I'm someone who isn't satisfied with just so-so pictures when I know I've already invested quite a bit into a camera & lenses...

I'm a teacher who understands differing learning styles and understands that sometimes taking on multiple class days can be exhausting and often overwhelming, so classes take place in my home, that caps at a certain number of participants, so that you feel calm and are able to ask questions whenever needed.

Contact me at ctphotomemories@gmail.com if you are interested in a participating in a workshop class OR if you'd rather have a one on one mentoring session.  Please feel free to read more details HERE