Thank You Automatic But It's Time to Move On

Today was magical for me.  You may not understand my excitement...unless you too want to take pictures in a mode other than automatic.  Today I finally learned how to take pictures in manual mode.  Whoo---hoo!!!!!!

Up until now I have only been able to take pictures in automatic.  For some that's good enough....but not for me.  I have always wanted to know how to work all those other settings and I've even tried to teach myself.  And I'd end up frustrated because anytime I tried taking a picture in manual mode I always ended up with a black screen.  But no more.....

A few weeks ago I received a Groupon in my email for a photography class called Capturing True Emotion by Val Westover teaching the basic elements of photography.  This was something I  would not normally have been able to afford but Groupon made it very reasonable.  And now that I took the class I can say it was well worth every penny.  Val is a phenomenal photographer as is his assistant Stephanie Adriana.  I could tell by the pictures he was taking using other people's cameras that he is a "magician" with the camera.  Just check out his website and be blown away at his work...I know I was.

So  I am posting a few of the pictures I took today.  I cropped a few in photo shop but didn't need to do anything else...how refreshing...

Yep....a whole new world has opened up to me.