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Since joining FAA, the immediate thought was of possibly cashing in on a hobby. The second day on, 2 sales were made. Then ... crickets.... so begins the learning curve and discovery of what 'works'; what are the successful images, why, and how can I improve? I cull my collections on a fairly regular basis now.

At this point I'm just beginning to 'find myself' as an amateur photographer. I'm browsing tutorials ~ not yet quite gung-ho to sign up for anything, but keeping them handy. One book I'm very happy to own is by Joe McNally, "The Moment It Clicks". He has a line in there I immediately internalized: "if you want a subject to be interesting, don't light all of it." This picture in my Black and White collection, "Silver Garden', was taken with this effect based on McNally's tip.

My Canon Rebel SL3 is fairly new, bought on Black Friday of '20, and soon afterward I picked up a slightly used 28-300 Tamron. The camera goes almost everywhere with me, rather like a large pendant.

When I look at this camera, all I see is hundreds of little numbers, buttons, dials, switches .. and it suddenly overwhelms me just how much I do *NOT* know the first real thing about photography. My Dad had a Praktica. It's now mine, although I can't get my mind around 100% manual, film, etc .. maybe I'm too impatient (not to mention unwilling to wait for the mysterious results that may be horrible because I can't preview them!!), and I also enjoy the presets of digital cameras, but I'm so glad my Mom let me keep Dad's creative pride & joy.

I may never take to film, and I may never even become a professional. My pictures can be laughably bad, tho' occasionally a gem or two comes as a sweet surprise.

Look, I've read the lists of how to spot the wannabe, and I know I can tick most of those boxes but really ~ who cares, except those who take themselves too seriously? It's FUN!!!
Taking pictures is fun, and I don't have time for anyone dumping on me just because sometimes I like using the automatic features of this lovely machine. That's what they're for.

I drive my friends nuts by unexpectedly stopping to capture whatever-it-is-that-will-disappear-if-I-don't-get-it-right-this-second .... (birds, sunset, squirrel ... you get the picture.)