New shooter on deck!

Just Jack · Jan 19, 2009

Greetings all,
My photography story starts back in high school (almost 10 years ago now), where I was nick named Mr. Paparazzi for my constant photo taking of friends and classmates when we want on trips or participated in school events. Video or still I was always behind the camera. Now through the years after high school I've been a broadcast engineer, editor (A/V), and videographer. I've enjoyed all these things but never really saw myself doing them for the rest of my life. Then, not to long ago (November 5th if I remember correctly), I came across this photo that made me realize for certain what I want to do. Admittedly I've always had an inkling with every picture I took but it took seeing one picture to push me over the edge. That picture, which some of you may have seen, (won't post it as I'm sure it is copyrighted) was a picture of soon to be President Obama sharing a fist with this little blond kid, next to a black SUV. I really wish I had taken that photo and that's what clicked with me. That desire to have other photographers wish they had taken a picture I had made. To get to that level. Everyone I know who really knows what they want to do in life has that same drive. Whether they're guitarists who wish they had thought up first some great riff they just heard, or designers who wish they came up with some excellent design someone else had done. Finally at the age of 28, finding that motivation, it is something that I hope will mold my future.

Alas, I'm still just starting out. I've yet to take any classes on photography. All my education and professional experience come from video. At least from that I do take away an understanding of composition,a bit of work with lighting, color correction (either pre or post), and telling a story through images. I've gotten to work with professional grade video (ENG) cameras that have similarities to SLR cameras, such as aperture and focus.

However all I currently have is a 7.1MP Canon Powershot A620. Which I think is pretty powerful for a consumer grade P&S camera. Has a good bit of manual settings, (unfortunately all digitally adjusted) such as focus, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO.