"Before this mentorship shooting manual would mean for me a dark photo or too light or too fuzzy.

"Before this mentorship shooting manual would mean for me a dark photo or too light or too fuzzy. Manual was not my friend, I stayed as far away as I could. My thoughts were the camera cost a lot let it do the thinking.   Now I am happy to learn all the ins and outs and whys of how it works. Sometimes the camera is not the best thinker and I want it done differently. I can have complete and total control! "  -- Denise Speckhardt

So happy we could put that camera completely in your hands, Denise!  Glad you took so much from the Camera Basics: Beyond Automatic program.

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For anyone who has read this far, consider mentoring someone else here (or more) ... some people don't even know where to start with their cameras and you could be the change they need in their lives. Even the smallest bit of knowledge can be passed on and you can create your mentorship in many different ways. Imagine the feeling of taking someone to their next level, paying forward the knowledge you've received and watching someone blossom with enthusiasm and accomplishment!

Originally shared by Denise Speckhardt

This photo I chose for my graduation post is one I am very proud of. It is completely manual. Before this mentorship shooting manual would mean for me a dark photo or too light or too fuzzy. Manual was not my friend, I stayed as far away as I could. My thoughts were the camera cost a lot let it do the thinking. 

Now I am happy to learn all the ins and outs and whys of how it works. Sometimes the camera is not the best thinker and I want it done differently. I can have complete and total control! 

A little on this particular photo, but first a side not. While I was taking pictures with my husband (my ultimate mentor) one thing he observed is I was terrible at using manual focus. So I needed to work on it. Determined to get it right I tried and tried with great frustration. For a week I had tons of blur in pictures. So this week I was wandering alone in the woods with the birds. I found one of y favorite items to capture, fungi! So I decided to go 100% manual, short of a sketch book and pastels this is a manual focus and all settings were chosen personally by ME! Now I admit it is not the most exciting of subjects and the color pallet may not grab you right away; however I did it! I took a nice clear, tack sharp picture. The feeling is surreal to get it right.

CBBA was a fun and great learning experience for the beginner and new camera owner. The forced you to read your manual, a book many probably toss to the side and just begin shooting photos. Then they wonder why aren't they good. The Mentor team was supportive and fantastic at knowledge. They were always right there to break down the lesson and help you 'get it' . The people you meet and friends you make are great. Letting you know the positives of your work and how you can improve it and make it better. 

I admit one thing I was hesitant about was posting bad quality work because one thing I learned was never show work you are not proud of. However showing the poor quality was the only way to get the help to see how to adjust yourself. It is probably one of the few times I would do it, I can say it was very helpful to do. 

Although we were able to have no holds barred I chose not to edit this picture. I am very proud of it the way it is and I think it shows off exactly what this mentorship was supposed to do for me. This shows I learned how to work my camera settings and use the manual mode. "M" is not to be feared but embraced! Your camera is really a team of settings that all need to work together to get the job done. 

Thank you G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers 
and Robin Griggs Wood for offering these mentorships to help us better ourselves.