My passion for photography started about 10 years ago when during one of my regular trips to California I purchased a Canon 300d dSLR camera. My purchase was in part due to an addiction to gadgets. However, in addition to this I was fascinated by the ability to control depth of field and the visually impactful results this can create.
Prior to this course I had spent very little time studying photography. I started out by reading websites such as DP Review (www.dpreview.com) and learned what I could from other peoples posts. The only book I had read on photography is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. When I look back at the photographs I took in the early days I realise that the very little knowledge I had actually lead me to produce relatively good pictures. For example, I knew about the rule of thirds and applied it frequently resulting in good looking photographs that I am still proud of. It seems that as I tried to increase my knowledge on the technical aspects of photography I forgot the basics and stopped applying what little I knew about design, composition and creativity to my photographs.
I feel I have a reasonable understanding of how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together to effect exposure, and can be used to isolate subjects, imply motion, freeze motion, etc. Where I really lack skills is in the artistic side of photography. It is a strong desire to improve this side of my photography that lead me to undertaking Photography 1: The Art of Photography. I hope you enjoy my journey as I work my way through this course.
Amir
