Making A Start

Last Thursday I received my materials for this course, The Art of Photography. I have been taking photos as a hobbyist since about 2007 when I purchased my first DSLR camera, the Nikon D50. After quickly realising that a more expensive camera doesn't automatically make for better photos, I did some research, bought some quality books and began to teach myself exposure theory and how to manipulate the camera controls. I soon got the 'lens bug' and invented in several lenses that cover most focal ranges, as well as other necessary equipment such as a good tripod, and filters etc. Several times in the years since buying my camera there has been large swathes of time where I haven't touched my camera equipment, and it has literally gathered dust for months on end. This was due to hitting a mental block; not knowing how to progress my photography further and essentially just losing momentum.

When looking for a course that I could take to learn music composition, I came across the Open College of Arts website. As well as composition I noticed that photography courses were also available, and thought that such a course would be the perfect catalyst to kick start my photography again and drive it forward. It was at that time that I decided to combine the two broad subjects of photography and music and work towards a degree in the creative arts.

I had some months before I could begin the photography course, but the idea that I was going to be taking part in it was enough in itself to spur me to get out my camera again. In recent weeks I have done some more informal training, in the form of the extensive video tutorials available on Lynda.com, presented by Ben Long and Douglas Kirkland, as well as a DVD video tutorial on travel photography by Karl Taylor. This learning was invaluable to me in that it really tightened up some of the technical aspects of my photography, as well as getting me to think about the scene in ways that I previously hadn't, such as geometry of lines and shapes, negative space, texture and more.

I am really excited at this point to take everything I have taught myself thus far into a comprehensive and engaging course that will no doubt make me reevaluate everything I think I already know about photography and turn it upside down to create new images that I didn't know I could take.