MaeLyn's Musings

Leaves carpet the lawn; A cool breeze brings gentle rain. Fall enters stage left. I've been taking a photography class over the last month or so. It's an online course through the local community college, with classes twice a week for six weeks. I've learned a lot about how to use my little point-and-shoot camera in ways I hadn't realized it was capable of. Hopefully some of the pictures I post here will be improved in some ways as I practice the skills I've been learning. The class has also greatly increased my desire to acquire an SLR camera sometime in the future. It's frustrating to finally have some understanding of what f-stops and shutter speeds are supposed to do and have no way to get experience using them.  Meanwhile, I do have a camera, and it works fine for now. I am grateful that I have it, and that I have the chance to take this class which has taught me how to better use it.

There was a cool white frost clinging to everything this morning that fascinated me. I thought it was beautiful. When I got home from taking the kids to school I had to grab the camera and take pictures of some of the plants around the house that were coated in a beautiful layer of ice crystals.  

My phone can take pictures! They aren't very good quality (only 1.3 Megapixels) so I usually grab my 'real' camera when I want to take a picture, but I notice a couple days ago that I am growing a collection of photos on my camera. I emailed them to myself today so I could post them here.    Interestingly, I have photos of every family member except John. I also have several of the cats: There are also about ten more photos of Lala... his paw, his head, him sitting on the bed... And there is a photo of the computer keyboard. The funny thing is that although it is my phone, I remember taking very few of these pictures, and I have no idea why I would want so many pictures of the cat.

Last night, as I was driving home after visiting teaching, I noticed the beautiful full moon. It was gorgeous! When I got home, I went inside to grab the camera and went back out to try to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, my little point-and-shoot camera had trouble with the concept of trying to take a picture of something as far away as the moon. It wanted to use the flash... I couldn't hold the camera steady enough... the street lights were in the way. I am not really a photographer, like a couple of my wonderfully talented sisters with their fancy cameras and tripods. I eventually set the camera on an electrical box near the street, and did the best I could. This morning I've been having fun editing the picture, cropping, editing out a street light or two, and eventually, I got an image that I like. It doesn't quite have the same feel of that bright, crisp moon with the wispy clouds drifting in front of it that was the original inspiration, but it's still not bad...