20 best

I was given a photography homework assignment over the weekend. My task was to take pictures and then choose the 20 best shots and give them to Dan's coworker B. B is a wedding photographer on the side and Dan had talked with him about me becoming his assistant and possibly being a second shooter at some of his gigs.......what Dan was supposed to talk with him about was becoming my mentor and letting me follow him around and learn from him. Never send a man to communicate for you!

So, back to my homework assignment.....the catch was that I had to shoot completely in manual (M) and I could not do any post process editing. This completely put me out of my element and made me very uncomfortable. I think manual is okay and I visit that setting from time to time, but my sweet spot has been in aperture priority and I feel like I get much better photos there. And I always, I repeat ALWAYS edit my pictures!! Even if its just to tweak it a teeny tiny bit. I feel completely naked not editing. This assignment was difficult for me and I spent a majority of the weekend with my camera in hand moaning about how unfair this was. lol

I could have taken the easy way out and reverted back to my trusty Canon XT and my 50 mm lens to complete the homework, but I didn't. I used my new camera and lens and tried to become familiar with the strange new settings. Overall I think I did pretty well. I think this assignment really made me think about what I was doing and although it was stressful and having to change my settings in manual mode for nearly every picture was daunting, I think I'm better for the experience. Do I think that my pictures are perfect? No way! I look through them and cringe a little inside because I so badly want to tweak the exposure and contrast ever so slightly. Do I think that I'm going to start shooting in manual more often? Absolutely! I think there is something to be said for the ease of use in shooting aperture priority or other settings where you don't have to think so much, or work so hard at getting everything just so, but I definitely think I'll visit manual more often. Dan took the pics to work with him this morning.....I'm a bit anxious to hear what B has to say about them. Its always hard to be criticized especially when it involves something you care deeply about, like art. Hopefully B will go easy on me!

So, without further ado....here are my completely manual, completely unedited photos from this weekend. (I did resize them for this blog because the files are HUGE)

There are 21 instead of 20......I thought an odd number sounded better. :o)

Can you tell its spring?!?!