Take a Picture of THAT, Nelly!!

When I went to New Mexico for the first time in 2010, I fell in love with the Land of Enchantment.  It mesmerized me, captivated my imagination, drew me into its red rock canyons and in dreams, landed me on top of a coral pink mesa engaged in conversation with one of the ancient stone people, I was bewitched.   Like a dog in the front seat, head hanging out the open window, I rode for miles in a magic carriage, eyes turning this way and that trying to capture the awesomeness that is New Mexico in September.  I was unsuccessful for even the finest of cameras cannot do this splendor justice.  Upon arriving back home, I vowed that in 2011 there was no way I was going to go back without a big, digital SLR camera.

I acquired my new digital camera a week before I left for New Mexico in September of 2011.  Using my Target card in a desperate attempt to discharge my vow, I purchased a Nikon 3000 on sale, it was the demo camera and I was ecstatic!  Immediately, I started snapping things, approaching thunderstorm, winter clothes stacked in piles in the living room, weeds and other miscellany.  By the time I arrived, I was proficient enough with the camera that I knew how to turn the dial to change into various "auto" settings and what the little pictures on the dial meant.  Like last year I spent the whole week with my head and the camera out the window snapping pictures of things I'd seen last year.  New sites meant exciting opportunities for composition.  I was pretty happy with some of the photos.


But I knew that my camera could do a lot of other stuff.  So, when I went to Florida in January, I was frustrated with my inability to capture the correct colors of the sunsets.  Still, the little dials and myriad settings in the menu scared me and I refused to read the manual.  Sometimes it just seems like there is too much information and that my brain is full and can't take anymore without dumping some.  Hmmmm, what to dump? My kids names, phone number of my chiropractor, favorite pizza delivery? Hard decision.  My reluctance meant I missed some awesome shots. 

Still I procrastinated

I've started interacting with others who are better photographers than I because some of my friends who know things say I have a little bit of talent or at least the "eye" for composition which evidently is a result of my DNA.  A contest, finally, catapulted me out of my fog of fear and into reading the manual.  Some of the following photos are a result of my free fall into the scary world of turning the dial and changing menu settings.  Tell me what you think...I'm giddy....

If I can figure it out, tomorrow I will put up a slide show of some of my favorite photos.