Ever since I picked up a camera 17 years ago, I’ve been looking at everything I see and wondering if it would make a good picture. I’m pretty sure it drives my family crazy, because we can’t take a road trip without stopping two or ten times so I can get out and take a photo. Or a series of photos. Or sit and wait for the light to be just right for a photo.
They’ve been fairly good sports about it, though. But a few weeks ago, my photography addiction got even worse. It started when I began teaching a couple of classes for Laramie County Community College on photography. Those classes are very basic classes, where I teach people what the fundamentals of photography are all about. The problem is, I haven’t thought in terms of fundamentals for a long time, so I’m finding myself trying to figure out how to explain what an f-stop is and what it does. So now, instead of just looking at the world with the thought of taking a picture of it, now I’m still doing that, but I’m also trying to figure out how I would explain to someone what I would do with the camera to get the shot I’m looking for.
And of course, that means I’m pulling my camera out even more often, and taking even more pictures. And those pictures take more time, because I am thinking about every setting I’m changing while I take the picture. Then I take a couple pictures with other settings, so I can show the class what the differences are.
It’s probably not a bad thing for my photography to step back and think about the basics, but it’s not good for the sanity of my family members. I’m pretty sure they’re thinking about jumping into the driver’s seat and leaving me on the side of the road.
