Waiting for the rain to stop so I can play outside.  One of these days.  Sigh!

There are several ways to learn a new skill.  This one is called “Photography by Osmosis”!

It’s been an interminably long winter.  It’s time to force the issue.  If the sun won’t come to us, we’ll go to the sun.  Not literally, of course!  That might hurt a little.  Work, travel, and darkness have kept me off this blog project.  It’s time for me to once again take control instead of the other way around.  I’m working on a list of photos and tutorials.  It will be a fun and rewarding journey.  Hope to see you along for the trip!

Take care,

Dan

Mt. Washington in Central Oregon.  6 AM shortly after sunrise.

Hello, my name is Dan.  Welcome to the birth of a blog.  The photo above is of my one and only grandchild Ryan.  He’s a week away from seven months old.  Ryan is one of thousands of babies born each year.  Despite that, I hope he grows to be something special.  Yes, he’s special to me but in the big picture he’s one of many.  So, too, with this blog.  I have high hopes for it.

I launched this blog for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, to share my enthusiasm for photography.  Secondly, it’s a place to share photos that don’t fit in with my other blog.  More on that later.  Lastly, but most importantly, my plan is for this blog to be a source of information and guidance for the average everyday photographer.  I find I have a passion for teaching people new skills.

A little over a year ago I got really serious about photography.  I had owned a Nikon D40 for a year previous to that but never got past the fully automatic mode.  Last summer I took an entry level class in photography.  My original objective was to be able to take great photos of the new grandbaby.  I found I was hooked on both photography and the baby!

What I found was that there is a lot of technical jargon out there.  There are many so called “professional” websites and books out there.  These are great sources of information.  Where the difficulty lies is in translating that wisdom into understanding.   Ok, so I read that, but what does it really mean to me with the camera in my hands?  How do I use it?  That’s where I want this blog to be of value.

Many years ago I became an instructor for our state’s motorcycle safety program.  The vast majority of the students are people who have very little or no experience riding a motorcycle.  The concepts and techniques involved can be complicated.  I find that I get a lot of satisfaction in breaking these complex concepts down into simple building blocks.  Then I help the students to firmly put the building blocks into place.  From there they can add the next ones, and so on.  By the end of the course the students are doing things they never imagined they would be at the beginning. 

The same holds true for photography.  There’s a lot of complex information.  Some of it isn’t important right now depending on where we are in our growth.  My goal is to help sort out this information into simple building blocks.  This blog isn’t aimed at experts.  In the interest of truth, I plainly state that I am no expert.  However, I know tons more than I did two years ago.  I’ve immersed myself in the study of photography as I am prone to do with things.  The photo of Ryan is right out of the camera.  If I say so myself it’s pretty darn good.

This blog is aimed at the ordinary person who just wants to take better photos.  It will be a story of my own journey and you’re invited to travel with me.   Feel free to ask questions. I’m going to try to help sort  what’s important and what’s not right now.  We’re going to talk about overall concepts more than about technical information.  Oh, there will be technical stuff, but you have to know where and why you’re going first.   Photography is first and foremost about the image we see and want to share.  The technical stuff just helps us get there more effectively. As you follow along I hope you are able to experience the same successes I have had.  Maybe you’ll get hooked like I did.  My plan is to make a living at this thing called photography, but if it doesn’t happen that will be ok.  It’s the journey that holds the fascination, anyway.

So I invite you to follow me on the journey.  I’m not new to blogging.  I have been keeping a blog about commuting on a motorcycle and offering training wisdom for four and a half years, now.  At some point I will try to put the link on the right side over there. WordPress is new to me as I have been at Blogger with the other site.  This site will undergo some changes.  I’m no polished professional by any means.  Content is more critical than style but I will try to upgrade as we go.  I didn’t want to delay the launch until everything was perfect.  I find it’s better for my riding students to see the human side of me, as well.  There’s more of a connection.  So we’ll grow together here as time goes on.

Once again, welcome.  I hope we have many fruitful years together!

Dan

P.S.  The username, Irondad357 was sort of given me by wordpress.  At least the 357 part.  It’s a long story, but Irondad is a nickname given me by my boys.  The site here suggested adding this number to it.  So that’s me when you see it.

P.S.S.  The other website is http://intrepidcommuter.blogspot.com/