Maria - A Photographer in Transition

[MariaMaria]

Hello Everyone!

I'm Maria, I am a wife to 1, a mother to 2.5 (the .5 should be here any day now!), and a mental health counselor to an unspecified number of adolescents and adults . I studied B&W film photography as an undergraduate in college but decided to pursue a career in mental health counseling instead. However, I have always maintained a love for photography.

I acquired my first digital camera (a Canon T1i) a few years ago, then I started grad school, had a baby, started working FT, and photography sort of took a backseat. However now that school is done I have more time to focus on improving my photographic skills! I've been looking for a site to help me build a more foundational understanding of digital photography, to learn from others, and share and receive some helpful feedback. I have found this site to be extremely detailed and helpful!

Eventually I plan to edge out of the hobbyist realm and into the more professional area. There is still so much I want to learn and I believe this is a great place to start. I currently use a Nikon D7100 (which has been a bit of a learning curve for me) and am looking at various post-processing software. I am interested primarily in Landscape and Portrait photography but love to explore new creative avenues. Looking forward to the forum and to improving my photographic knowledge and skills!

[ShaneS]

Welcome Maria! You will have a full plate in a few days but plenty of photo opportunities to practice your portraiture., both formal and candid, with your expanding brood. It will be a rewarding way to capture your family and improve your photography along the way.

I have no idea how you will find time to work on your landscape photography but you sound like a pretty dedicated and focused woman so I don't doubt that we will see some of your work along that vein soon and I will look forward to that.

Best of luck in the next few days/weeks as your bring home #3

[JR1]

Welcome to one of the best forums, I have been on many and this is a very good one.

Any help you need email me, see my sites
I use Photoshop, BUT..........

Daily for work I use this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JASC-Paint...item258df924f9

It is amazing, 18 years old, compatible with ALL versions of windows and I use it professionally, for speed and ability I have yet to find better, JASC the makers no longer exist, bought out by Corel.......

Do NOT underestimate the quality of this, often available exceedingly cheap on ebay

[Downrigger]

That’s a nice introduction, Maria. It will make seeing what you are coming up with all the more interesting. It reminds us that, as you know well from your discipline, any intended outcome is inextricably a result of and bound up in whom we are. It is one point of view, and mine, that we cannot separate the art from the artist. Thus, we find the stories of the lives of artists a means to better appreciate their art, and the posting on the fridge door of the finger paintings of our children or grandchildren. We get to know a little of each other here, but I think often not enough to fully appreciate and understand each other’s efforts.

This is a good forum indeed, full of artistic and technical information and often with conflicting, valuable points of view. It is consistently respectful, and fun – so don’t be shy. The criticism is helpful, and I find that the better the effort posted, the more of it there is.

Best wishes for fitting photography into your busy life. As for post process software you might consider a free trial download of Lightroom, which provides a wide array of basic functionalities in a highly intuitive platform, and which is used to good effect by many here.