Photog Class at the Zoo

All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My interest in photography was really only sparked a few years ago on my first international travel adventures. I had a little point and shoot and by the end of the trip I was noticing an improvement in my pictures and was having a lot of fun doing it.  A quick side note: Photography ended up being an answer to a request I had made that the Universe send me another creative outlet.  I was not getting much relief from writing or making jewelry at the time, and in response, photography and watercolors were put in my path to re-invigorate my creativity! 

So after returning from my travels I went out and got a Canon T1I with one of my first paychecks.  I finally had a big girl camera!  Getting to know the camera has been a work in progress and I did end up recently graduating myself to a Canon 60D body-style, which I used for the first time on "safari" to the Portland Zoo with a photography class I took recently.  I took the class as part of my pursuit to learn how to shoot in Manual and get better at taking winning shots the FIRST time!  (The class was called Capturing True Emotions, which I was immediately sold on ;)  And I will admit that I actually really enjoy editing my pictures cause it gives me a chance to play around and get a feel for the different feelings I can create with a different effect. The end goal would obviously be to create those same feelings and effects and taking vibrant pictures with the shot itself minus having to edit so much.  So here are some of the raw photos (I marked which ones I edited).  I was pretty pleased with the class though and thought the color quality definitely improved with the tips and tricks I learned in the class.   

edit: cross-process (lo) effect

edit: color enhanced

edit: cross-process (med) effect

edit: color enhanced

edit: color enhanced

edit: color enhanced

edit: color enhanced