Introduction

Welcome to Lens Flare, my DIY photography class. I suppose some explanation is in order: I am an attorney by trade, and I'm also a mom to two beautiful girls. I have very little free time to myself, but when I do have some free time I am trying to learn as much as I can about photography. I received my first camera when I was 10, and I have been taking loads of pictures ever since. My favorite subject tends to be people, but I also enjoy travel photography and have been fortunate enough to travel to and photograph some amazing places.

I received a film SLR for my birthday about 5 years ago, and I took my first photography class through a parks and recreation program. Despite the fact that the class took place at a municipal golf course club house, the class was very informative. The next chance I had to take a photography class was Summer 2007 - I had upgraded to a fancy-pants digital SLR and was eager to learn more about my camera. While it was a "real" class at a "real" arts school in Oakland, California, the class was...well, terrible. The instructor spent most of the class discussing various websites and blogs he liked to visit, and only one or two of these had anything to do with photography. I stopped going, angry I couldn't get a refund because I'd attended too many classes (I was optimistic I would eventually learn something specific about photography - I was wrong).

Now with 2 kids, my own law practice, a move from Berkeley back to Southern California, and the general craziness of life I'm finding more and more that I have very little time to actually learn about photography. Recently, I've been inspired by some blogs I've been following to take the proverbial bull by the horns and make the time to learn. However, I find I need some accountability in order to actually finish what I start, such as a diet, exercise program, etc. which is where this blog comes in. I intend to share any of my lessons with you, and hope that some of you that are interested in photography will check it out and provide me feedback along the way. My goal is to post at least once a week (haven't decided on the day of the week yet) my lesson on photography that week - history, definitions, techniques, etc. I hope to know a lot more about photography by this time next year. And who knows, maybe at that point I'll start a blog on something else I'd been wanting to learn but didn't have the time for.

So welcome to Lens Flare!