Photo Friday- Practice Makes Perfect

What a week!  Sorry I haven't posted at ALL this week.  I've been at school and/or church everyday this week volunteering and practicing/playing for a funeral and a wedding.  Add in the nice weather (finally!) and a birthday and my week was shot.  I only think I picked up my 'good' camera once!  (insert a gasp here).  That brings me to my post today.  Practice Makes Perfect.

It's a phrase I'm sure we've all heard since we were little.  The only way to get better at something is to keep practicing at it.  I love my new camera but there are times that I get frustrated with it and think something is 'wrong' with my camera.  It's so easy to blame something or someone for our own failings.  When I was browsing though Pinterest one night I stumbled across an article that compared a camera to a musical instrument.  (I didn't pin this so I have no idea where it is).  That's when it really hit me.  I just haven't practiced enough!

I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out!  I am a musician.  I know that it takes many hours and even years to master your instrument.  Just because you get a new expensive, fancy, top rated instrument doesn't mean that you will automatically sound better.  Sometimes students can get frustrated with their instruments and want to upgrade so they will sound better.  This will not help if they haven't mastered their instrument.  This same concept applies to cameras.  Just because it has more buttons and functions doesn't mean your photos will automatically turn out better.  You still have to practice and learn your camera.  You need to know how it works to get it to respond and work for you the way you want it too.

Now I'm not saying that new equipment won't make a difference, it will, but if you really want to master your camera you need to practice.  And more than just once a week.  I need to practice.

So there you have it.  I need to practice.  Enough of 'blaming' my camera for things that I need to improve on.  I'm going to try to practice more and really improve my photo taking skills.  I have a great book for my specific camera that I read that has assignments at the end of each chapter to work on (practice) the skills in that chapter.  I'm going to do those assignments.  I'm sure that some of them will show up here on Fridays.  I'm going to play and experiment and practice until I get where I want to be.  If you want to improve your photography just remember.  Practice Makes Perfect.

I can't give you a Photo Friday post with no photos so here are just a couple of my birthday boy.  Enjoy and thanks for stopping!