Courtesy of Rick Riddoch
My father was an avid photographer and for many years participated in a community Camera Club. Because of his interest, I had my own Kodac Brownie Camera as a child and graduated to a more sophisticated 35 millimeter camera in young adulthood. As an adult much of my picture taking occurred within my family life—mostly during holidays and vacations. The transition from film to digital, coupled with the inclusion of cameras in smart phones made photography much more timely and accessible. In my retirement and move to the Northern California coast, I have welcomed the ease of using my iPhone to capture many sights and scenes.
Still, I consider myself a novice photographer, so when I read in an email from Next Avenue about a Digital Photography Class offered by PrimeLife Arts Learning, I quickly enrolled, and I enjoyed every one of the 12 sessions led by the instructor Ian Donald. Ian is able to encourage creativity over competitiveness, and gave me permission to learn from my mistakes, and to grow into new understandings and skills. The 40-some class participants joined in this spirit and enabled much peer to peer learning. I feel that the class graduated me to an ongoing journey with photography from novice to amateur.
I am grateful to Next Avenue (of which I am a monthly subscriber) and the PrimeLife Arts Learning for partnering in this endeavor. I believe I am the beneficiary of new ways to look through the viewfinder of my camera and see our world.
