My boyfriend, Bryan, is an amazing photographer. His shots are inspiring and I have always been fascinated by the formula that creates, what I consider “magic”. Some of his shots capture such an essence of a person that the photo looks more like that person than they do in front of me. It is magnetic.

I signed up for a class with The Digital Academy and was delighted when Bryan joined me. I know nothing about photography and thought my fellow classmates would also be beginners. Ha.

When we showed up I quickly realized I was the lowest man on the totem pole. Everyone had these extremely fancy and gigantic cameras that had long lenses (that they frequently changed). They also knew what they were doing. I didn’t even know how to get my camera (with no removable lens) off automatic mode.

I did learn a few tips, which excited me enough to look for an actual beginner’s class. And my camera is finally off automatic. My favorite lesson was how to make the focus image clear and the rest blurry. You can see my attempts below…not quite there but I’ll (hopefully) eventually get the hang of it.

As you can see, I still have no idea what I’m doing (i.e. lighting) or how to implement what I learned, but I can tell what my thought process was. And that is encouraging. You probably also noticed that even with all of the eccentricities (and there are many between the hippies and the homeless) on the Venice boardwalk, Bryan is still what I like looking at the most.

Photos: Copyright of Joelle Pittman