I started photography a little while back (November 2011) with a cheap, basic Canon PowerShot A3300 IS.
In the past I rarely had my picture taken, let alone that of my dear horse or cats. I actually had a sidelong dream of becoming an outdoor/travel writer and have a photographer best friend to go places with me. I would write about the mystique and natural history and my friend would capture everything on camera. However, I do not have such an avid photographer friend and I grew tired of sharing my life with such a wonderful horse as Seriff (“sir-reef”–he’s an Arabian) and have so very few pictures. So at some point my dad decided it was time the family reinvested in a camera, the first in over a decade.

I did my research and decided to get the PowerShot because it had good ratings for its price. Not too many people complained about its short comings. During the week after Thanksgiving that year, I got it really marked down and with a free case (i.e. pouch) for it.

I went shutter crazy. I got snap shots of all the animals at the barn I board my horse at. I got pictures of the cats, most of which are terrible because one cat was a black kitten that moved 100 miles an hour and so she always appeared blurry. I read a lot of photography articles and realized I could only improve so much without manual controls (the house has terrible lighting, too). In a matter of weeks I essentially outgrew my camera and wanted something that I could be more creative with.

Despite feeling limited with the PowerShot, I used it a lot, and I like to think as a new photographer I did well with it. I still use it now and then, but usually outdoors and for more landscape shots–this camera does not work well with limited light, and you can’t really adjust the depth of focus or even direct the focus for close up shots.

The five images in this post are the ones I consider my best “seedlings.” My first attempts. They were there to trick me into being interested in photography as a budding passion and not just for snapshots of my pets because I know few people with cameras and know how to use them.

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