These emails come with the intent of helping you be a better photographer. But if you're tired of hearing from me, unsubscribe.

And if you want more photography stuff to read, there's a place on the interwebs where past emails I wrote are stored. You'll find 'em in the "Newsletter Hub."

Remember, I'd like to know what you want to know about photography. So, if you have any questions, email me at sam@samdamico.com. And for what it's worth. When you send me an email, unless someone's lookin' over my shoulder, I'm the only one that sees it.

Hello, .

I often use the word intent when talking about making photographs.

What's the big deal about intent?

In short, it's purpose.

The more intent we bring to our picture, the more unique, effective, and affective our photograph will be.

What we see drives our impulse to make a picture, but our intent drives our composition.

I  think of two types of intent: intent of composition or communication and intent of camera operation.

Our first thought of intent is compositional: What do we want to communicate? Do we want to communicate what we see as fact or personal expression?

We can think of factual photographs representing things as they are, while photographs representing personal expressions can communicate feelings, concepts, opinions, etc. 

Our second flow of thought is the intent of camera operation. 

Everything we do with our camera should be thoughtfully considered to provide a visual effect supporting our compositional intent.

The more we can do with our camera, the more techniques we can use, and the more creative we can be.

Our exposure mode choices have everything to do with how much technique we get to use.

Automatic exposure mode allows for the least technique.

The priority exposure modes give us way more technique than automatic but still limit us.

The manual exposure mode allows us to use the most techniques and make the most intentional compositional choices. 

If that's what you want to do, take the Introduction to Photography class in a group or as a series of private lessons. 

Introduction To Photography classes are now scheduled for April. Class sizes are limited to 5 participants plus me. 

Private in-person or online lessons suited to your schedule are always an option. 

While all my classes will involve you more in how we make pictures, the Introduction To Photography class is the most comprehensive when it comes to getting a good foundation in the basics of photography. If you want to learn to work your camera in a way that'll provide the most creative technique available, the Introduction To Photography group class is the thing to do..

Smaller classes mean better learning, so no more than five participants and me are in each class. 

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker. 

And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture daily.

That's all for now; thanks for reading! 
Sam

I'll help you be a better photographer—study and practice photography with me. 

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? If that's the case, let's schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online private instruction that covers the same things as my group classes. 

Ways to work with me are listed below.