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, .

Before we met yesterday, a photographer I worked with went to the DC Kite Festival looking for a specific picture. 

From what I recall, here's the picture they imagined; The Mall would be filled from end to end with people flying kites, a blue sky filled with so many kites that you'd see more kites than the sky, the Washington Monument in the perfect place, etc.

But the imagined picture wasn't to be found.

The sky was grey, and the crowd, smaller than imagined, was concentrated near the Washington Monument.

When we seek a specific picture, we set ourselves up for disappointment and limit our creativity because we look instead of see.

Looking narrows our view because we're so intent on finding what we seek that we fail to see all other possibilities.

It's like putting on blinders that limit our peripheral vision.

But what if we approached our work without a specific picture in mind?

What if we decided to see what was happening instead of looking for the picture we had imagined?  

Then, after seeing what's happening, we observe and evaluate the light's characteristics to understand what we're working with?

By understanding the light we're working with and not looking for a specific picture, we know what we can and can't do regarding camera operation and open up our compositional possibilities based on all the different things we see.

The first thing to do is to use our meter to measure light intensity.

The Introduction To Photography class will get you more involved in photography by learning how to work your camera in manual exposure mode. You'll get a good foundation in the basics of photography while learning reliable creative techniques. Classes are scheduled to start April 14. 

Smaller classes mean better learning, so class sizes are limited to 5 participants plus me.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker. 

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

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.