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, .

The choice is Camera operation. Camera operation. Camera operation. 

Yeah. I know. It's not much of a choice. Is it?

But it's your best choice if you want to understand how to make the best pictures you can.

It's OK if you don't believe me. There's a lot of people out there saying a lot of stuff. 

Let me give you a couple of options.

Option One: You can visit all the places that offer tips, hacks, shortcuts, rules of composition to follow, and other "surefire" ways to create better pictures. 

And don't forget the forums where the "know-it-all photographers" are ready to dive in and critique your picture without knowing anything about you, your equipment, or your compositional intent.

Option Two: You can spend your time and some money on a good photography class with a good photography teacher so you learn photography to the point of understanding photography by working in manual exposure mode. 

I know what you're thinking: "No surprise hearing that from someone selling photography instruction."

I don't blame ya; I'm just as much a misanthrope as you. 

And of course, although I hope you'll take a class with me, take one with anyone you want. In-person, online, wherever it is, and whoever it's with, take a class. 

I'm saying this because, at one point, I was where you are; I had a camera and didn't know anything about photography. At that time, the internet wasn't around, so I read books, quite a few of 'em, and was still struggling with photography. 

Things started getting better when I started taking classes with a good teacher. 

And the more I learned and understood, the better my photography got. 

But our learning has to begin with understanding camera operation and how camera operation influences composition. 

And that's what we did today (Monday, February 5) during the first day of the first of three Introduction To Photography classes starting in February. We learned about and used exposure modes, focusing modes, metering patterns, and controlling the exposure and ISO in manual exposure mode to control tonality. 

There are two more Introduction To Photography classes starting this week.  

And there are other scheduled group classes below. 

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.