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 who sees it.

Every once in a while, it helps to take a break from whatever we're doing during our usual day-to-day stuff and practice seeing/visual awareness.

In other words, observe everything our field of view takes in, and while seeing all that stuff, pay attention to the specific things we notice.  

This excellent exercise helps us develop our visual awareness and attention skills.

There's "open" attention/awareness and "focused" attention/awareness; they're different kinds of awareness and attention, and we've gotta learn to use 'em both.

A big part of photography is training our open visual awareness and bringing our attention to the things we notice with our focused awareness.

Our awareness of seeing the enormous amount of visual information while allowing it to come and go through our minds is an open visual awareness/attention; this is an open way of seeing.

Bringing our visual awareness/attention to only one of the things we notice with our open way of seeing while ignoring everything else is a focused visual awareness/attention.

It's in our best interest to develop both types of awareness.

When we develop open awareness, we open our eyes and minds to limitless photographic possibilities.

Because we're observing our visual experience through open awareness, we can spot patterns in our seeing and thinking about what we see that we wouldn't usually notice.

Overtime becomes more used to staying detached yet visually aware when we're seeing everything at once.

On the other hand, with focused awareness/seeing, we train our eyes and mind to sift through what we're seeing with open seeing and hone in on something specific.

Working with a focused awareness helps us compose a specific photograph.

This type of attention strengthens our understanding of the relationships between camera operation, composition, and light.

To study and practice open visual awareness/attention, we observe everything in our field of view and let what we see and observe come and go.

Don't disregard any visuals, and don't hang onto any.  

Just observe/see.

To study and practice focused visual awareness/attention, once we see something we're interested in making a picture of, we bring our focused attention to observing the way the light falls on it, the color, shape, line, etc., and then we focus our attention to camera operation and composition to make the best picture we can.  

To be the best photographers we can be, we need to use both types of visual awareness and understand how to operate our cameras effectively to get the best pictures possible.

You'll learn to develop your visual awareness while working with me, especially during my Introduction to Photography class.

It's a class that'll get you to understand how to operate your camera in manual exposure mode to have the most creative control possible over your pictures.

We create unique, thoughtful, and intentional compositions when we can do that.

If you'd like a personalized way to learn, there's always Private Photography Lessons made to fit your schedule and way of learning that'll cover the same material you'd get during the Introduction to Photography class.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need guidance on choosing the right course.

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

The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group classes starts soon or you can learn the same stuff as a series of Private Lessons.
  
More ways to study and practice photography with me are below.

Call me at (202) 531-2344 if you need help determining the best course for you.

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A note about group class sizes: Did you know that some places that teach photography have up to 25 students in each class? 

Bigger ain't always better.

That's why I limit my group classes to no more than five participants because smaller classes make for better, more effective, and more efficient learning experiences.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker, so sign up soon. 

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

Currently scheduled classes are below.

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? Private in-person lessons suited to your schedule are always an option.