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And if you want more photography stuff to read, there's a place on the interwebs where past emails I wrote are stored.

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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.

Sometimes I think of photography in terms of karma.

This might seem a little woo-woo to some of us, but I’ll share my thoughts about it anyway.
 

From what I understand about karma, it’s nothing more than cause and effect.
 

From my frequent visits to a monastery in New Jersey, I’ve learned to think of karma as similar to the intent and action of planting a seed that eventually grows into something.

In the case of our photography studies and practice, our intent is the thought about planting a seed; our action, based on the idea, is planting the seed, and the result of our thought and action is the compositional effect.
 

In other words, we intend to make a picture based on seeing something interesting.

The causes, actions, and effects are multiple.

Our first action is taking out our camera and composing pictures using whatever exposure mode we know.
 

The effect is the picture we get.

If we work in automatic exposure mode, the causes, actions, and effects are fewer than in manual exposure mode.

That’s because the camera does everything for us in automatic exposure mode, but we have to do everything in manual exposure mode.

We choose the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focusing modes, and focusing areas. We also decide how dark or bright to make the tonality of our picture, how much depth-of-field to achieve, and how much blur to achieve.

Every choice we make has a cause-and-effect relationship with our composition.

And we haven’t even begun to discuss light's role in this karmic photographic interplay.
 

There’s no good karma, there’s no bad karma, there’s just karma

In terms of photography, there’s no good photography, there’s no bad photography, there’s just photography

And when we think about all photography, it’s cause and effect.

We just have to understand how it all works together.

In other words, we’ve gotta understand the karma (cause and effect) of photography
 

That’s where I can help.

The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group classes starts soon.

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.