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. 

Special Notice(s)

(My email to keep you thinking about your studies and practice is below any special notices)

Kick off the new year by becoming a better photographer. The Photography Basics/Introduction to Photography classes start in early January. (or you could do it as a series of Private Lessons.)

And don’t forget that a gift certificate for photography instruction makes an excellent gift for a photographer.

Get one for someone have someone get one for you. 

End of the Special Notice(s)

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Extraordinary and resilient photographers are always “using their best judgment”.

They’re photographers who express their humanity and can thrive while maintaining their uniqueness amid the flood of AI and automation-driven sameness.

Photographers who base their approach to creating photographs on their intent to communicate how they think about what they see.

We can all be extraordinary photographers who use our best judgment.
 

Of course, this means we’ll need to consider the work we do as something far more than just taking another pretty picture.

Furthermore, we won’t be able to simply work in an automatic exposure mode, which replaces our caring approach (in manual exposure mode) with an uncaring and unknowing algorithm.
 

It also means we toss compositional rules out the window.
 

The phrase “using our best judgment” has a partner phrase.

And that partner phrase is “Why?”

When someone asks why we composed a picture the way we composed it, instead of saying the rules of composition tell us to do that, or that’s what the camera gave us while working in an automatic exposure mode, we can say to them about our best judgment in terms of composition and why we thought it was our best judgment.

As photographers who understand photography, we can answer honestly, with conviction, why we chose the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO we did, why we focused on what we did, and why we chose the framing content we did.
 

We can say all that because we had complete control over the picture and used our best judgment based on our intent of communication.

In a nutshell, that’s what it means to use our best judgment.

If we’re working our cameras in automatic exposure mode, it’s worth noting that every time we do so, it’s an opportunity wasted, because we could’ve used that opportunity to work in manual exposure mode, learning something new, and taking responsibility for how we progress
 

When it comes to our photography studies and practice, improving our skills and understanding of photography is the road to becoming a better photographer.

That’s where the Photography Basics/Introduction to Photography class comes in.

Sign up for the class, show up, study and practice, and you’ll walk away with skills you can use for a lifetime.

And if you’re not sure which class fits your needs, just ask—I’m always happy to help.

Got questions?

Email me at sam@samdamico.com or call 202-531-2344.

There’s more ways to learn photography with me listed below.

Remember, keep studying and practicing, and make at least one picture a day.

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.

I keep my group classes small 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.