First, an update on the iPhone that took a dip in the toilet… it works just like it did when it was new! Twelve hours in a food dehydrator did the trick. Oh happy, happy day.

In other news, I am on Ricky Tims’ newsletter list and on January 4th he announced the 52 Week Photography Challenge for 2015. I’ve had very a good camera for several years, a Nikon D90, that I’ve always meant to learn how to use, but I have never found the time (or discipline) to do it. The camera works well in auto focus mode, but not well enough.

Ricky is an excellent teacher and he knows a lot about photography. The class is very reasonably priced at just under $100 for 52 different lessons. It didn’t take me longer than a day to decide to just do it.

The first class is about selective focus. I have already learned more about how my camera works (and how I should be processing photos) than I would have imagined to be possible.

I’ve taken my series of pictures for this week. I don’t claim that my composition of toys* is particularly wonderful, but I was able to move the focal point around! I decided what was in focus, not the camera. Success feels good!

If any of you are interested in learning more about photography, I would encourage you to consider this class. I can already tell that it’s going to be good. There are requirements… you have to have a good camera. Ricky recommends that you have the newest versions of Photoshop and Lightroom. There’s more, but those are the most expensive requirements. If this class sounds good to you, now is definitely the time to sign up.

* The toy figures are from a set of ‘horrified movie victims’ that I’ve had a long time. A small set is available for purchase here. My set has more figures, but I have not found it online. I did find a glow in the dark zombie set that I wouldn’t mind owning :-).