Photo 101

For the past 5 years, I've had a digital SLR camera that I've been meaning to get acquainted with. This summer, I decided to do it. My friend Jackie & I signed up for an intro to photography class through the city's Spectrum program. I've been really looking forward to it and last night was our first class.

I stopped at Starbucks on my way and picked up an iced chai latte. I had been wanting to try one and I had a free drink reward for being a loyal customer. Why not? Well, it was pouring rain for starters. But a little rain never hurt anyone, so I carried on.

Hmmm, well I kinda had to go pee. You see, I had just purchased my first watermelon of the season and that is all I had for dinner. Watermelon. A lot of watermelon. So, I thought I'd use the washroom at Starbucks and be on my way. That is, until I walked towards it. Eek. There was a man just coming out and the stench nearly knocked me over. I decided to wait until I got to the community centre.

I arrived at the same time as Jackie and we ran in together to avoid as many raindrops as possible. We were chatting on our way up to the classroom and I did not make a pit stop. Drat. Now I was in the classroom with a colourful cast of characters and feeling a little trapped. How could I leave after arriving and introducing myself? I would wait. Oh dear. I sat through the first hour of introduction to how the camera works and just as we were getting to ISO speed, I decided I could not wait any longer. I missed the bit on ISO so Jackie will have to catch me up. :)

Now, back to that colourful cast of characters. I know this is going to be an interesting six weeks. We have hobbyists like Jackie & I, travelers, a dad that wants to take better pictures of his daughter ...and the annoying lady. You know the kind. There's one in every class. She interrupts all the time to ask questions specific to her camera. Should be fun to watch her "develop" her skills.

However, I have saved the best part of the evening until the end. I honestly thought I might be on Candid Camera or was being Punk'd. We went around the table and introduced ourselves, including what our favourite picture is that we've taken and what our worst picture was.

Enter Crazy Cat Lady. Her intro went something like this: "My name is _____ and I have three cats. I just love taking pictures of them." The teacher asked if she used Mac or PC at home and she let us know that she does not have a computer. Hmm, ok. That's interesting when you're taking digital photos.

The piece de resistance was when she told us about her favourite photo that she's taken. That sounded like this:

"Well, I had crocheted a gingerbread house and I took some pictures of it. I'm not sure what I did, but the way the light hit the colours was just beautiful."

WHAT!?!?! She sounded like she was describing a sunset in Istanbul. Yet she was actually describing a crocheted gingerbread house. Why would you crochet a gingerbread house in the first place? It was a really surreal moment that I just had to capture and share here.

Perhaps she's going to crochet herself a computer to use with her camera throughout the course. I'll keep you posted.