I’ll be honest. I’ve been a point-and-shoot kind of guy for a long time. If I ever were to get a little bold and throw it in Manual, I’d inevitably be asking myself, wait, is it f4 or f22 that let’s the most light in? Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad – but close.

With the purchase of the Canon 7D, I decided it was time to venture beyond the automatic settings, and my cavalier approach, and possibly see beyond my one dimension. I came across Donne Ashlock’s photography lessons and decided to give it a go.

When I showed up for my lesson it was a cold and wintry day at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta. Nevertheless, Donne surprised me by bringing along a model, and we immediately set to work.

We went through some basics, and then he showed me some deeper custom functions of the camera. Next he helped me think through how I framed the subject and the background, as well as adjusting to the light source. The experience was certainly eye opening.

I have a long way to go – and hope to schedule future classes with Donne Ashlock – but my baseline knowledge is slowly growing.