Photography 101 with Paul D’Andrea
Paul D’Andrea and I met when I worked at ExactTarget. As with many gifted developers, Paul has a creative, artistic side as well. His passion is photography. One of Paul’s photos of a Coyote in a local cemetery is in this month’s Indianapolis Monthly Magazine.
Last Christmas, my son and I purchased a Nikon D40 SLR digital camera for my daughter, Katie. Katie has been taking an interest in photography and we wanted to kick it off right. With my son, Bill, into music and music production, Katie’s never really been the one to get the big ticket items. So Bill and I made it a Katie Christmas and set her up with the works – backpack, camera, a couple lenses, tripod… you name it!
This afternoon was part of Katie’s 14th birthday present – her first photography lesson with Paul. He’s a great teacher – very patient and exceptionally thorough. A 14-year old young lady may not be the best pupil, but Paul really opened up her understanding of the camera and its capabilities.
After the sitting lesson, Paul and Katie walked around Monument Circle here in Indianapolis. It was a beautiful day. The photos that Katie took with Paul’s guidance were breathtaking. Here are my favorites from today. If you’d like, check out the full set on Flickr.
Paul said that this was his favorite of Katie’s. She framed the monument within some tree branches that had lights on them:
I’m no photographer, but when I pick up the Nikon and take shots none of them look as beautiful as these! Katie is going to take some more photos over the next few weeks and then go to another lesson with Paul to review them and learn a little more.
If you live around Indianapolis and want to get the most out of your Digital SLR Camera, be sure to give Paul a call for some lessons!
