In 2004 I took a course with Better Photo. I was very happy with the experience but have not taken another course until now. Since I now have some time on my hands (due to my employment change) it seems a good opportunity to improve my skills.

The course I took previously was Creating Visual Impact (Brenda Tharp) which I found very rewarding. The course works by reading instruction and then going out and taking pictures that use the lesson. You then upload the images to a community page where the instructor and other students provide feedback. The whole process is a great way to learn.

The picture on the left was taken at a park in Great Falls, VA. A smaller park called Scott’s Run Nature Preserve. There’s a great trail to the Potomac and at one point there are stepping stones across a creek. What I didn’t capture was how the water was smooth on one side and disturbed on the other. I want to go back to this park and take more photos.

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So…. I had a little change in my life last Friday.  My company did some reorganizing and I was left on the outside looking in.  In a lot of ways this is a good thing but it still sucks!  So I should have more time to blog about photography and get out and take pictures.  We’ll see since I spent today replacing closet doors in my basement.

Sunday was a beautiful day for taking pictures. Warm, but not too warm. Sunny, but with clouds in the sky. A free day after my wife was away all week and I had our daughter all to myself. The timing was perfect for Jeff Revell’s photowalk in Georgetown.

For those who don’t know what a photowalk is Jeff wrote a pretty good explanation here. In a nutshell it’s a bunch of photographers gathering in a place and taking pictures while walking and socializing. Fun.

This particular walk was in Georgetown and started with us all meeting under the Whitehurst Freeway and then walking along the C&O canal. On the back streets and along the canal there a thousand little details that make great pictures. There were also tourists who were confused by our presence. Was a politician jogging on the trail? Was it a Flickr meetup? I love it when you take a picture and three other people suddenly appear to take the same picture.
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