Open Concept Organizing: My Favorite Photos

Photography has always been an intriguing area for me. So often, I've viewed photographs taken by professionals and longed for the skill to duplicate the clarity, colors, and creativity within their shots. The snapshots on my point and shoot didn't come close. When my parents handed down their Nikon D-70 to me because it was too much camera for them, I was excited about the prospect of my photography getting better. But with little to no knowledge about how to use it, I often got very similar results to my point and shoot.

Frustrated, I decided it was time to pick up a how-to photography book or take a basic class. While my desire to learn to take better pictures was existent and growing, my patience was not. I wanted a quick fix like, "Three Easy Steps to Amazing Photography." I tried multiple times to sit down with a photography for dummies type of book but after a chapter or two, I gave up. There were too many things to learn and not enough room in my day or my brain for that matter.

Then I started this blog. While blogs are a place for people to write things, they seem to be a bit more interesting and engaging when they have photos. In addition, it's really hard to have a blog about how to get organized without showing pictures of organized things. Can you imagine me explaining how I organized my command center without showing you any pictures of what I was talking about? A picture is worth a thousand words after all, right?

So as I started putting together my first 10 or 20 posts, I noticed a trend. The photos I was posting were dark, out of focus, grainy, and boring. They were nothing like the photos I was seeing on the more established blogs that I follow. They were nothing like the photos I had envisioned would fill this space.

That was kind of a kick in the pants for me to get my act together and learn how to improve my photography. Not only is this a skill I want to develop for myself, but it's a skill that I want to pass on to each of you as you read my words. I want to give you pretty pictures to look at too!

Since I hadn't had much luck with books in the past, I committed to finding a photography class. Lucky for me, our local Community College offers both an in person class and an online class so I signed up right away.

I'm now in week 6 of class and I'm finding it much easier to stick with. The motivation that weekly assignments and other students' photos provide is tremendous. I've learned so much in just six weeks and I'm really excited to get out and practice this new found knowledge on real life subjects. So if you see me often in real life, be prepared to see a camera around my neck or in front of my face.

And speaking of photos, how boring would this post be without any pretty pictures? I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite photos I've taken over the last few years. They have bad shadows, poor use of aperture, the wrong ISO, and maybe even terrible coloring but they mean something to me. While this place is a place I vow to share organizing tips, I think it's also important that you have the opportunity to get to know me a bit more too (if you want to). So enjoy the collage below and I hope that in the next few weeks you'll be able to see a distinct difference in my photography.