My photography journey so far...

When I was in high school, a friend of mine got an SLR camera for Christmas.  At the time point-and-shoot digital cameras was all the rage, she wanted, and got, a film camera.  She took beautiful pictures with that camera too.  That was my first taste of photography aside from disposable cameras.

A few years later, I bought myself a point and shoot and started taking pictures myself.  I was working and in college and living with my fiance and never really felt like I had anything important to photograph.  I mean, I was in a relationship, and we had a dog, so there are a lot of goofy self portraits and pictures of Milton, and random cloud pictures or sunset pictures, but it never felt as concrete as I wanted it to.  And my little point and shoot just didn't produce the images I really wanted.

Fast forward a couple of years again and another friend of mine bought herself a starter DSLR.  I saw the pictures she was able to take with it and I though, "THIS!  THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!  THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!"  So, I bought one.  Very irresponsibly, I might add.  Because like I've said before, I don't make good financial decisions.  

Anywho, I bought this amazing and revolutionary camera that was going to revolutionize my photography and make it amazing like I always wanted.  Only it didn't happen that way.  It was, and still is, a great camera.  I just didn't know how to use it.  

That's where Pinterest came in.  You can find countless photography tutorials on pinterest.  Seriously, soooo many.  Too many to choose from.  It can be quite overwhelming.  But I waded through.  I started making some progress and getting a little better than I had before.  I learned what aperture was and what shutter speed meant and how the two worked together and started to really get into learning my camera... But then I got pregnant.

Photography quickly took a backseat and all pinterest activity was about nursery decorating and child birth and breast feeding and what to do when you brought your baby home from the hospital and what you really needed to register for.  Let me go ahead and answer that question for you: burp cloths and diapers.  All the burp cloths and diapers in the world.  Everything else you can figure it out as you go, but burp cloths?  Have those things in BULK sister.  Here she is, surrounded by them:

Then my daughter was born, and I brought my camera with me to the hospital thinking I was going to feel ok enough to hobble around the hospital room and take pictures of her with everyone holding her.  HA!  Let me say that again.... HA!  I got a few pictures in the hospital as we were being discharged and tried to take a few after we were home, but they did not turn out well and I was far too tired to try to figure out why.  So we hired out her newborn photos and I was BLOWN AWAY.  They were so beautiful and amazing and the colors popped and there was so much emotion captured that all I could think was that I would never take beautiful photographs like that ever.  

But I persisted and kept at it, trying to document her first year as she grew up.  I got some ok pictures and a lot of terrible ones.  I learned more about the technical side of photography: the exposure triangle, natural vs. artificial light, white balance, ISO, a little bit about editing.  Then I finally succumbed to societal pressure and bought my first iPhone, and she's grown up on instagram ever since.  I still break out my camera on occasion and we've hired out her milestone photo sessions since then, some to the amazing photographer who took her newborn photos, and more recently to the second friend I mentioned.  It's always more fun when it's someone you know behind the camera. 

Anywho, that's my journey so far.  I'd really like to improve my technical skills and find some sort of artistic vision.  The first goal I want to tackle is really nailing my focus and white balance.  If I could one day turn this into a business, that would be amazing, but if all I got out of it was learning to take beautiful photos of my family, that would be amazing too.

Hi and welcome!

Thanks for stopping by!  My name is Mary Catherine and I'm creating this space as a way to document and share three journeys I'm sending myself on: a learning photography journey, a wellness journey, and a personal finance journey.

I've been toying with photography for a few years now, but never very seriously.  I shoot with an entry level DSLR: a Nikon D3100.  It's a great camera for a beginner and can produce fantastic results, but I don't practice very much.  I get decent with it, but then I don't pick my camera up for a few months and it's like I've forgotten everything I ever learned about it before.  So, never again!  It's time to learn and MAINTAIN that learning.

My wellness journey.... When I was growing up, I was overweight.  Not obese, just slightly overweight.  It wasn't until I got to college, going to school at an urban downtown campus that I lost about 30 pounds.  I wasn't trying to lose weight.  I didn't even really notice that I had until it was all gone.  I guess not having any money to eat out and having to walk everywhere really worked for me.  But then I met my husband.  And we got happy.  As then fat, as can sometimes happen when you find yourself in a relationship.  My weight has only gone up since then.  I never really wanted to set myself a fitness goal of "losing weight."  I always find myself saying things like, "I want to be fit."  "I want to be in shape." "I want to be healthy." But the root of it is that I really need to lose weight.  I do want to be fit and in shape and healthy, but losing weight is going to be the first step I need to take towards that.  Food is a real problem for me.  I love to eat.  I eat all the time.  Even when I'm not hungry.  I really want to be one of those people who eats to live not lives to eat.

And my personal financial journey.  I do not make good financial decisions.  I spend.  I don't save.  I rack up credit card debt.  I can't pay my student loans.  Whenever I find myself with a little money in the bank (or a lot of money in the bank) I blow it like you wouldn't believe.  And I do this over and over and over.  And I never have anything to show for it.  You would think I would have learned my lesson the first few times I've dug myself out of this hole, but apparently I didn't.  BUT, I'm still young.  My husband and I have time to change and make better decisions.  I really want to set a good example for my daughter and show her what making good decisions looks like so she won't make the same mistakes I have.

Anywho, that was all pretty HEAVY, right?  But this will be my place to document and hold myself accountable and maybe even inspire someone else to make a change in their life on something that's weighing them down.  It's doesn't feel good to be weighed down by worries, so let's make the changes we need to lighten up our lives.