Looking Back on 2007 and My Photo Journey

I woke up on this eve of the new year(after a long night of rain, rain, rain yesterday) and when I looked out the window and discovered a blue sky with a few puffy clouds here and there.

In my world a blue sky is a great day for photography. What's funny to me is that this year I started to describe my days as "good sky days" or "bad sky days" because without "good sky days" landscape or outdoor photography goes very badly for me. "Bad sky days" are white or gray skies that reek havoc on landscape photos or anything involving the sky. Blown out skies are the result and after a year I haven't figured out a way to solve that problem.

2007 was a good year photography-wise for me. I started out the year with the decision to really concentrate on photography. I really stuck to that and became addicted.

I started this years photo obsession with a visit to my friend Lee's place in New York City and he took me all around for hours and hours and I took tons of photos.

I came home and started messing with them all in Photoshop and had a great time learning and working with them...





Then my sister and decided that we would start to go on photo excursions on the weekends and we really stuck to that idea. We mostly went out on Sundays and we'd decide where to go each week ahead of time.

I started shooting with a Canon Powershot A620 and it's a really great point and shoot camera. You can't beat learning on something that takes great photos like that camera.

We visited tons of farms and barns, the beach, Princeton University and other places with great architecture, local small towns with lots of character, tons of churches, some scenic overlooks, historic sites around New Jersey, lighthouses, boardwalks, amusement parks, rivers, canals and lakes, and I visited a local park that I pass on my way home from work a million times and a number of cemeteries! Anything and everything!







It took me a while to let myself go the DSLR route but I finally gave into my fears and went for it. I don't know why I was so nervous to go for it...maybe it was the cost bu I tormented myself for months deciding what I wanted to do. After a little urging from my friends and my sister I went for it. My sister and I went to B&H Photo and I picked out the Nikon D80 with the 18-135 kit lens. The camera arrived 5/15 and the excitement ensued shortly thereafter!



My personal photo journeys went on and on throughout the rest of the year...Parades, the Aquarium, Philly & the New York skyline, upstate NY, vacation in the Bahamas, family functions, portrait sessions of friends and their kids, the moon, industrial and Rural areas of New Jersey, work functions, Dog Agility competitions, countless sunsets, Meeting the New Jersey Devils, Fall foliage trips, Horse racing, and on and on. Tens of thousands of photos this year alone!

It's been a great year...I only wish I started blogging when I started this journey so I could have tracked the entire journey!

Visit my website and enjoy the year's photo journey along with me: http://www.jenweaverphotography.com/