Jonathan Zenor Photography

When doing something very frequently it can be difficult to measure your progress over time.  Just like when you see someone every day you do not notice changes as much as someone who has not seen you in a full year.  While doing project 365 I fell into this.  I knew I was learning about the camera and about photography but I did not realize exactly how much I have learned.  It was just in December when I said that I would not dare venture into manual mode because of how complex it was, but when I was at the park on  this day in mid-February I actually preferred it.

By the time we got to the park the sun was already starting to set plus the sky was overcast, meaning there was little light to work with. I had tried to shoot with the aperture and shutter priority modes like I normally do, but none of them were able to capture decent pictures with the fading light.  This left no other choice but to use manual mode, and I was able to capture several really good photos without sacrificing too much speed.  It was a tough balance considering Malikai was running around a lot, but after a lot of constant tweaking I managed to get it just right.

How did I learn Manual Mode?

Those that are new to photography (like myself) and want to learn how to use manual mode

will probably ask me how I learned it so quick. First I do want to say that just because I feel comfortable with manual mode now does not in any way make me an expert, I still have a lot to learn.  I have just gotten to the point where I like to use manual mode more often than not.  But how did I learn it and still get decent photos?

The trick, at least for myself, was to learn Aperture and Shutter priority modes.  Once you see how the changes affect the camera you can manipulate the camera for whatever environment you are in.  Once you can do that fairly well with both modes then it is not too hard to switch to Manual mode where you just mix what you know about how the two settings work together.  Whatever you do, practice a lot!  Taking pictures every single day helped me learn a lot more than I would have learned normally.

Photos need a LOT of light!

Along the same lines of learning how to use Manual mode I have also learned that cameras need a whole lot of light in order to take a photo. This has made me really appreciate the human eye on a completely different level.  When you compare how long it takes a camera to take in enough light to take a decent photo, especially in low light settings, it amazes me that we can see everything very clearly in an instant even when the sun is setting.

When it is really dark out our eyes need to adapt but within a few minutes we are able to see outlines in a lot of detail in an instant, without needing to stare at something for several minutes like a camera does.

The more I appreciate how the human body works the more I cannot fathom how people think that humans are nothing but a random cosmic accident.

About these photos

As much as I love taking photos and displaying them to the world, I hate trying to come up with things to say about them.  But oh well, moving on.

On this day (Middle of February I think, I know, sometimes it takes me forever to get these things uploaded!) we all wen to a park by our home and walked around it.  Malikai had a great time running ahead of us while Danae and I got to talk a lot.  It is times like this that I love going out for walks.  Sometimes walks can be boring, but when you have someone there to talk with it makes it a lot more enjoyable.

This is another one of those days that I would not have had my camera with me if I was not doing the project 365,  It is for times like this that I wish I was still doing the project.

A few of these photos came out a bit blurry due to how long I had to set the exposure to capture enough light for them, but many of them came out very usable.  I especially like this photo of Malikai looking behind him.  I got this one when he was running ahead of us.

Well I have pretty much run out of things to say so here are the rest of the photos.