This week, my Leica homework from Donald, my Leica “Brand Ambassador” and teacher, is to use my new tripod every day and experiment with aperture and shutter speed settings, especially the former.

Today was difficult. The sky was moody and changing, sometimes blue and open, sometimes cloudy and then angry. The Leica, like most cameras, struggles a bit with the sun.

Every time I looked up, the sky had changed, sometimes dramatically.

And I am learning the value of the tripod. With sensitive cameras like the Leica, even the slightest hand movement affects the photo and distracts the camera’s focus. Tripod photos are different, and while I won’t use the tripod all the time, I’m working hard to learn how to use it a lot more.

Each afternoon, I set up my new travel tripod. It’s easy to use and sets up in seconds. I decided to focus on feeding time and also on the sky. I love the atmosphere and am drawn to the big sky like an addict to crack.

I find it difficult to balance the shutter speed and aperture I’ll have to work more on that. I take a tripod walk and share the photos. Today, I’m sharing five. Tomorrow, I hope the sky is such that I can wander farther afield.

I do see changes in texture, depth of field, and detail.

The barn is a photographer’s dream, so much history, so many stories, so much of life’s junk. This barn is the graveyard of old chairs.

In this photo, I wanted to capture the feeling of the sky as dusk neared. I kept lowering the aperture to capture the darkness in the clouds.

The weeks before Spring are evocative, I’m always trying to capture their feeling of them. The apple tree, the empty chairs, and the statue and birch tree all lined up came close. I wall the photo “Waiting For Spring.”

I’m moving along, but have a lot of hard work to do.