The tricky part of photography for me has been trying to master the technical aspect of photography I need to learn to get to the next level. Photography is a creative enterprise but also a technical one. I am a creative, not a technical person. But I love my photography more all the time, and I’m getting older so time to get learning..

Time to learn what I need to know. I’m discovering the power of good teaching, something I resisted for much of my life (and they resisted me.)

For the first time, I started taking lessons from Leica camera experts and teachers. I began reading manuals and checking out YouTube lesson videos. I took a thousand photos with different lights and settings and even took LightRoom classes on software editing programs.

I’m liking this process, it’s new to me, and I am committed to it in a new way. The teaching and learning is making me better.

My greatest fear with my new mirrorless camera is that I will wear it out before I really learn how to use it.

I knew I had to come to terms with the tech details of photography to do the kind of work I wanted to do.

I knew I had to try different things with my camera daily to learn how to use it. Today, a significant breakthrough with one of my lenses, a macro lens I didn’t quite understand.

This is the one lens I have, a 105 mm lens used for close-ups that I call a macro lens.  I could take great photos from a distance, but I struggled to get as close as I wanted for the detail and feeling I wanted. My idea is to capture the soul of a flower, not just its beauty.

Today, I read through my online manuals and tried a different thing. I tried bringing the lens closer than ever before; I kept going out of focus and pulling back before. I didn’t realize that if I got, I got even closer, almost right up against the subject; the lens kicked in and focused.

This opened a whole new focus for me; I think it’s visible in today’s art photos. The regular photos are all about color. The art photos are all about soul.

I was immediately rewarded with closed-up and detailed photos with excellent color and field clarity, better than I’d been able to get before, with some exceptions.

These are some of the photos I have been trying to take but usually couldn’t quite pull off. Today I got five or six of them in a row. I was steaming right along, not even noticing I was getting soaked by the rain.

This idea involves composition, the steadiness of the lens, flowers, overhead light, backdrop, and angle. I can’t just hit the shutter and let the camera do my thinking.

It came together for me this morning.

Thanks for hanging in there with me all this time. I’m working hard and getting there. I think these photos are the best art photos I’ve taken yet. They have more depth and dimension – yes, more soul.

My blooming Lisianthus flowers deserve a lot of credit. They are blooming in great color and much beauty. Monday, my monthly check with Dr. Daly to see how my foot and new brace are doing. It feels good on this end.

These flowers are tough and have their second blooming. The lens came through for me. In photography, I have to keep experimenting. I can’t get lazy.

This is a new pink Lisianthus bulb coming open.

My strawberry field troublemakers.

This photo is elegant and stylish; it has a lot of feeling.

And there is always the country elf popping up in the bushes, planting and singing to something.