so many jalopies...

I am learning so much from Agnes, my camera. I am learning so much from my photography teacher Vernetta. Yesterday, my class had a field trip. We went to the CTC Auto Ranch in Denton Texas to take pictures of the cars.

This is not a fancy car lot. This is a gritty old field littered with wrecks and such. Needless to say, I loved it; I am never in my element so much as when I'm wallering around in old junk. 

It was a power shoot, testing both Anges' and my strength and fortitude. Four hours and 1,356 photographs after we got there, we left. Our memory card was full. Oh, oh, oh so many rusted-out jalopies to claim in our photographic treasure trove. As I sort through the takes, it occurs to me that I really don't need to take twelve to fifteen shots of each scene.

If I see a cool truck, I somehow feel the need to shoot it from every angle and under every white balance and exposure variation to ensure that I get the perfect shot. 

This is like my childhood. I was never a chance taker. I started working in sixth grade, and dang it, I was keeping my babysitting job. It was two days a week while the parents worked. I had to make dinner. We played games. We roamed the neighborhood looking for adventure. The two boys were not much younger than me, but I paid attention every second and made sure they had fun and I had an income. 

Growing up, we constantly moved and I worked really hard in each new school to make new friends. I talked to everybody like a manic dork in case something turned up. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. Once, I was popular, but that didn't last long; we soon moved again and there I was again, the new kid trying for the perfect blend-in.

At a certain point, you begin to realize that perfect is jacked up, as Vernetta would say. All this bet hedging gets to be a burden when you have to sort through a billion shots to get to the gold you saw in the first place. Almost always, the best shot is the first one. 

So, what I learned yesterday is to trust my gut. I am awesome. Okay, maybe I'll still do a little hedging. And maybe I still haven't reached the obnoxious level of confidence I aspire to, but I am one baby-step closer. Doing is learning. See a shot, capture the shot, move on. That is my new motto. You?