I registered for an online digital photography class, which started on Friday. Our first assignment was to take five photos in Auto mode around our yard, of things that look interesting. I went out on Saturday afternoon to cut the grass, but took my camera with me, in case I came across something of interest.

I found a couple of things that really captured my interest...first a little lizard that was running across an old piece of log on the ground. He stopped at the very end, so I pulled up and took a couple of photos. The first one was just a regular shot, but I zoomed in for the second shot of him. That was my favorite photo. I was lucky to have seen him, and that he stopped when he reached the end of the log. He was nearly the same color as the wood, so the zoom shot was the better. I rode around looking for something more of interest, but found nothing that really screamed for me to take a picture. I took a shot of my little wire-haired Dachshund's grave site, of the marker. He was a dear little boy and he was so faithful to me. When I started having trouble walking back from the creek due to losing my breath (COPD), he'd stand just a few yards ahead and wait for me to catch up. So when he became old and feeble, and arthritis set in, making it difficult for him to stay right with me, I'd pick him up and carry him. We were best buds. I finally took a photo of my Paper Bark Maple tree, focusing in on the bark, and one of my deceased husbands' grave. I also took one of one of my Magnolia trees, trying to focus in on the fruit, but the fruit didn't show up.

The next evening, I went down to my fish pond and took some shots there. I liked a couple of them, so used one. Then I downloaded them all to my computer. Next I started looking at them, to see if there were any adjustments I could make to make them look better. Not so much. So, I uploaded them to the class site and sent the email letting the instructor know they were ready.

I received an email from the instructor today. Not a good report. None of my photos were good enough. That crushed my ego. I'm the type of person that takes everything to heart, and everything is personal. But I'm hoping to improve a great deal in the near future.