I’ve been photographing the wilderness areas of the US since 1999. My first camera was a Kodak Breeze, given to me as part of a PR stunt in the early 90s. I didn’t begin to use it for several years, but when I began traveling to the western US, I needed some way to document the beautiful landscapes I hiked to with my family. Even with that less-than-perfect camera, I captured several beautiful shots – perhaps the most memorable two being a photo of Leigh Lake in North Cascades National Park and another of Marymere Falls in Olympic National Park.
Fast forward to my first digital camera in 2010. Again, it wasn’t the cream of the crop; in fact, it came from a local grocery store. But Aldi has some quality products, and I was able to start a hiking blog with that camera and some pretty poorly composed pictures. In 2013, I upgraded to what I’d call my first real camera: A Canon Powershot SX150 (bridge camera). I loved that camera and used it for the next six years to capture scenery from the Grand Canyon and Old Faithful to Niagara Falls and the Coleman Glacier on Mt. Baker, Washington. It faithfully saw me through monsoon rainstorms, blowing sand and dust in Arizona, the lowest point in North America, the tallest point in the Rocky Mountains, and so much more. In fact, I loved it to death. I finished off a trip to Glacier National Park with a cat’s cradle string holding the battery case together, and I decided it was time to upgrade… again.
My current camera is a Canon M6 (mirrorless camera). My most-often-used lens is a Tamron 18-400mm (did I ever mention that I hate changing lenses?) (Note: I have to use an adaptor for this, as the Tamron lens is not made to natively fit a Canon mirrorless camera.) Most of the photography in this course was taken with either the SX150 or the M6. But having a good camera doesn’t mean you’ll take good pictures. In this course, I’m so excited to help you take your photography to the next level through composition and using the camera to your best advantage. Let’s start Lesson 1!