Self-Development: Photography Class

Hey there!

How are ya and how was your weekend? I had a fun one - I flew my nephew's kite! If you follow me on Snapchat and Instagram (@BerryDakara), you know how that went :p I also went to my cousin's house for a birthday party and danced to some old jams. Did I ever tell you guys that people used to call my girls and I The Party Queens? The minute we got anywhere, the dancing started and we usually would be the last to leave because we were having too much fun.

Oh, and my niece started walking on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woot woot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank God, because we were hoping she'd walk before her first birthday next month.

Anyways, while thinking about my word/theme for the year, another phrase kept flying around my head - SELF DEVELOPMENT.

When you Google the phrase, it's defined as,

"The process by which a person's character or abilities are gradually developed."

I also like this definition below:

Source

Self-development covers all facets of life, and you can choose to learn something new at any time or point in life. From learning crafts to gaining new skills or taking classes, there's so much you can do. I'm sure you've noticed that I enjoy photography and I was pleasantly surprised when I won a voucher for a free online course on Photography via The Alaroro. The class was offered on Shaw Academy. It all fell into place and I started the class the day after I got to Atlanta. There were 3 classes a week, for an hour at a time and the course, Foundation in Photography, lasted through the month of March.

I learned some valuable lessons in photography and I've been practicing quite a bit. I'm definitely not on a professional level, but I prefer shooting on Manual mode now, with fewer edits than before. I hope you like some of the photos I've shared below. FYI, they're mostly nature shots - I went walking around my sister's subdivision (estate) and my parents' as well.

There's this lovely, serene pond that's a few minutes away from the house. I'm sure I'll do a style post there at some point.

I like taking photos of plants and flowers.

On my sister's patio, where my brother shot this Style post, I took advantage of a piece of furniture.

There's this little gazebo close to the house that's cute and pretty...

And here's the ceiling from inside...

On one of my walks, I looked down and thought the cracks in the road were pretty cool. Yes yes, I know, I'm a nerd.

During the class on Composition, one of the ways to compose photos is via shapes. The roofs of some houses around were triangular and I wanted to practice, so...

I'd like to take more classes, in this and other areas. I've posted this link on my Lovely Links before, but here it is again if you're looking for places where you can take free online courses.

My birthday is coming soon, and there's lots of travel in May - UK and Scotland readers, I need sightseeing suggestions! I'm already really excited!

So, have you been doing any self-developing lately? Tell me all about it.