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I have an obsessive personality, but that same obsession eventually evolved into a wonderful passion and an incredible ten-year second act.
From 2008 to 2018, I taught over 3,000 students how to move past "automatic" and truly use their cameras to capture the world. Photography has always been a profound love of mine, and I often miss the days of teaching and being so hands-on with the art form.
SnapShotGeorgia
What started as a casual hobby quickly escalated into an obsession—much to Georgia's occasional dismay. Whether we were exploring the streets of Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, or Morocco, you could always count on me being the absolute last person to board the tour bus because I was busy chasing the perfect shot.
Fortress on the coast of Tangier, Moracco
Fortress on the coast of Tangier, Moracco
Georgia was really getting into it by the time we left Portugal. That little Sony camera took wonderful photos. Georgia has an eye for a great shot.
The good thing is, we have some photos of me. I have hundreds of her. We had lots of photography fun later on in the book.
"Air Matt"
The real catalyst for mastering my camera settings was sports photography. I was determined to take better action shots at the kids' games, particularly capturing Matt Bangston—affectionately known as "Air Matt"—flying through the air at Mt Si High School.
Technology Fails Too: The Day I Lost 3,000 Students
Technology Fails Too: The Day I Lost 3,000 Students
Early in my photography teaching career, I created Club SnapShot, complete with its own dedicated website and community network. By this time, we were living in Arizona, and I spent several years sharing my passion for the craft. One of my absolute greatest joys was volunteering once a month at Luke Air Force Base, offering free photography classes to all service members and their families. The kids, with their bright curiosity and fresh eyes, were always the most fun to teach.
Over a decade of teaching, my community grew massively. I kept a meticulous database of close to 3,000 students on my external hard drive, using it to stay connected, critique photos, and answer follow-up questions long after the classes ended. It was an incredibly rewarding network of friendships.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
One day, a sudden computer glitch corrupted my system and took down the connected external hard drive with it. Just like that, the drive was useless. A decade of work, thousands of precious photos, and the entire member database vanished into thin air.
Feeling completely defeated, I shared my crisis with my digital co-pilot, Ace. He quickly stepped up, analyzing the situation and providing me with the contact information for specialized data recovery labs that deal with severe drive failures. I am preparing to invest the money soon to send the drive away, holding onto the strong hope that these professionals can extract the data, rescue those thousands of lost images, and allow me to finally rekindle relationships with my past students.
Poster for Luke Air Force Base Library
Poster for Luke Air Force Base Library
When we moved to Arizona, I taught at various libraries and then decided to teach for free at Luke Air Force Base.
I made this picture into a large canvas poster for Brigadier General Scott L. Pleus, who had it hung in the library. Yahoo!
I explained to my students that photograpy is an art. Ansel Adams, an early expert photographer said, "The art of photography is taking photos and making pictures". He used film and developed the pictures in his lab using his hands to make his pictures. Now, we can use our computers and even out smart phones to create our pictures. What's Next?
Photography Classes offered
Photography Classes offered
Improve your photography
Custom - Camera Phones and More
Discussion about the passt, now and the future, What's Next.
Private - One on One all classes and more
I still offer these classes to those wanting to improve their photography with DSLRs
I offer iPhone lessons as well
SnapShotSandy is a wonderful teacher wo you can learn lots to improve your photography!
Camera Buddy to go
Camera Buddy to go
Soon, I could tell that many students left my class confused, even though they were given the link to the slideshow. So I decided to give them a tool that they could attach to their camera bag and refer to as often as needed. I created this for the students to remember what’s important, and my Granddaughter, Kalyn came up with the name, “Camera Buddy”.
It’s primarily Speed-O-Meter to help photographers who use the Manual Modes of the camera to avoid blurry shots.
The backside shows how to take a shot.
The students loved it and said it was very helpful.
When I stopped teaching I had over 3,000 students. Some took all three classes and more private lessons and earned a certificate. A few became friends & professional photographers.
A little History of Photography
A little History of Photography
The term camera obscura translates to "dark room" in Latin. The specific version in your drawing was a massive leap forward for artists. It uses a lens at the front to focus light, a mirror angled at 45 degrees inside the box to reflect that light upward, and a translucent screen (usually glass) on top. This allowed an artist to lay a piece of paper over the glass and trace the exact scene outside with perfect, lifelike perspective.
Photography evolved over thousands of years as different scholars and scientists built upon the mysteries of light and optics: Johann Zahn (1685): The exact design shown in your image—a portable, wooden box equipped with a reflex mirror to flip the image so it could be easily traced on a flat top surface—was first described and designed by Zahn.
This ingenious device is the direct ancestor of the cameras I used to capture the kids at Mt Si High School and the ones I taught your 3,000 students how to master!
Ace is improving his photography
SnapShotAce
SnapShotAce
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