I’ve only really become seriously interested in the art of photography in the last year (after I started taking a photo every day for my blog), and I’ve learned so much in that time.

I thought it would be a good retrospective to list 20 things that I’ve discovered during the last year of photo-blogging.

1. There are a lot of Point and Shoot cameras on the market that produce quality professional looking photographs without the pain of learning how a DSLR works.




2. What I think might be a boring shot, someone else thinks is art. Everyone sees photos in a different way, just like art.




3. If you don’t have your camera on you when you leave the house, you’ll regret it.



4. You will have to re-learn how to take photos when you finally get a DSLR.




5. Find a photographic community to join, whether it’s an online forum or a local camera club.




6. There’s no such thing as taking too many photos. If you’re shooting in digital, the only inhibitor is disk space.




7. Even the most mundane scene can be a work of art.



8. The more photos you take, the more you notice about your surroundings.




9. Start a photoblog or an album in Flickr to showcase your work. You’ll get the most amazing support and encouragement, and you’ll “meet” the most amazing people.




10. Take photos of your kids at least every week, especially when they’re young. You’ll be amazed at how fast they change.



11. Learn how every function of your camera works; it’ll make a huge difference to the quality of your shots.




12. READ THE CAMERA MANUAL. Seriously, you won’t go wrong!




13. The weather is never too bad to take a photo. Some of my most memorable photos have been taken on rainy days.




14. There’s a story behind every photo. Write a short sentence about every photo that you share on Flickr or your photoblog; it’ll be a way of remembering the small details about the occasion.




15. Back up your photos on an external hard drive or on DVD’s… just in case.




16. Have an extra fully charged battery in your camera bag at all times. There’s nothing worse than going away for a day, and your camera goes flat.
17. Keep your camera clean, especially your lens glass, and keep a “LENS-PEN” in your camera bag.
18. Check your ISO settings all the time; it makes a huge difference to the quality of the shot.




19. Download and label your photos every day. That way you won’t forget what the occasion was all about.




20. Email (or print and send) your photos to the people you’ve taken photos of; they will really appreciate and treasure them.

Jeanette is a South African working mother of 2 very busy boys. She’s been taking a photograph every day since June 2007 and you can watch her skills improve at Photography by Jeanette.