I got a new camera for my birthday, a replacement for the venerable Minolta SLR and the point and shoot digital I had been using. The Canon Rebel T1i was small enough and light enough to fit my hands, and I thought, foolishly as it turned out, that I could transfer the skills I’d developed with those cameras to the new one. I opened the book, started to play and realized that the abilities of the camera outstripped the knowledge of the photographer.

The instruction book wasn’t as obscurely written nor as minutely printed as I had expected. On the other hand, the menus seemed to go and on to different levels of complexity. I decided to take advantage of the lesson that came with the camera and one evening sat with a very young woman, and went over it all. I recommend this as a way to become more comfortable with a new camera. One of my first pictures appears below.