continuing education

this post title may be misleading. i am referring to my personal continuing education in life in general. after my daughter was born i wanted to capture every second of her existence. i thought I was doing a great job of it and i look back often on those first blurry months of her in our lives and there are so many sounds i wish we had a video of her making or so many snuggles i wish that even if i were unshowered and mismatched i had asked my husband to capture.

another thing i have strived to do since becoming a mom is to help others slow down and cherish this wild ride and capture those moments. i have taken pictures of my friends kids and i have even started a photo challenge with a couple of my friends to force them to capture the sweet moments even if only using the very advanced capabilities of the camera on their phone.

one of the greatest gifts i received after Flora was born was a hand me down DSLR camera from my second mother, my aunt. from day 1 of taking that camera home i wanted to challenge myself to only shoot in Manual Mode. thankfully God places the most perfect people in my life at the most perfect times. i went through my entire pregnancy side by side with a very talented photog friend who then welcomed her son only 8 weeks after i became a momma. she thought me loads!

but as military life will do we moved apart and as content as i have been with the photo’s i have been taking, i wanted to learn a little more.

for mother’s day this year my husband gifted me another talented friends online photography course. i had a brief moment of worry that as a stay at home mom it was an unnecessary cost and i wouldn’t improve my picture taking enough to make the course worth the investment… WOW was i wrong!

introducing Manual Mode for Moms

where do i even start singing Megan’s praises!?

fellow military spouse, Megan also grew up a military brat. this life of travel and change helped to foster this love of photography which started in high school for her, on the yearbook staff.

after marrying her high school sweetheart (something i know a little bit about 🥰) she has gone on to be an educator, a creator, and newest resumé point, mom!

with degrees from Penn State in photography and art education and a masters in informational technology, Megan has created an engaging and informative course with all the nuts and bolts that help you build a relationship with your DSLR camera. most of her lessons even include how to apply the principles you are learning to taking pictures with your phone!

i am only halfway through the course and am already a more confident and educated holder of my fancy to me camera. i struggle to put into words how this course has helped me, but hopefully the pictures i use on my posts will evolve enough for you to see the fruits of her labor.

to be clear you do not have to be a mom to take this course! motherhood was her personal motivation, and people like me bugging people like her for advice on their cameras has inspired the hard work behind this course.

Megan put this course together AFTER her beautiful daughter was born. a living example of passion and the hard work that got her here. in line with the course is also a Facebook page with open dialog about the course content and a place for honest and uplifting feedback on your photo assignments throughout the course.

i want to encourage you to check out her instagram where she also gives super helpful tips and tricks in her stories and she has a Pinterest page that is full of beautiful inspiration from this maker.

also, my fears about if this course would be worth the cost were totally squashed. the value i have gotten from this course is with me every day as I share my gift with friends and family and more importantly provide the mementos of watching my little one blossom right in front of me for years to come!