Winter wonderland

Those of us living in New England have had quite the winter, and February has only just begun! Storm after storm, we've ben hit with 70+ inches of snow since January. During the last big one, Mother Nature was on a rampage, spewing snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, oh and not to mention, the freezing temperatures. But like usual, the day or two after are filled with bright sunny days.

It was on one of these beautiful days that Jake emailed the following to me:

I wish I knew how to use your camera... the frozen trees outside look awesome but I don't think my point and shoot will do them justice.

I'm a little particular about my toys. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I grew up with two younger brothers and had to share everything, most of which was almost always ruined by one of them. I thought about just ignoring the message all together, buuuuuut Jake has been a huge supporter of my hobbies. And with my current photography itch, he wants to be apart of it. So this is as good as any time for him to jump in and learn how to use the fancy dSLR.

To understand my response, you need to know that Jake requires explicit instructions. I mean EXPLICIT. For example, taking out the trash really means take the trash out, put in a new bag, and put the lid back on the bin. Jake interprets it literally as taking out the trash.

If you really want to use it...


1) put strap around your neck (make sure that if you drop the camera, it just ends up hurting your neck instead of falling to the floor)


2) support the camera and lens with your left hand from underneath


3) turn the dial on the left side to auto


4) turn the camera to on (button on the right side)


5) remove the lens cap

6) bring it up to your eye, push the shutter button down to focus (you'll see at least one square light up in the view finder)

7) when it's focused on the thing you want, push the shutter button all the way down


If you want to zoom, turn the lens (not the ring closest to you...the one with all the numbers on it)

I'd say he did pretty damned good for his first time. Take a look and see: