I got my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix, in early 2008. When my son left for China in September, I made a photo diary on Picasa to mark the year going by. Later I joined a Flickr group run by a Crooked Timber blogger, and in the fall of 2020 I started submitting photos to the “On the Road” feature at the blog Balloon-Juice.

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All this time, though I loved taking pictures and shared them often, I knew nothing about photography and even less about post-processing. But eventually I retired, there was a pandemic on, and I didn't have much to do for fun. The Balloon-Juice adventure finally prompted a question: Why not start exploring photography more seriously?

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So I did.

 

I got a new camera, then another new camera. I carry the small one in my pocket wherever I go, so it's always ready to take whatever pictures the world offers as I go about my daily life. I keep the bigger one on hand as well, using it more often for specifically photo-oriented excursions. I'm exploring