What was I thinking?

I like to think that I am keeping my mind young by continuing adult education, but sometimes I wonder if it is working. I still misplace my keys, sunglasses, cell phone, etc. Sometimes my sunglasses are right on top of my head, or my keys are in my hand when I am looking for them! Today, I met some girlfriends for lunch. We were in the restaurant for about an hour and forty-five minutes. When I came out to get in my car, I approached what I thought was my car but it was running so I thought I must have gone to the wrong car. I looked in the driver's seat and no one was in there so I looked at the car more closely - yep, it was mine! I had gotten out of the car and started talking to one of the other girls that had already shown up and completely forgot to turn my car off! Boy, did I feel like an idiot and what a waste of gasoline! Actually, I feel very lucky that I even had a car when I came out of the restaurant. So much for keeping my mind young!

I do enjoy continuing adult education. I am taking photography classes to learn how to use my camera on settings other than "auto" and have also taken photoshop classes. I like the photography classes because we are assigned "homework" for the week to go out and take specific kinds of pictures. We bring the pictures in the following week and they are critiqued by the instructor. It is really a great way to learn what you are doing right and what you need to improve. I think I have learned a lot but still have a lot more to learn. In the first photography class we did a field trip to the Oakland Cemetery, an historic cemetery in Atlanta. It was very early on a very cold morning in December. It was kind of eerie walking around in the cemetery. There was a lot of damage in the cemetery from the tornado that had come through Atlanta in March of 2008. In that class, everyone was on about the same level as far as learning how to use their camera. I felt pretty good in that class. My current photography class is on composition - learning to see creatively. This is definitely something I struggle with. In this class, there are several people that could be professional photographers. Everything they bring in is perfect - good composition, good lighting, good colors, etc. I really feel like a dummy in this class - but, hey, that's why I'm there - I'm trying to learn. Our field trip for this class was to Little 5 Points in Atlanta. I have lived in Atlanta my entire life and this was a first for me. It was definitely another different experience. It was a cold and rainy Saturday but the rain did let up after we had been there about half an hour. There were homeless people around everywhere, but some of them were quite funny. Our instructor had told us that these homeless people are different from the homeless people that are in "downtown" as these homeless are friendly. They were - and seemed harmless. There were some very eclectic stores in Little 5 Points. Many of the students came in with some very unique pictures - our assignment for this shoot was similar shapes, patterns, and repetition of form in the environment. It's funny how you look at things differently when you are learning to see things creatively.

Well, there won't be any pictures for this post as I didn't think I got any good shots on Saturday. Maybe next time. In the meantime, I am constantly looking at my environment as a form of art now. Hopefully, learning to see creatively will come easier for me in the near future!