Summer School

Since summer vacation started, I've scanned hundreds of family photos so that we will have them in digital format. I've read dozens of books - about travel, about landscape photography, about Scotland. I've started my travel blog in earnest and trying to finish my Japan journal.

I've learned about f-stops, ISO speeds, aperture, exposure compensation, UV and polarizing filters, the rule of thirds, the golden mean, framing...

I've learned about my mother's childhood, about my grandmother and my grandfather, about how young and happy my parents looked and how cute my sister and I were, and about my godfather, who had scars on his back from WWII and once played guitar with the Rolling Stones and used to sing Streets of London at parties.

I've learned things about blogging and about writing and I've learned that it's not always easy, for some reason, to do it all the way I know I should. I've learned I've got some phobias, some hang-ups, some reservations when it comes to putting myself on paper, as if I'm afraid I'll run out of ink. And I'm learning to tackle them.

There's a lot I'm finding that I need to learn, far away from the classroom.