Part 1 - My Weekend "Photography Mentoring"

This past weekend, I met with local Photographer Adam Turow, for the 2nd session of my photography mentoring. For this session, we met outdoors at a nice historical park called Jockey Hollow, which is part of the Morristown National Historical Park System.  It was a 'warmer day' at 48 degrees. As soon as I got there, I realized the reason he wanted to meet up there. Even in the Winter time, there are plenty of great subjects to photograph!

Adam taught me about lines, texture, composition - and about how to line yourself up & really "think" about the shot before you take it.
I also learned to shoot in "Aperture Priority" mode which I will admit, I never used before Saturday. I always had my camera on full manual up until then thinking that was the only way to go. I love the idea of "Aperture Priority" for outdoor shooting with "non-moving" objects. It's still manual for the most part, but you don't have to worry too much about the shutter speed. I liked loved it.

I also learned how to frame a shot, use my exposure composition setting and white balance setting. [Edit 2/1: I truly meant to write "exposure compensation" setting - but somehow ended up writing "composition" & I just caught it. I guess that's what happens when I multi-task! *Sigh*] 

I really learned how to use my histogram after each shot to see if I got it 'right'. Histogram is amazing once you learn how to read it. I learned soooo much! It was well worth every penny!

Jockey Hollow has some really great historical buildings, structures, outdoor scenery & pretty views. I would love to go back there in the summer time when everything is in bloom.

Here are some of the photos I took. There's a lot. Brace yourself. Sorry! I will also admit to using Lightroom to process most of them - just because I am a Lightroom addict. So as a result, none of these are SOOC.

So I have to ask ... Which picture do you like? 

 I am going to do a smaller follow up post on Wednesday about the Wick House in Jockey Hollow.