30-Day photography

BY MELISSA SPELTS

I sometimes talk to photographers who want to improve their photography skills but don’t know where to start. I decided to put together a photography challenge for you to work on particular skills. Here are some ideas for you to capture and some examples of photos I have taken that might give you inspiration. I think it is best to just take a large number of photos so you can choose the best one. Try different settings and lighting to see what you can come up with. I remember taking a photo of some donuts for the cover one time. The photo just wasn’t turning out to be very good. I had my husband hold up a light reflector, and, all of a sudden, it was perfect. Sometimes, the smallest thing will make the difference. I would love to hear if you make it through my 30-day challenge and see some of your best stories. Email me at melissa@connectionpub.com.

Looking through this year’s art contest submissions I am reminded what a beautifully diverse and talented group of people I live among, each seeing and interpreting the world in a unique way. Our annual art contest brings that reminder home to the magazine’s pages, but since we don’t have room to feature them all, I encourage you to visit the website to appreciate the talents of this year’s artists: connectionpub.com/art-contest