Welcome to the maiden voyage of the blogship www.hazardmanual.com.
This is an endeavor I have been wanting to do for some time in an effort to bridge the gap between full fledged hard core photography lessons and the tired mantra of “Just go out and shoot.” While I don’t necessarily disagree with either of these completely, I believe there is a void between the two “methods” that keeps people like you and me from fanning an ember of interest in photography into a blaze of artistic passion that will last a lifetime and beyond. That last sentence may seem a bit much, but once you sink your teeth into this form of art, you will see what I mean. Let’s get real here.
Most of us don’t have the time or maybe even the desire to take full fledged photography courses. So maybe you have moseyed around the web, as you are now looking through some of the well known photography sites, in the search of information on how you can become more comfortable with your camera only to find posts that offer vague advice, or details that are already over your head, or my personal favorite the comment that simply says, just go out and shoot.
Alright, lets get to it then. I don’t mean to denigrate the educational methods above. I have used all of these forms of learning at one point or another, even the “just get out and shoot” has been a days mission for me before. What we need is a gap stop. This is where www.hazardmanual.com comes in to play. I have always been an out of the box thinker, and I learn best by using educational processes that are also often considered, outside the box. This site is a means to an end, this site is outside the box, this site is that gap stop. I will do my best to provide top notch content to help you and me further our skills. Along with top notch content, I am hoping you will join me to build a community that is VERY supportive and involved in helping each other learn.
One of the biggest reasons I, and many of my friends, never moved forward with our desire to get into photography was because of a fear of moving away from the automatic modes of our cameras. In the days where wasting each shot meant a rising cost in the need to purchase more and more film, an ounce of trepidation could be understood. But today we can use digital film which, aside from the initial cost, is free. This is the most liberating thing about digital cameras. You can shoot, review, and delete with almost no penalty. Regardless if you are starting with a small point and shoot, or a fancy DSLR, www.hazardmanual.com is to be a resource for learning about having no fear of your cameras advanced controls and taking control of your art instead of letting the camera’s computer make the art for you
So grab on tight, buckle your seatbelts, and all that good health and safety kinda stuff, grab your camera, and let’s throw caution to the wind and hazard manual.
