I took an amazing class at the Teahouse Studio (www.teahouseartstudio.com) on Saturday.  This one was about Adobe Lightroom, which is replacing Photoshop to organize and edit photos.

I am excited to start working with it.  I have photos on my phone, on my camera, on my husband’s camera, on my daughter’s camera, on my computer in several different places, and on the backup drive.  I can rarely find the photo I want without long frustrating searches.  I envy the people who have their photos organized by year and backed up on CDs.  Oh, how I long to be one of them.

After Saturday’s class, I know how to tag my photos.  I know how to delete the duplicates from my computer.  I know how to sort them my year, by subject, by location, by the camera that photographed them.

As Teacher Wendy Tienken (http://society6.com/WendyTienken/prints?tag=photography) was explaining it all, it seemed very straightforward and clear.  We’ll see how I feel as I read over my notes and begin the work on making sense out of my photographic chaos.

I’m excited to begin.  Wendy was a strong advocate for doing 10 minutes a day.  She pointed out that in a week you would have done an hour.  In a year, I should have everything sorted out.  Then I can begin on scanning all the stuff that’s still only in albums.

She touched on the editing stuff, too, which I found fascinating since I was never able to understand Photoshop.  Now I can add a watermark to my photos.  I can blue up the skies.  I can adjust skin tones and take out red-eye.  I’m going to enjoy fooling around.  It may make me feel like a real photographer at last.

Now I wonder if I can find a photo-taking class.  The last photography class I took focused on dark room techniques.  Even then it was a dying art.  I don’t know anything about photographic style.  I wish someone could teach me how to see.