brittany | hyde | photography.: January 2013

For Christmas, my mom gave me a two day photo class run by Nikon. I haven't sat in anything resembling a lecture in over eight years so I wasn't sure how two full days would be for me. Turns out, class is WAY MORE FUN when it's on a topic you love! It was seminar style which I think was a great place to start - no fear of being called out in front of everyone (basically my biggest fear. Ever.).

While I knew a lot of the material from my high school and college photography classes, I learned a ton too. I'm proud to say that I've never allowed myself to forget the basics but will readily admit that I am using the crutch of instant results to be pretty lazy. Learning on film forces you to think about light and composition and a million other factors; not seeing the results until you have developed the film adds a whole different dynamic that we don't get with digital. While I technically know what I should be concentrating on and when, it's so easy to forget when you're clicking away with basically zero ramifications besides the time it will take to get through all your images. I'm excited to take my new and old knowledge, apply it, and make it habit over the next few months...and take the leap into more workshops and classes!

I decided that it was time to get my three year old MacBook Pro into some sort of organized place (PC girl at heart, I can barely do anything on my Mac, it's pathetic.). Most of that had to do with putting images in folders that made sense but I also got excited about creating two "Best of" albums; one for 2011 and one for 2012. While that might a little over the top, 2011 was such an incredible year of travel for me, it seemed silly to not do one for that year as well.

So here is 2012 in a nutshell. There are a few repeats on here but I tried to find some that haven't seen the light of day in a while! If this task showed me anything it's that I didn't shoot enough in 2012 - New Year's resolution has been found! I'm sure these aren't my technically best shots but they are some of my favorites. Warm summer days sipping wine and celebrating engagements, weddings and babies galore, winter hikes and trips around the world, I certainly feel lucky to have had so many incredible experiences. While 2012 had many many lows, these pics remind me of all the great times I had too.