Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

If you don’t know by now, photography is one of my hobbies outside of reading/books, cooking, and crafts. I first became interested in photography when I took a photography class in high school. When I went to college, I swore I was going to take a photography class as an extra credit class, but I never got the chance. Scheduling conflicts, don’t ya love them?

I spent the better part of the summer getting to know my camera. With the help of my camera manual and the several internet resources, I taught myself all I could about photography and my camera. While my photography skills did improve I wanted to learn more about composition, metering, etc. I searched repeatedly for a class that was within a reasonable price range for my small budget. Nothing popped up.

It wasn’t until my mom sent me a link of Facebook (we live in the same house just so you know) about a local photographer who was giving a photography class at a botanical garden. And it was within the reasonable price of $90. Needless to say, I jumped on this opportunity rather quickly.

This past Saturday I got up early and traveled out to Belmont, NC where the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is located. Dave Kelly, a renowned wildlife photographer, taught the class. At first, I was really intimidated by the people there, but I wanted to get the most of the class, so I tried to relax more as the day went on. Dave Kelly, a renowned wildlife photographer, taught me and 10 other students a good bit about photography including tips on shooting in manual mode (which is highly suggested) and general information about holding the camera, resources to use, and much more. He even took a walk around the conservatory with us and gave us little personal sessions while we shot images of the flowers.

I highly recommend that if you are in or around the area of Belmont, NC and you are eager to learn about photography, you sign up for this class. Not only is it affordable, but you learn a lot in the process.

Below are some of the photos I snapped while we went through the hands on part of the class. If you want to use any of the images for anything, please feel free to do so – but ask me first!

Observatory