Generally when I post here, it is focused on a photo.  I don't need to tell any of you that I am not a writer.  I was the kid in your high school history class who preferred the multiple choice questions over the essay questions who you could never figure out.  But I love photography -- both creating it and viewing it.

I have had some sort of  camera since I was 11 or 12 years old and got the Girl Scout version of the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye.  I still have some of the snapshots I took with that somewhere in box in my bedroom waiting to be digitized and then put in an album.

Since the release of some consumer DSLR cameras in my price range, I have been lusting for one.  So for my birthday last year, I let the folks who asked what to get "the person who has everything she wants" know that I would appreciate a contribution to my camera fund.  I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D60.  I included the link so that those who are interested can check out the specs, but really the most important aspect is that I LOVE this camera.  It's comfortable in my hands.  I'm learning more about its controls.  I carry it in my car and often am drawn to turn around and/or stop to take a photo I "see."  Sometimes they work, sometimes not, but I'm having fun with this.

But the last time I had a relatively sophisticated camera was my beloved SLR that I lost one day when I was out with my kids taking photos for a camera contest in Austin.  It's a long sad story -- won't bore you.  So I need to learn about my new camera and refresh some lost knowledge.  I looked around for classes, checked the local university's evening education schedule, asked at our local camera store, all without success.  So I changed direction.  I thought to look for a camera club.  

In my Google search, I found three clubs in my area.  I chose to attend a meeting of the Fort Worth Camera Club because, from their website, they looked like an active club with frequent outings and educational opportunities, plus the photo on their banner showed a diverse group of members -- all ages and both men and women.  I first went in January and joined that night and haven't been disappointed.  It is a large (about 100 people attend each of the two monthly meetings)and friendly group.  I have gone to one of the classes offered (for a $5 fee) and enjoyed it.

One of the activities of this club is a monthly competition.  Members are encouraged to enter.  They bring in an outside judge, who, upon request, offers critiques.  There are two categories, print and digital, each broken into three classes, beginner, advanced and master.  So this month I took the plunge and enter one photo in the beginner print class.  It was one of 25 entries.  The judge this month was a woman who is an assistant curator of photography at the Amon Carter Museum who has an eye for quirky stuff.  I got lucky.  I won first place in my class!  Here's the image.  I think it looks much better as a glossy print.  I titled it "Black Ice."  Probably the most gratifying thing to me was that in her comments, the judge "got" what I thought I had conveyed in the image.