I was sitting on the couch, and she hopped up, thinking she needed some up close attention.

One of the things I Have learned how to do with my camera is control the focus point, you’ll notice that her eye (though closed…) is in focus, but her nose isn’t. Before I learned my new tricks, I would have had a hard time, because the camera would have wanted to focus on that great big nose that was in my face.

I’m also proud to say that the picture above, (and nearly all of my latest pictures, actually…) have been shot on Manual Mode — which means that I have been in control of all of the settings that determine exposure: ISO, Shutter and Aperture. And it’s getting more natural and smoother and quicker to get the right settings.

It has been fun to be a beginner with my camera. It is not easy to be a beginner, especially not with my perfectionist tendencies, but I am enjoying the challenge. I am sure I will be a beginner for a lot longer, but looking back over the pictures I have taken, I have gotten some good ones, but I can tell they are getting better as the year goes on. Taking pictures every day for more than a hundred days will do that for you.

(And in case you were wondering, Cocoa seems to have fully recovered from her run-in with Mark’s truck a few weeks ago. Dumb dog.)