I'm a Photo n00b

My name is Shelly, and I'm a photo n00b (spelled with two zeros).

CNet describes me as a "Dabbler" -

I'm exploring photography as a fun hobby but getting serious enough for an SLR and a few lenses. I devote some of my time specifically to photography when I travel. I sometimes have my nephews and nieces pose for me at family gatherings, and I have several hundred pictures of the family cat. I'm thinking about taking a weekend photo seminar. I might make a 16x20-inch print of a great shot and frame it.

That's pretty much dead-on accurate. I've been a point-n-shoot picture snapping enthusiast for years. My father, who passed away 7 years ago, was a photography enthusiast as well. Photography is one of those things I've been meaning to get around to getting more serious about for years.

The time has come.

A few weeks ago, I purchased the Canon Digital Rebel XTi and its EF-S 18-55mm kit lens, along with a telephoto lens, the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.

Ever since, I've been devouring photography books on camera settings, techniques, composition, and just about anything else photography-related that I can get my hands on.

My main interest is nature photography, though I expect to also shoot family gatherings and parties and the like. Since I blog a lot anyway, I thought it might be fun to be able to look back at my journey through all this stuff once I figure out what I'm doing :)

So, welcome to my journey from photo n00b to photographer... if I'm lucky!