Photography
A gallery of frames I keep — and, below it, the field notes I’m writing as I learn the craft from zero. Shot on a Nikon Z6III with Nikkor and Tamron glass.
The Gallery
First frames developing
The gallery fills in as I shoot and edit. Until the first frames land, the field notes below are where the learning lives — start there.
Learning photography from zero
My photography field notes — written to myself as I learn the craft from zero on a Nikon Z6III. Kept public in case they help someone else starting out.
Learning
The from-zero curriculum — how a camera works up through each genre, written to be read in order.
The ground-floor mental model: what your Nikon Z6III actually does when you press the button, and the seven words of vocabulary every later note will lean on.
The one idea that, once it clicks, lets you take the camera off "Auto" forever: how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO together decide how bright your photo is — and what each one secretly does on the side.
A from-zero guide to getting your subject sharp: how the camera finds focus, how much of the scene ends up sharp, and which settings to pick for street, portraits, and dance.
How to see a scene — to arrange what's in the frame and to read the light falling on it — before you ever raise the camera to your eye.
A from-scratch walkthrough of your Nikon Z6III and your five lenses as one connected system, so you always know what to reach for and why.
A from-the-ground-up guide to photographing candid everyday life in public, using your Nikon Z6III and your five lenses, with a starting recipe and a one-week practice plan.
Purpose: teach you how to photograph wide scenery — mountains, coastlines, valleys, skies — from the ground up, using your exact Nikon Z6III kit, so that the picture in the camera looks as sharp and as rich as the vie…
How to make a flattering, sharp-eyed photograph of a person with your Nikon Z6III kit — why the 85mm lens is the classic choice, how to use it, and how to read the light on a face.
Purpose: a complete-beginner's guide to photographing a dancer in motion — your wife, solo or in a group, on a dark indoor stage and out in daylight — using your Nikon Z6III and your five lenses, with concrete setting…
How to shoot video of your wife dancing — solo or in a group, on an indoor stage or outdoors — with your Nikon Z6III, starting from no video knowledge at all.
Gear
What's in the bag, what each piece is for, and which lens or filter to reach for when.
A practical, reassuring guide to keeping your Nikon Z6III, your five lenses, your filters, your batteries, and your memory cards healthy — written for someone who has never owned a camera before.
A clean, complete reference for every piece of gear you own, so you always know what you have, what each item is for, and what threads or mounts pair with what.
The single reference that answers "which lens, which filter, which support — and why?" for every situation you'll shoot, mapped to your exact Nikon Z6III kit and your five goals: street, landscape, portrait, dance-sti…
Camera Setup
Setting up the Nikon Z6III for the first time — physical controls through menu settings, button by button.
Scenario Playbooks
One-page field recipes for real situations — dance on a dark stage, golden-hour landscapes, a street walkaround.
A one-page settings recipe for freezing your wife's dance on a dim indoor stage while you shoot from the audience.
A one-page settings recipe for filming your wife's dance on a dim indoor stage, with smooth, natural-looking motion.
A one-page settings recipe for a calm, deliberate landscape in the warm, low light of the hour after sunrise or before sunset.
A one-page settings recipe for shooting your wife's dance outdoors in daylight, plus a short note on shooting video of the same.
A one-page settings recipe for a planned portrait shoot where you control the light, the timing, and where everyone stands.
A one-page settings recipe for shooting candid people on the street: fast, discreet, and ready before the moment arrives.
Editing
From the raw file to the finished frame — editing fundamentals and the ON1 Photo RAW walkthrough.
Why we edit photos at all, why we shoot RAW instead of JPEG, and the standard step-by-step order an edit follows — the groundwork for using ON1 without getting lost.
The button-by-button companion to editing from zero. That note taught the thinking — why we edit, why RAW, the non-destructive idea, and the standard nine-step order an edit follows — without naming a single button. T…