New, and excited I found this!

[mpb123]

Hi All,

I am so excited I found this forum. I was practically drooling over the endless amount of information and helpful people on here. A little about me, I am 23 and am just learning about the joys of photography. For years, I had a point and shoot Canon power shot and really enjoyed taking basic pictures and messing around on Photoshop. Recently, I received a Canon Rebel xsi as a gift, and have been hooked! I really don't know much about photography, but I am eager to learn as much as I can. I just moved out to California from Minnesota. Not knowing many people here- I have taken to spending more time walking around San Francisco with my camera. It is a true joy.

I am utterly fascinated by the talent of so many photographers out there. I strive to have just a fraction of some of your talent. I have one question for you guys - do you know of any photography mentorships out there? I would love to find someone I can connect with through photography and learn from them.

I would be very interested in starting a dialogue with someone on here if they are interested in mentoring a beginning photographer. It doesn't have to be a huge commitment or anything.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

[Killjoy]

Hi Molly,

Welcome to CPF. Glad you found us. :w00t:

There are a lot of groups on Meetup.
Just do a search for Photography, and you can find a bunch of them.
There are some for Strobists, Studio Photography, a few that do a lot of daily trips for Landscape, etc.
I'm in about twenty different groups myself.
That doesn't mean that I make it to all the meetups, but I am in a lot of them.
Some of them are free, such as the Smug Groups. The one in the city meets at The Sports Basement in Potrero Hill. The have a guest speaker every month.
The Smug Group in the East Bay has Lewis Kemper as the guest speaker on Monday the 21st of this month. He is one of Canon's "Gatherer's of Light".
It should be a good meeting. Here's a link to that page so you don't have to search for it.

I love to shoot in the city. You can see a few of my images on my Smugmug page. (Link at the bottom of the post). I've even been known to drag a couple of the other folks on this forum with me.
I must admit, it was easier last year when I was out of work, but I did find a job last June, so that's put a damper on my shooting.

What are your transportation arrangements? Got a car? Or are you limited to public transport? That will determine where you might or might not be able to get to.

[mpb123]

Thanks for the info! I will definetly look into the Meetup groups. They seem like a great resource and way to meet other photographers.

I don't have a car, but I have 2 feet and a bus pass!

[lvolkjr]

Hey Molly,

I'm from Minnesota too! But I've been out here a lot longer.

Like Alan, I too am in the east bay smug mug group and I can't wait to see Lewis Kemper's presentation.

I have gone out shooting with Alan and he's been a good source of information especially when you get stuck on something your not quite sure of. All you've got to do is ask. We also meet up for lunch once and awhile or help each other with home improvements.

Anyways, welcome to the forum and ask a lot of questions and as long as you have a basic understanding how the camera handles light you should be good. You will need to take a lot of pictures. Good luck!

One more thing, I have season tickets to the Giants Baseball games. There are 3 days they play the Twins in June. In case you were interested and a baseball fan. I'm always looking for other Twins fans to go with. It's rare that they make it to San Francisco. Of course you can always see them play the Oakland A's across the bay.

[Ahh!]

Welcome from Frisco!

[Killjoy]

Sorry you couldn't make it Molly, but here's a little review of last night's event.