Introductions *updated May 18 @ 1:34 a.m.*

Hi there everyone!  I'm going to get the ball rolling with introductions.  I'm asking people to introduce themselves via the questions below so we all know who it is that we're talking with when the lessons and photo feedback starts.  Share as much or as little as you are comfortable with -- I say that a lot, but it's really up to you.   And post a photo if you like!

1. What is your name and location?  My name is Melissa and I currently reside in southern Arizona.  I'm being vague because I imagine I will post photos of my little boy for assignments, so I don't want to be too public.  More on privacy/security in a later post.
2. What is your favorite type of photography, both to shoot and to view?  To shoot, no doubt I love macro photography.  Extreme close-up shots, and along with that, food photography like you see in Food and Wine or Bon Appetit.  I recently purchased a macro lens, the Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro and I am having fun learning to use it, though it is more complex than I imagined.  As for viewing, I love people-oriented shots; beautiful, crystal-clear shots of kids, families, newborns, maternity, etc.  But I'm not so great at taking them myself!  Food and flowers are much easier to shoot.  I've never had to chase a chocolate soufflé around my dining room table to take a picture like I have had to chase my son to get a shot! 
3. Describe your photography experience/skill level.  Hmm, let's see.  In college, I bought a Pentax IQ Zoom 900, which is a 35mm film camera that also had a macro setting.  It was 38-90mm point and shoot, which I didn't know about the mm until I just looked it up a few seconds ago.  It meant nothing to me then, it just zoomed in real close.  :-)  I loved to take macro shots with it, but it used odd batteries that were both hard to find and expensive and if you left the camera on by accident, it didn't shut off by itself.  Due to that, photography was a very expensive hobby and I never went any further.  I rarely took photos from 1992 until the end of 2006, when I was pregnant with my son and we bought a Canon PowerShot S3 IS.  It's a great point-and-shoot camera and if I'm going someplace where I just can't take my big camera to, I'll take that.  I would occasionally get some phenomenal photos with it, and last year, I started to want to be able to take better shots all the time.  I would see photos on food blogs or other places and I'd wonder how they got such amazing shots.  The bloggers usually had something about the equipment that they used, and it made me look into it further.  A little more than a year ago, I only had a vague idea of what a DSLR was but I knew that all of the food bloggers that I followed used them.  All I knew is that it was a bigger camera than mine, more expensive than mine, had lots more buttons and settings than mine and did more tricks than mine, LOL.  Even when I bought my DSLR last October, I knew nothing about lenses.  All I knew is that mine came with an 18-55mm kit lens and that's all I needed to know; I was good to go!  And that leads us to the next question.
4. Tell us about your gear -- both what you currently have and your wish list, if you like.   *Newsflash - June 4, 2010*  As of yesterday, I am the proud but poorer owner of a Canon 5D Mark II, along with the corresponding battery grip, extra battery, CF card reader, 1 16-gig card, 2 8-gig extreme cards!  I'm dealing with some learning-curve frustrations at the moment, relating to my shots being very underexposed -- what seems to be abnormally so.  Of course, I am at the stage where I don't know if it is operator error or a problem with the camera itself, so stay tuned -- I've got lots of test driving to do. 
5. I have a Canon T1i, or 500D.  It's a great first DSLR and then some. I have an entire list of my gear here.  It's not entirely up to date, as some things have moved from my wish list to my gear list, but I'll try to update it soon.  I know three of the people (so far) that are participating in this class shoot Nikon, and three four of us shoot Canon, so it will be interesting to see the difference.  Maybe we'll do a shoot using the same standard prop like a can of Coke, just for fun, to see how they look side-by-side.  Some of my favorite photographers shoot Nikons, so I have absolutely no Canon prejudice.  Had the person that I turn to for recommendations of all-things-camera-related told me to get a Nikon, I would have listened.  He just happens to be a Canon person, so I went with that.  My wish list is pretty easy but expensive.  At the end of the summer, I plan to upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II full-frame camera, and along with that, I will add one more lens to my bag, a Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS zoom, the first version of this lens, not the second.  The newer Mark II version of the lens is just more than I am willing to pay for a lens, not that the first edition is cheap.  Other than that, as far as a wish list, I could see myself getting an ultra wide-angle somewhere down the line for traveling, but it will be a while before I can justify adding that to my bag because I don't think I'd use it very much.  And maybe an 85mm f/1.2L, which is crazy expensive too, but the photographers that I love all see to have this for their full-frame cameras, or at least the less-expensive version, the 85mm f/1.8.  And maybe upgrade from the 50mm f/1.8 to the f/1.4.  Or f/1.2.  Or the f/1.0!  Oh dear.  My name is Melissa and I am a lens-a-holic.  I am powerless in my addiction... 
6. What do you hope to learn from this class?  I hope to learn to be more consistent with my shooting.  For every amazing shot I take, I have 25 (or more, ugh) not-so-amazing shots.  I feel like I understand the basics of aperture, shutter speed, etc., but I need to be able to bring them all together and most importantly, I need to practice each as a separate component, which is why this class is so appealing.  It really starts from the beginning and is like juggling:  each week, another ball is thrown in the air and you eventually learn to add another aspect or component to your skills rather than trying to learn juggling with five or six balls at a time.  
7. Is there anything else you want to share with the other participants?  I'm really excited to be doing this with other people, so thank you for joining.  I have been looking at the 12-week course for two months but didn't start because there was no feedback aspect to it, no interaction with others.  I kept waiting for someone to start another "go-round" online, but finally decided that I could start that "go-round" myself, and not just with strangers but with people that I know.
8. Do you use photo processing software, and if so, which one?  I primarily use Photoshop Creative Suite 4 Extended, but I have Photoshop Elements 8 as well, along with the beta for Lightroom 3, which ends in June.  I may eventually get PS CS5 and Lightroom 3 when it is released but I am still figuring out how to use the version I have!  Perhaps after we've worked through the 12 weeks, we can find a self-paced photo processing series to do as a group?  Let me know what you think in the comments.  If you don't have software yet but want to go beyond Picasa or Gimp, consider getting Elements 8.  It can handle much of what Photoshop CS does, and you can find it on sale at times for $69.  It can really take your photography to the next level.  That being said, I at times get torn about altering real life.  My son has a scar right between his eyes from when he fell at school and needed stitches, but you wouldn't know it from his photos.  When he is older, looking back at his childhood photos, he won't be able to tell when he got his scar because there is no evidence of it photographically!  I struggle with this issue.  I want people/things to look their best, but I don't want them to be fake.  Perhaps we'll have a discussion about this one day, but let me know where you stand on alterations.  

Okay, now it's your turn.  Please answer the same questions, and make your answers as short or long as you like.  I tend to be rather wordy (I can hear the laughter now...), so if you don't want to share as much, that's fine.  If you are reading this, scratching your head going, "I have no idea what she is talking about, f/what???" don't panic.  You will understand after Week 1, I promise.  And by way of introductions, I'll explain the links that brought us all to this page to read this, in order of signing on:

1. Me.  Well, that one was a little obvious.  
2. Eric:  Our sons go to the same preschool together.  We would see one another at pick up and drop off, and birthday parties.  His lovely wife Beth knew that I was becoming interested in photography, I frequently received updates from her, and was excited when she told me that he bought a new camera a few months ago!  The shots I've seen so far are phenomenal.
3. Desiree:  Recently, we were both at a park playing with our kids, and I noticed that she had the same camera bag as me.  Me being me, I walked over and started chatting with her, and if I remember correctly, she bought her DSLR around the time that I bought mine (correct me if I'm wrong).  We talked for a few minutes and exchanged contact information in the hopes of going shooting together!  :-)  When I decided to put this class together, I asked her if she would be interested in joining, and I'm thrilled that she is!
4. Lisa:  Lisa and I worked together a few years ago and have remained friends.  I remember that she always carried her huge camera with her, which meant nothing to me back then, LOL.  Now I understand so clearly!  She posts wonderful landscape shots on FB!
5. Amy:  My sweet friend Amy was a graduate student (being vague here due to privacy) at the University where I work.  My son and her daughter were born within weeks of one another, and we first met in the hallway at the school when she had her lovely baby daughter with her, sleeping in a baby carrier!  Of course her daughter is no longer a baby and she is now a graduate of my school rather than a student.  She is lives in Alaska and has added another little one to her family, and I hope we'll see lots of photos of them as part of our assignments.
6. Linda:  I recently went to a meeting of a local digital photography club, and Linda walked in and sat down at the table next to me!  Well, truth be told, I don't think there were any other seats open, so she may not have had much of a choice, LOL.  But we started talking (are you seeing a pattern here, folks?  Apparently, that lesson about "don't talk to strangers" never stuck), and arranged to find one another on FB, and here we are.  Like me, Linda is new to DSLR photography. 
7. Ed:  I met Ed in a three-session class (or was it four?) for Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge, which wasn't photography per se, but rather a basic introduction to data file management and processing the files made by our cameras in Adobe RAW and Bridge, which both come with Photoshop.  The RAW is the file format (sort of like JPEG or TIFF files but with  more information) and Bridge is the file manager for Photoshop.  If you are not already shooting in RAW, I hope that you will be by the time the class is over.  More on that as we work through the lessons!  Ed and I met again in a Portrait Photography workshop (two 90-minute sessions) that I found to be totally useless, LOL.  But at that class, I had more of a chance to talk with Ed and saw his photography and I was quite impressed.  In particular, I remember a shot of the Thunderbirds from the Pima Air Show -- I don't think I'll ever forget it.  I hope that he will post it here.  
8. Rachel:  Rachel and I first met in the waiting room of our OB's office when we were both pregnant, and then met again months later when our kids went the same "school."  She is one of the loveliest people I know and I am hoping she'll share photos of her daughter, who is so beautiful!
9. Added 06/02/10 Heidi:  Heidi is Linda's daughter and has signed on for the class as well!  Welcome, Heidi! 
10. I have a hunch that G is going to sign on, but I'll hold off on the introduction until I know for sure.
11. ???  Do you know someone that would like to join?  Invite them along.  

I think 8-10 would be a perfect group size for this, so we're right where we should be whether or not additional people join.  If you look at my original FB message, you can see the names of the other people if others want to "friend" one another on FB, or we can form a group if someone knows how to set it up.

Okay, that's it for me -- now it's your turn.  For convenience sake, here are the questions so you can just cut and paste into a post of your own.  I look forward to reading your posts.  

1. What is your name and location?
2. What is your favorite type of photography, both to shoot and to view?
3. Describe your photography experience/skill level.
4. Tell us about your gear -- both what you currently have and your wish list, if you like.
5. What do you hope to learn from this class?
6. Is there anything else you want to share with the other participants?
7. Do you use photo processing software, and if so, which one?