Ok...now I'm nervous: On the 16th my 14 year old son has a a date to the Highschool semi formal with a beautiful young lady, and I was excited to maybe use some of the little bit I...

bucklev76 Loc: Maine

On the 16th my 14 year old son has a a date to the Highschool semi formal with a beautiful young lady, and I was excited to maybe use some of the little bit I have learned, about photography and hopefully get some nice pictures with my poor man's kit I have been assembling. Now I found out her father is a photographer with a well known and good reputation in our area. I don't know if I can go thru the shame of using my ancient hand me down d70 and my budget lens options. Again I am very much just dipping my toe in the water and am really nervous about displaying my lack of skill and knowledge, let alone my "learning" budget based photography kit. Am I just being a wimp? Part of me wants to go for it anyway and not care but I can't shake the nervousness lol

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

bucklev76 wrote:

On the 16th my 14 year old son has a a date to the... (show quote)

Yeah, you're being a wimp.
Your D70 took good pictures when it was new, there's no reason why it won't take good pictures now. Nobody will expect a beginner to compare with a professional. If he's a half decent person he won't try to make you feel bad. Do the best you can and hold your head up.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Mac wrote:

Yeah, you're being a wimp.
Your D70 took good pictures when it was new, there's no reason why it won't take good pictures now. Nobody will expect a beginner to compare with a professional. If he's a half decent person he won't try to make you feel bad. Do the best you can and hold your head up.

You have but 2 choices...bow out or go for it.

What's the worst than can happen...go for it.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Cameras don’t take photographs, people do. You can do this and, odds are, you’ll get some very good images out of it.

DvlDawg Loc: Pensacola, FL

I’d personally say, go for it! You do you. Take “your” photos and be proud of what “you” did. Who knows, you can probably pick up some tricks or knowledge. I have found through my course of learning, that other photographers are really helpful and don’t care what you shoot with as long as you are shooting and having fun. I hope this helps. ~Mike

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

joer wrote:

You have but 2 choices...bow out or go for it.

What's the worst than can happen...go for it.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Go ahead and take pictures. You might even get some help and pointers - esp if they keep hanging together as an item for a while. Make friends with the family.

bucklev76 Loc: Maine

You guys are so awesome...just the reassurance I need, thank you so much

bucklev76 Loc: Maine

You guys are so awesome...just the reassurance I need, thank you so much

bucklev76 Loc: Maine

You guys are so awesome...just the reassurance I need, thank you so much

Paulie Loc: NW IL

Mac wrote:

Yeah, you're being a wimp.
Your D70 took good pictures when it was new, there's no reason why it won't take good pictures now. Nobody will expect a beginner to compare with a professional. If he's a half decent person he won't try to make you feel bad. Do the best you can and hold your head up.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

bucklev76 wrote:

On the 16th my 14 year old son has a a date to the... (show quote)

Yes, you are being a wimp, but just because someone is a professional doesn't mean that they are any good. A decent professional will encourage an enthusiast, possibly offer some well informed guidance. You will know if the images you create are interesting or not, and you may capture things that a professional does not for all sorts of reasons. Go for it, learn, and trust yourself. People learn from making mistakes and working out why they were mistakes - except for Darwin awards of course - so fail, fail often, but try to learn how to correct the failures for the next time!

kerry12 Loc: Harrisburg, Pa.

I was at a relatives wedding taking pictures with my slr film camera as a guest. While the wedding photographer was taking a short break at the reception,he came over and asked about my camera and general chit chat about photography. Before he went back to work he offered some good tips to help take better photos. It was a very nice experience. He may do the same.

bucklev76 wrote:

On the 16th my 14 year old son has a a date to the... (show quote)

bucklev76 Loc: Maine

Kerry12 That would be awesome... Would love some hands on tutoring...I definitely am going to do this...I would rather have some bad pictures of good memories than none at all...and hopefully I will capture some images worthy of sharing on here with you wonderful people

Bill_de Loc: US

The young lady's father could be your new best friend. In the type of setting, and considering the circumstances, if he is a true professional he will most likely give you some advice. Just let him know you are open to it. You have one thing in common already as you are both nervous fathers. And that has nothing to do with photography.

--