Sorry about the “Angie”, autocorrect thought it knew better than me.

At 90, no you are not what one would call a spring chicken! One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes you must snap away just to get the shot. No time to contemplate the rule of thirds and all that other stuff. Most cameras these days have enough megapixels to allow considerable cropping, so fire away and then crop at your leisure. You can fiddle around until you hit the spot that just feels right. The human brain has the ability to like what it sees or not like it. Sometimes it’s the same image, but the subject is just relocated a bit.

I design and supervise construction of earthen structures, ponds, lakes, terraces, fences, underground pipelines and so on. I tell my young trainees that with adequate experience and knowledge, as soon as you pull up to the structure you will know if it is built right or not, even before getting out the level. I’ve also told them that if they get one of those funny feelings, listen to the unconscious part your brain because it’s seeing something the conscious part is missing. In nearly a half century of doing this, those funny feelings have been right every time.

You will find the same thing with photos. Upon first sight, if your brain says, “That’s a crappy photo!” then most often no amount of tweaking and cropping will make it good. Maybe a bit less crappy, but not great. Kind of like putting lipstick and eye shadow on a sow, no matter how much you put on, she’s still going to be an old sow.

There are some very sharp and very experienced people on this site and a few of them aren’t afraid to tell you so. By all means read what they have to say and listen to the facts they present. The personal opinions, well kind of skim over some of them.

So hang in there, keep snapping away don’t think that nice weather is needed for good shots. Sometimes it’s the lousy weather that returns a real keeper. I personally like night photography and lighting. Wet streets improve both. Good luck.

Angie, you will find there are those here that like to dog pile onto others. I’ve been the recipient of a bunch. No matter what it is, everyone has been a beginner multiple times, even genius Albert Einstein. And he was a failure at a few things and even when he was older, some of his theories were proven wrong but he refused to accept it.

Some people think that their personal preference is always right and is the only right. There was that ostrich that had his head in the sand…

And not everyone sees the world the same way. Once I was at the Milwaukee Museum of Modern Arts and there was an empty acrylic box setting on a pedestal. I figured they were changing displays until I read the name of “Nothingness”. Yes, nothing was the exhibit. I’m a crappy artist but even I could do something like that! But I’m guessing there was at least one person that was able to contemplate nothing being in the box, even if it was the “artist “.

I can’t stand rap music but I recognize the fact that there are people who like it. So just do what makes you feel good and to hell with everyone else, myself included.