May Yahweh be praised.

I can't think of a more fitting image.
(It is not a matter of luck. His will be done.)

Yes out-door is better.

I don't remember exactly where. It may have been the Omaha or KC zoo. or it could have been somewhere along or west of the Mississippi. I stumbled upon it, reviewing old pictures, and it caught my eye. I am in the process of going through my old DVDs of pictures. The DVDs were made after the shots, I when I was getting ready to buy a new computer. It probably was taken with my old DSLR, without GPS.

Yes,
Or she/he has been in there so long, he/she knows the routine.
Then again, I wonder how he/she sees me. Thinking? You fool, what are you doing?

The people in the picture are actually a reflection, off the glass. They are passing behind me, without a concern, busy going somewhere else, in the same cage/building.

At year's end, I was just going over some previous photo's. This one, although not perfect (it was taken through a glass cage),
I thought it might be something someone might find interesting. Maybe not.

(Download)

As a beginner, I think it is important to keep in the conscious mind, what we are trying to achieve.
I like the question: Will this hold my viewers interest?. There are other equally valid questions.
Your choice of question question will have an impact on your work. Without a question as a guide
who knows where you will end. As one teacher told us, in ten years you will be somewhere. Without
a "guide" who knows where that will be.

It is only by the force of repeated action that a habit is formed. Once the habit is formed, the
question no longer needs to be asked consciously.

Just a thought

Glad to read about this situation. It provides an insight for what I should try to achieve.
I guess it is like a chef who tries to improve each meal that he/she prepares. Not
all meals will be 5-star.

You have all hinted, at the underlying change that has occurred in society, while longing back for yesterday.
Do you want to go back to the twentieth century of photography? Sorry it is not going to happen.

An artist has to move with the culture. I would prefer to improve my photographic "skill", so my
family and friends have a better experience at looking at my photos, rather than worry about
a "public bog" society, that keeps croaking for more attention.

The high point days of Look-Life-Time-NG are past. Printed news is on its last breath. What has
changed?

I am interested in improving my skill for its own reward. I look for small steps.
I find a lot of improvements in the use of post-capture editing. I see more and more the
importance of film editors, (e.g. movie production). Photographers start with "good" material; that is important.
In the early days, the cost of capture was very high. For that reason, capture was the most important part
of photography. Today, capture is but a sneeze. Most people will that pictures and accept
what they captured, as good enough. Canned "AI" is being developed to automatically make
the simplest improvements. But the still untamed skill of the artist, resides in seeing and choosing.

If you are looking for the super-stars, give up. There is so much data dumped upon us (forest vs trees),
we may not be see the value of a person's work until the entire work is completed. A drop of water does
not make a flood. Look at the music industry, there were "one (or a few) hit wonders". Rather than searching
for the next star to admire, I would rather improve my skill. To me that is the value of this association.
Lets talk about doing better. Put the focus on the elements of photography, and skip the praise.

I only had about 1000 slides to convert, and did it on the cheap. I used a pixel phone camera, and a phone tripod, and a slide tray, and remote shutter release. I setup the the camera to focus on a specific (central) spot on the slide tray. marked the location to know when the slide was in position. Then I slid the slides into position one after the other. Because of the improvements of the pixel camera software, it slides turned out "acceptable". Considering they were decades old, loss of color was a problem.
Once I was setup and tested, it took about one nights work to convert the slides. Just push, snap and push again. I let the smart phone do the digital photographic computer work. I read that the Pixel 3 has AI to make it even better. Since it is software, I ame hoping it will come to my phone in the coming months.

I have a Pixel (version 1). I probably do more post shot editing, because the phone has a built stabilizing mechanism.
The AI in these are getting better with each software upgrade. I am looking forward to the next version which
makes taking night pictures even better.
Without stability, my pictures would always be blurry (I am just getting older). And the phone is lighter and less visible.
Phones are accepted easier, because they are always present. A DSLR stands out like a sore thumb. I had
an old DSLR and it always made a click sound. The newer DSLR are probably better.

Composition is now my skill to be improved.

Hello,

Just a retired old man, have a new smart phone
and want to learn to take good photos with this
device.

Have no idea what it can do. And don't know much
about taking "good" photos. Just a point and shot
type of guy, in the past. Looking to do better.

Larry