Well said. Honestly, I dont know that you need to stray from this site that much. Between all of the assignments Marko offers up, podcasts, and people here. There isnt much that cannot be answered or assisted with. The only downfall is it is online. I believe that you can learn and be helped with the majority of your questions here, but you will be lacking certain elements without having a teacher, or someone actually there to show you things.
Personally, I learned how to use a camera a while ago on a regular film SLR. That helps. When I got a DSLR, it was essentially the same, but I was not very creative with it. I usually jumped around forum to forum until I found this place. Since I never had a teacher or mentor, or anything of the sort, it was a little harder trying to learn how to do this stuff. I started by just putting the camera in manual mode, playing with the buttons, and tried to mimick certain pictures. Once taking certain types of pictures became second nature, I would try another set of pictures with different challenges. I am at the point now where I am trying to encorporate 3 or 4 different concepts into one image.
This is a never ending process and you will ALWAYS learn something new if you continue to follow it. I see no reason as to why you need to actually go to school as long as you put in a solid effort and ask us questions. It might not be the easiest way to do it but its all here. Just figure out what suits your learning style best. One thing is for sure and anyone here will tell you this. STAY HERE! I dont know that there is a person here that can say they have not learned anything from being here. Even if you enroll in a photography course, the more conversations you have about this topic the faster you will learn. Its about understanding, not knowing. If you know how the camera works it doenst matter unless you understand how to use it.
Dont forget, ask ?'s as much as you can. Good luck.
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