A year in the life of a photographer

I have a new interest - photography. I got a new camera, a Nikon D50 for my birthday in September. I have had a blast taking a lot of pictures, mainly of my one year old Katherine. Most of my pictures have been taken in automatic mode because I have not learned how to take good pictures with all of the manual settings. This year I would really like to learn to take better pictures.

I have become addicted to looking at photographers' websites and blogs, expecially those who photograph children. I ran across a number of people who are participating in two different challenges. One is to take a photo a day. Some of the participants use the suggested challenges from the I Love Photography website. Another challenge is to take a photo a week using the themes below.

Since it is February 26th and I am just now joining in the fun, I probably will not have my blog listed as a link on other participant blogs and I may just do as many of the challenges as possible. My goal is to better my photography skills this year and to learn to use the many functions on my camera.

So, I am going to do my best to start this project, get caught up and finish it!!

Week 1 Free for All
Week 2 Introduction of yourself
Week 3 Show us your Hometown
Week 4 Water
Week 5 Sports (anything related, teams, players, equipment, etc,)
Week 6 Botanical
Week 7 ONE object shot at 5 different angels/distances
Week 8 One for the road (signs, streets, traffic, etc.)
Week 9 Objects that tell something about you
Week 10 Things that make your life easier
Week 11 Your favorite color
Week 12 Household items
Week 13 Foods
Week 14 Something Slimy
Week 15 Sun (sunlight, sunset, sunrise, etc)
Week 16 Emotions
Week 17 Something old
Week 18 What you do outside the world of photography
Week 19 Weather
Week 20 Emotional attachment (heirloom/special gift, ect.)
Week 21 Pets
Week 22 Things you couldn't live without
Week 23 Habits
Week 24 Fire (candle, fireplace, etc.)
Week 25 Scrapbooking (stash, room, lo's, etc)
Week 26 Textures
Week 27 Hands
Week 28 Shoes
Week 29 Favorite Jewerly
Week 30 Generations
Week 31 HotWeek
Week 32 Fill the Frame (close ups)
Week 33 A week in our lives
Week 34 Faith (what you believe)
Week 35 Dance (body in motion)
Week 36 Family & Friends
Week37 SOOC...from that to this...before & afters
Week 38 Patriotic
Week 39 Object: straight up shots and then straight down shots
Week 40 Nighttime
Week 41 Something that gives you the feeling of warmth or cold
Week 42 Pictures of words
Week 43 Chores I hate
Week 44 Animals
Week 45 Music
Week 46 Reflections/Shadows
Week 47 Flowers
Week 48 Sleep
Week 49 Action Shots
Week 50 Wheels
Week 51 Wrapping (gifts, baby, foods, etc.)
Week 52 Guilty pleasures