tack sharp

It's quite frustrating realizing that photography is harder than I thought. There seems to be a level of understand that moves along a continuum. For example, the typical snapshot with a pop up flash is probably the worst photo. I didn't know that and considering 99% of my photos in the past are taken that way, I have a lot of photography "don'ts". So I've moved past "auto" settings and venturing into aperture and very little manual. Verdict? I am not so good. My focus is hit or miss. Let's say I take 100 pictures... 10 MIGHT be in focus. I really need help on getting good focus and not blaming it on a Nikon D40. It really shouldn't matter what camera I have? I really want to learn this camera inside and out and learn manual mode.

The problem is I cannot see how my camera sees. Maybe I need to take a class. Again, who has time for that?

And I'm planning on running the half marathon in April. I don't know if there is enough time in the day for serious learning of photography, training for a half marathon, working 30 hours a week, and taking care of Lucas. I need to clone myself.