Photography course

So I’ve started on a basic photography course at the local collage.  It’s running for 8 weeks on a Tuesday night.  I think I need to do this as without it, I’ll probably never take the camera off the automatic setting, and that would (a) be a shame, and (b) a waste of money, as I could have opted for a cheaper point and shoot rather than the bridge camera I went for.

I used to use (and still own) a 35mm SLR, and my wife was wanting to get me a digital one for my birthday a couple of years ago.  On the advice of a friend who’s a photographer, I went for the bridge.  His reasoning was that it’s a fair bit cheaper, and while I can’t change the lenses, it has the features of an SLR, so I can find out if I want to use them or stick to auto.  If I use them, then I can upgrade to an SLR, and worst case is that the bridge is a really good camera to take on holiday and keep handy for snaps, when I’m not planning to take pics, and having to carry about a larger SLR. 
If I DON’T use the manual features, then it means money hasn’t been wasted on something that won’t be used, so it’s a win-win.

Since the auto feature is banned in the class, and we’ll be using manual all the time, I’ve already started looking as SLR’s in the camera shops and drooling a little, so I think I know how this is all going to pan out.