Picture Yourself a Better Photographer

Focus. Aim. "Cheese!" Shoot.

Frameworthy photo!

Or maybe not. If you're looking for a way to sharpen your photography skills, there's a new class for you.

Maury Griffith of Land O' Lakes will teach a seven-week adult photography workshop at the community center beginning Thursday, March 1.

Griffith is not a professional photographer, but he is a professional educator, he said. He's taught everything from high school courses to programming at IBM. His first job with IBM was at the CIA. The next, at NASA.

"I've loved everything I've ever done," Griffith said.

He also takes about 10,000 photos a year.

"That's one way to learn about photography," he said.

Griffith spent some time in Georgia about three years ago, and first taught a photography class there. After the course was complete, the students didn't want to stop, so Griffith organized a photography club—which grew to about 80 members, he said.

Something like that is an option here, as well, Griffith said.

"I do things to make classes really fun," he said.

Additional courses planned in the near future include Advanced Digital Photography, Introduction to Adobe Photoshop Elements and Advanced Photoshop Elements.

Griffith's Basic Digital Photography course will run from 7 to 9 pm. on Thursdays at the Land O' Lakes Community Center. The cost is $10 per class or $50 for the seven-week series. Class materials are included, but you must bring your own camera.

Topics include composition,simplifying tech talk, shooting in special situations and more. The course will include one take-home assignment per week.

To enroll, call the community center at 813-929-1229.

Editor's note: We are pleased to announce that Maury Griffith also will be blogging about photography on Land O' Lakes Patch. Look for his first blog post Tuesday!