There is a company here called Aperture Academy that does various photo-related educating. They have some in-house classes like printing and PS stuffs, but they do cool workshops, too. Field trips for adults. No parental consent required. The second one I participated in was at the UC Santa Cruz
Arboretum.
Macro heaven.
I learned:
That tripods really are a pain in the butt and you don’t need one if you learn to steady yourself and stop breathing so much.
I need to be more patient.
The wind really does just suck
I “need” a second camera body
‘Cause you get cool little bugs then these guys come by and constantly swapping lenses in pain in the butt
Any bird folk read this blog? These are Scrub Jays. Juvies, I think. What is with the orange on the head? They had varying degrees of it. Some none, some tons. 
I couldn’t get any really decent shots. I thought perhaps they were just getting into some weird plant, but it doesn’t look like something just sitting on top of their feathers. Weird.
Shinier head!
Probably used to be shiny? Before the zombies? 
I also learned that I really have zero interest in photographing plant life. Even cool looking plant life. 
I really do prefer things with faces.
