Nikon | Tom Rants.

Continuing my photographic efforts, I had my camera with me on a couple Sundays earlier this month: at a bar in Santa Monica for the Super Bowl and in downtown for lunch and some architectural shooting. It’s a learning curve, but I’m feeling more comfortable with the camera and how Lightroom works for me once I’ve captured the images.

Here, you can see just three examples of what I captured. For the whole set (2o images), visit my Flickr page at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashaire/sets/72157629413201955/

: Pitchers of beer (this time, Blue Moon) and Super Bowl Sunday? They go together well!

: The shapes and colors of the main entryway at Los Angeles Union Station

: Classic doorway marks the entry to the USPS Terminal Annex in downtown L.A.

I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures (as anyone who’s a Facebook friend of mine will readily attest, perhaps even derisively). And I feel like I have a pretty good eye with a camera. But I’ve never considered myself a “photographer” if you catch my drift.

But with some access to a really nice Nikon and Adobe Lightroom, I’ve decided to give “photography” a try in 2012. So, here are some of my best efforts from my first couple weeks of fiddling around. I’d love to hear what you think — even if you think I should just stick to taking pictures rather than becoming a photographer.

For larger image sizes, just click on any picture to take you to the scrollable gallery of “full-size” photos.