Photography Challenge: Week 1

I have been talking and writing about taking better photographs for a long time now (examples 1, 2, and 3.)  So when my little sister came to me this week and asked for advice on how to get started with photography, I decided it's about time for both of us to take some action.  For the next eight weeks I'm going 100% manual mode on my DSLR and plan to post my best weekly picture here for posterity.  I was inspired by this post on You Are My Fave about Four Steps to Better Photos, and the weekly portrait blog You Are My Wild.  Here are a few other resources I'm using to get off Auto and into Manual:

How to Shoot in Manual Mode - The Basics, by Click It Up A Notch (via You Are My Fave)
Seller Summer School Photography 101 with Michelle Bobb-Paris (30 minute video, super helpful!)
100 Tips From a Professional Photographer, by Eric Kim
Photography 101 - Avoiding Rookie Mistakes, by Justin Hackworth

If you know of other great resources, I'm all ears!  And if you feel up to it, why don't you join in the challenge and shoot in manual mode for 8 weeks?  Let's see what happens!  If you send me the link to your picture or post I'll totally link to it in next Monday's post.

Here's my photo this week:

It's not bad, I actually had some really gorgeous shots that were so badly lit because I didn't correct my settings.  ERGH!  It's a start though, and I'll learn!