I want to learn some skills to be able to really use my T2i, what is the best book or course to learn photography. Thanks

Scott Kelby books: http://www.kelbytraining.com/books/

Here is the first book —> http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/the-digital-photography-book.html

I live in a very small town that is very limited on classes offered at our technical college. Someone suggested that I check out online classes. More than anything, I need some recommendations on legitimate schools. I understand the greatest part of photography is having the gift of capturing the perfect shot, but first, you need to learn all the technical parts of photography. I am 45 yrs. old, and this is really the first time in my life that I have felt so passionate about learning something. Please help me with this!

I just answered Emily G thusly:

A very wise old photographer once told me that a client doesn’t care if you had to hang upside down from a rope to get a shot, they only want the shot. You don’t need to go to school to learn photography, you need to get out there and start making images for publications or customers. You’ll learn soon enough if you’re making the right moves or not, and you’ll get paid for it as well.

Back in the old days of film perhaps there was something to a photography school because darkroom work was like cooking, and a school could cut short the time it took to make a GOOD consomme as opposed to just consomme, but with digital this is no longer the case.

The greatest part of photography is NOT having a "gift." The greatest part of photography is knowing how to make the shot that will please the client. Those stupendous photos you see of the moon rising over a New Mexican town, or of a glaring bulldog of a Prime Minister in wartime are because the photographer was in the right place at the right time for a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Wanna know the three-step formula for making pictures like Ansel Adams? One: live at Yosemite; Two: go to one of the great vistas and wait for the light and weather; Three: shoot the shot.

If you’re making pictures your customers like and are willing to pay for then who cares if you went to school?

what type of techniques does Polixeni Papapetrou employ in her photography?

I’m not sure if it is the relationship between history, contemporary culture, identity and performance.

Thankyou!

Polixeni uses a Hassleblad camera, with Kodak Portra 160 ASA NC film. She uses reflectors and flash.
Polixeni doesn’t believe in using Photoshop to create her pictures but rather to enhance them. Her main interest is the representation of childhood both from a historical and contemporary perspective. She is interested in dress-ups, performance and staged photography. She photographs her two children and sometimes their friends.
Her photographs are all made in Australia, where she lives and works. Prior to working in the landscape, she worked in the studio and used hand-painted scenic backdrops measuring 3×3 metres to set the scene.