What is the Rusty Shutter!  That is a fair question!  Actually, it should be "who" not "what".  I am the rusty shutter.  Me, Jan Shotts.  My first real interest in photography came in college many years ago at Western Illinois University.  (Really, a long time ago in a land far away!)  Back in those days cameras used film and you developed your pictures in a dark room.  That is, as long as it was in black and white.  If you wanted color photos you had to send it all off to a lab and hope they did what you had envisioned your work to be.  All too often that was not the case, but we persevered and kept plugging away.  Luckily, we had great photography teachers at Western that taught us how to excel despite these drawbacks.

I had dreams of a portrait studio catering to kids and families.  A place of unique costumes and props. What fun! But, LIFE intervened and I became a librarian and piano teacher instead!  I packed up my darkroom and only occasionally took pictures.  That is, until my daughter grew up and became interested in photography.  We talked about our dreams, her's current and mine all dusty and "rusty".  I would have to gear up and move into the digital age. (Get the picture?)

Through all of this "dusting off" of my previous knowledge and "scraping" a lot of rust off my photography brain cells, I found my niche.  Helping the "everyday" photographer; the Moms, Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas who take pictures of family reunions, grandkids and pretty flowers.  In short, that group of people who do not own fancy camera's, expensive lenses or scads of powerful software - those who own Point and Shoot camera's.

I firmly believe that anyone can take fantastic pictures.  All we have to do is move from the "auto" setting and learn what all of those "other" menu items mean.  Manufactures have spent thousands of dollars trying to making cameras take great pictures.  We just need to take advantage of all of the knowledge and money that has been invested in that pursuit.  So, this site is all about using our little "gems" of everyday cameras and creating "jewels" of art and photography.  I hope you enjoy your time spent at the Rusty Shutter and that you will be encouraged to dig out that camera, shake off the dust and rust, and start making photography!

What kind of equipment do I use? My gear includes a Panasonic DMC-FZ8, a Nikon D40, and a Nikon Coolpix 4600.  For post-processing I use Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Lightroom.

For more great photos and in depth tutorials, check out my daughter's site at PhotoKandy.com.