Springing

I just can't help myself.  One of my favorite things to photograph are flowers.  I think it goes back to my first subjects when I was learning the art of using the camera manually.  I was living in Orlando for the year and had some great friends who were interested in photography and I jumped on board and bought my first DSLR camera.  Then came the challenge of learning how to use it.  I was single living 24 driving hours away from my family I did have a roommate but I don't think she was willing to be my practice subject over and over again.

I love that with my eye I didn't notice the spider web but through the eye of the camera it shows how smart the spider was.
  A perfect place to catch his prey.

What I did have was flowers.  I learned how to use my camera on flowers.  I learned aperture (how to blur out the background or make it in focus) I learned about shutter speed so that just the right amount of light came in so the pictures weren't too dark or too light.

Do you have a DSLR camera?  Do you shoot on manual or automatic?  Does it sit on the shelf because you would rather use your phone camera?