One Step Forward or Two Steps Back?

I've started my second photography class!  I'm excited and learning even more!  I think I will probably take a few other classes in the program as well because I am learning so much and so quickly!  However, sometimes I wonder if I haven't taken two steps backwards by trying to move forward.  My photos aren't significantly better than when I borrowed my best friend's camera and shot the pictures of Ryne back in November that everyone raved about on Facebook - some people even going so far as to say that they looked professional.  I haven't had as many comments like that recently and I am actually working towards being a professional!  Although the people who have done photo shoots for me seem to be quite happy with my work!  

Do I think the classes are worth it?  YES!!  I'm seeing photography in a whole new way.  I look at pictures differently and I have a VERY picky eye for certain things.  I can look at a professional's work and tell what they did with editing and such and my eye for composition has changed significantly!  I have learned to use my camera in total Manual mode rather than relying on the basic settings (you know the ones that have a picture of the running man, mountain, and flower for close ups).  I can make my camera do all that by telling it that I want this shutter speed, this aperture and this ISO.  So in a sense I feel that is several steps forward, but I don't have people knocking down my door for pictures...even free ones.  Since I tell the camera everything to do, I can also mess it up a bit, like have the wrong shutter speed or aperture or ISO, so not all my pictures are looking that much better.  Sometimes this is disheartening.  :(

Lets face it - I've spent a lot of money on a really nice/good camera.  I've spent a lot of money on classes and the best version of Photoshop.  I want my pictures to be spectacular already!  Anyone can take a picture and throw some basic editing software on it and make it look good, and if photography is a hobby, that's perfectly fine to do!  I did it too once upon a time and there's no shame in that!  I just want my photos to start reflecting my knowledge and I hope one day it will.  Otherwise, what use is it that when I see a wedding photographer shooting with all his fancy flash and whatnot pointed up to the sky in church with a super high ceiling and I know that flash is doing NOTHING.  Or when I see a professional holding their camera incorrectly (shudder the thought - pun intended!).

I never expected this to be easy, but I thought it would be easier.  I am hoping that class this week will lift my spirits a bit!  We are having guest speakers come who are Tom's previous students, and these people have made it BIG - not big in Knoxville, but big nationwide!  I trust that my education and experience with my instructor, Tom, will definitely come in handy very soon, but I am so impatient and such a perfectionist!  It's too bad that my true style of photography is more candid because it's harder to adjust my camera because lighting and exposure can change quickly with a moving target.  Editing my photos is harder as well because if you were posing someone you wouldn't necessarily do it in the same place or time as a candid shot.  I like the realness of my candid photos, and I am hoping to be able to adapt that into more visibly pleasing photos and I'm hoping my hard work, dedication and eduction will pay off!