Photography Tutorial starts tomorrow

Starting tomorrow, my series on how to photo-ize stuff, or, as my classes are called, "GET IT OUT OF AUTO". As the above photo illustrates, (the first and hopefully last pic that is not actually mine) anybody can push a button and get an image. You can certainly rely on the camera to try to give you what IT thinks you want. And it will. It will give you a snapshot.
But what if you want to capture your son running past you on the football field? Does the camera know you want that? Or will you just get a blur? Most cameras have a sports mode, but that is unreliable in so many ways, which will all be explained in the coming days.
What if you wanted to shoot a portrait of your son on the sidelines? How do you set your camera? Portrait mode? Now his buddies come over and want to be in the shot also. What now?
The idea is to take control of your camera, and let let the camera control what you get.
The first few days will be the basic theories, what the shutter - aperture - ISO combo can do for you.  Then I'll tackle each one a little more in-depth. Next, metering, composing, light control, lenses, flashes, accessories, on and on and on.
I hope you will enjoy, and more importantly, get something out of it. I hope to as well.