yes, finally. Precision Camera actually happened to be having a 2-hour online class for beginners using the D85 on the very night i bought it, but they forgot to send me the link in time so i missed it. they eventually emailed me the link (which i actually need to finish watching), and after watching some of it i've since taken it out a couple times. the first time i just went out to the country near where my family used to have land, and then yesterday i went to the local park where i planned to just shoot nature scenes, but i ended up running into some skater kids and asked them if they didn't mind me taking some photos. one of them actually was really knowledgeable about my camera and helped me learn more about it, so that was good timing. i haven't taken anything worth writing home about yet, and i obviously still have a ton to learn, but i'm having fun learning. here's a few of the better shots i've taken so far:
for those two i was shooting blind. it was my first time to ever use the camera, and i really didn't know what i was doing, lol. i'm not happy with the framing/composition of them, but i think i had the right idea. plus i learned from it, so bulky for me.
with the skater guys it was a great chance for me to learn on the fly with contrast in lighting + moving pieces everywhere. i'm looking forward to getting out and practicing more. i'm really enjoying it thus far.