your wife looks pretty so i shall deign to reply
on a personal level, i think i'm the worst photographer ever
i luvvvv those expensive zoom/macro lens choices, the entire blurry background DSLR effect but find it seriously cumbersome when ya start shooting because you actually want to damn thing gets in the way when you're not photographing supermodels
heck my boss who keeps my cellphone shots over her fireplace and my lens shots on her fB
keeping with that theme, just like math, accounting & language - what succeeds is practice, Practice & PERFECT PRACTICE
once you get the glares & shadows out the way, your subject will speak to us in languages unknown
and then even a simple wrist shot shall be enough to sell a watch when 1001 dealer QC shots will fail