catching up...

I have not posted here in a while. Things have been busy, I am still trying to work on developing photography, it's just a slow process! I got a new lens recently, and am having a great deal of fun figuring it out! I'll try to be better at posting here to track my progress. Here is a great deal of sweetness- incredibly cute kids I've had the privilege of photographing in the past couple months!

Family Photoshoot

These are some pictures from a photoshoot I did last week. I love the colors they are wearing- it was a lot of fun!

Can you believe those eyes!

senior portrait practice

I had a blast practicing with this beautiful girl! She dances at my parents studio- so I asked if she wouldn't mind letting me practice a senior photo shoot with her- and it was so much fun! I had a hard time narrowing it down, so here are quite a few pictures we took today.

Sweet Baby JJ and more!

These are a few pictures from a photo shoot of my sweet little nephew J.J. It was so fun to capture some pictures of a newborn! Thanks Lindy for letting me come!

And these are J.J.'s older siblings who are very proud of their new baby brother! They were also very cooperative for this photo shoot- and a whole lot of fun to take pictures of! thank you thank you!

practice series 1-aperture

Settings: ss 1/20 fstop 13 iso 1600Settings: ss 1/160 fstop 4 iso 1600

Ok, so I am working on improving my understanding of exposure- so I decided to work my way through a book I bought about six months ago called Understanding Exposure, and for my own record keeping, and hopefully some progress tracking I will post some results from each assignment. I hope to gain a more clear understanding of how all the settings work together, and how to achieve properly exposed images on a regular basis, instead of getting lucky here and there!
This was the first assignment- working with aperture settings. I set the ring next to the stapler to see if I would notice an object that close going out of focus, and sure enough it did.

a couple of favorites

These are a few shots from our very fun weekend with dear friends!

can't get enough

you'd think that after thousands of pictures of these two i might get tired of seeing them pop up on my screen- but it isn't so- I just can't get enough!

silly experiments

Here are a few items I used to practice some different lightning, aperture, and angles with- kind of silly, I know, but my kids get too impatient for me to practice all the time with them!

Learning Experience

This is one from a family photoshoot I did about a month ago- and since I am so slow and new at this I am just now getting them done and delivered to the family! Yikes! Anyway, it was a nerve racking experience taking pictures of people other than my immediate family for the first time, but they were great to work with and I learned a great deal! Thanks for letting me practice on you! I am happy to take pictures of anyone willing to let me practice on you and your family! Just know that I am learning- so don't expect perfection!

One of my favorite models!

Eliza is a pretty willing model these days. Ezra likes me to take pictures of him running and doing "cool" moves- I don't catch many good shots there yet, but it's good practice! I thought these ones were cute- some slight problems with shadows etc. Any thoughts or cc would be great! Things I could do to improve on these. I must say though, isn't she one sweet girl?!

Exposing Myself

This is an experiment for me- I have always been intrigued by art, color, and more specifically pictures, photos, and photography. I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance- so I consider myself somewhat artistic- perhaps more inspired by art than a creator of inspiring artwork! But none the less- there is something about a well put together piece of work, be it music, painting, collage, sculpture, dance, photography or whatever- that just fills me with such great joy and satisfaction!

With that said, I am now going to explain why I am doing this, creating yet another blog- another place for me to spend (perhaps waste?) more of my limited time. I have ALWAYS for as long as I can remember- dreamed of being a successful photographer- and what I mean by successful is having the ability to consistently capture memorable - properly exposed- moments on film (or now memory card). I have always kind of felt like the ability was somewhere inside me- why wouldn't it be with such a deep desire and love for the art form? I have, though, also always felt very self conscious about putting myself out there. Recently though I decided that it was time to be brave and face this dream head on-attempt to make it a reality. And that was when I discovered the truth- I am not as good as I had hoped I would be!

In recent months I have looked a great deal at some photographers work that I admire, and in reading their thoughts and philosophies on what they do, I have read some words that have struck me and motivated me to move forward in this process. One such photographer who is very inspiring is Lori Vrba-"I suppose all of us want to leave something in this world that is lasting...that says who we were while we were here. I hope I leave something meaningful, revealing, inspiring. I want my children to someday feel proud of how I lived. I want them to see me push through the fear. If I hide the fact that I'm afraid...how will they know? " I am pushing through the fear.

So- now as an attempt to pursue this dream of mine- I am putting it all out there- exposing myself to- myself and anyone else who might happen upon this blog. My goal is to practice regularly- daily if I can, and post my work as often as I can so that I can chart my journey. I am completely open and even desiring comments, critiques, constructive criticism, and so forth on what I share. I am hoping to grow, learn something and if it's not asking too much, develop the skill and talent in photography that I have so long desired!