Photography/Business

A Day in the Life – Blog Circle Post

Blog Circle, Mommy-ing, On Blogging, Photography/Business, Random Life Stuff

A couple of months ago I was added to a military spouse photographer networking group on facebook. Immediately, someone suggested a blog circle, and a few of us thought that was a fantastic idea! Designed to force photographers to focus on a personal project, a blog circle consists of several photographers. Each photographer takes a given theme, interprets it through images, and creates a blog post with those images. The post also includes a link to the next photographer’s blog, so it gives readers an interesting perspective on how different photographers can see topics so differently. Our first topic is “A Day in the Life” and, because my life is pretty boring, so is my post, but I think it captures an accurate portrayal. 🙂 I am going to try to do my posts with no explanation of the images, because I’m trying to become a better storyteller with photos. Enjoy!

Of course, these were not all taken on the same day (I’m not that talented)! I hope you enjoyed the post, and will check out all of the photographers’ images, starting with Serena Nicole!

Technical Note: For these images I used: Canon 7D body, Canon 5D Mark II body, Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Post processing included levels adjustments for a few (sunrise, path images), black and white gradient, and sharpening for the web.

Do-It-Myself Family Portraits {Part 5}

On Blogging, Photography/Business

I know, I know! After I hooked you with the wardrobe, delighted you with love, and wowed you with the brilliance and ease of the tripod portrait (NOT!), I left you hanging with no final product. Unfortunately, it’s because I have done nothing further with my images! I am my own worst nightmare, and I am the reason I sell print products, not digital images. It takes great discipline to decide alone on sizes, number and organization of wall prints. I love that I can help my clients decide on what images will look great together on a wall, and I am ecstatic when a client picks up her final Wall Portraits and Galleries – ready to hang on a screw. And here I find myself – unable to decide on my own images! It’s more of an issue of taking the time to decide. If I would dedicate an hour and a half to designing my wall, I’d have this done and over. Yet, here I sit looking at blank space…

Blank Wall Space in Living Room — "I need a metal print collection!" - The Living Room Wall

Hallway Space — "I am waiting...." - The Hallway

The First Newborn

Mommy-ing, Photography/Business, Pinked Out (girl stuff), This Might Make You Cry

One of the most joyous benefits of what I do is that, everyday I get to be reminded of what it was like to bring my first newborn son home from the hospital. So many emotions quickened through my spirit. Joy. Fear. Happiness. Nervousness. Excitement. Incompetence. Everything. Which of these I felt at any particular moment, usually corresponded to how the baby was doing. If Logan was sleeping peacefully, I felt content and proud. I would lovingly gaze down at his sleeping form and think, “I am so damn good. Look what I did!” Contrastingly, when the baby was screaming, had been fed, diapered, burped, diapered again, and fed again, and was STILL screaming I felt as if I had been tasked with the impossible. “How can I do this? How am I supposed to know what he needs?!?!” My “mom” side just wanted the baby to be comfortable. When moms have a crying newborn everything in our being wants to make it right. We seek out the problem, we undress, redress, wipe down, feed, pacify, and repeat until we can find the source of distress. The first few weeks (months) of a baby’s life we do this, until at last we begin to recognize the cry of hunger, we can discern the angry scream, and we run to the howl of pain. There is no one day that a new mom wakes up and says, “Today, I know what I’m doing.” Rather, it’s a slow journey. A journey through many, many sleepless nights and days. A journey through hundreds of feedings and diapers. A journey through emotions she didn’t even know existed. Finally, after bolting upright out of bed and realizing that the newborn (and she) slept for six hours straight, she races to the bassinet to rest her hand on the peaceful rise and fall of the tiny chest. She releases the breath she did not realize she was holding, and thinks, “I can do this.” And she does.

Do-It-Myself Family Portraits {Part 4}

Info Tidbits, Mommy-ing, On Blogging, Photography/Business

Finally, it was time for the big shoot. Raining almost all of spring break, the weather cleared up on the last day. Not only did the clouds part, the temperature started to rise, creating a perfect day for a photo shoot. I gave the big boys their shirts and told them to find the nicest jeans they had. Calmly, I dressed Abigail and fixed her hair. Ryan helped Thomas. Everyone donned their wardrobe with no fussing. Usually, there is a great amount of whining and complaining about family photos, but not this time. Every family member was… happy! Not wanting to lose the moment, I quickly packed my tripod and camera bag (checking to make sure I had memory cards and my remote shutter), and my reflector. In a sing-song voice I said, “Alright, everyone get in the van!” We went back to the base lake, where Ryan and I had done our photos. I used my 70-200mm lens on the Canon 5D Mark II. I wanted the lens to be partially zoomed, because the background blurs more when a lens is zoomed, but the reach of the remote is only 15 ft, so I couldn’t get much zoom from it. It took a few test shots, but I found the right balance. After the camera was set up, we started shooting.

It’s difficult to get seven people looking at the camera when I’m standing behind it, so you can imagine the “excitement” of trying to get seven family members to look at a camera standing on its own in the middle of a grove of trees. Again, Ryan had the remote and we shot about 44 family images before everyone started to tire. I then quickly tried to get all five kids together, which resulted in some interesting shots. Abigail has decided that she needs to strike a pose every time she sees the camera, so my ideal of candid images fell flat. When I gave up on that image, Ryan took Abby and Thomas for a walk and I was able to get some great images of my boys together. I enjoyed this part of the session. We had fun, and I was able to capture some images that show their personalities. When the sun had set behind the trees, I gathered all five together to try to get one last image on the bridge, and finally a shot of Abby and Thomas together. Then we packed everything back up, let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes and headed home. I was exhausted.

I immediately downloaded the images to my computer and perused the gallery. Out of the 44 family images, there were five acceptable shots, but only three that I really liked, but all I really needed was one, so I suppose the mission was a success. After further reviewing the images of all five kids together, there wasn’t one that I loved. So, the next morning I casually gathered up the “picture clothes” and non-nonchalantly started handing out the shirts to the big boys. When I started dressing Abigail, she buckled and wailed, “But we already did pictures!” “We’re just going to walk to the end of the street.”, I responded. “Ten minutes.” I walked them down, Ryan held the reflector, and I got some more posed shots of them. That is also when I was able to capture Ryan with Abby and Thomas. At last, we were finished with the family portrait sessions! Three (and a half) shoots, five hours, one sitter, 484 shots.

Look back at the original post to my list of desired shots and see the shots I didn’t get. One more reason to hire a photographer. She would have made sure Mommy got the shots I wanted. 🙂 The next blog post in this series will discuss editing and ordering the prints. Here are some of my favorite images from our family session:

Focus (and Coffee) Time

Photography/Business, Press

Unscripted surprises result in the best discoveries.

When I attended the IncVets event last year, I met some great people and gained new business insights, but I did not grasp the ongoing relationships I was building until this morning. For me, stealing away for any amount of time during the week requires the orchestration of surgery. The event must be on Ryan’s calendar (or I need to hire a sitter) and homeschool lessons must be in progress. Hesitantly, I checked my calendar each day. I expected some AOTAF (Act of the Air Force) to cancel my two hour meeting entitled “NMSN Little Rock Meetup” on March 30. I was eagerly anticipating the two hours to focus on my business, because in this house, I can rarely spend more than five minutes focused on any one task. This morning Ryan assured me he would be home to stand “Kid Duty”, and true to his word, he walked in two minutes before my departure time. I was out the door.

In a quiet coffee shop, thrity-five minutes later (yes, I got lost), I met with Sue Hoppin of the NMSNetwork. There was no meeting agenda, no outline, just military spouses talking business. Sue founded the NMSN networking group a couple of years ago, after her own arduous career search, when she realized that there was a need for professional and entrepreneurial military spouses to find, and network with, other military spouses. The National Military Spouse Network was born. What a wonderful resource! How refreshing to know I am not the only one. What a relief to hear the stories of others who are facing the same dilemmas. I talked business with Sue for two hours. By talking about my business with a third party, I was able to articulate specific, realistic goals. Sue suggested several resources to assist me, and even said she would hold me accountable to my deadlines. Sue flew to Little Rock a day early so that she could hold this meetup, and I’m so appreciative that she did. I was able to spend two hours reviving my business, and I’m encouraged and inspired to push my list from paper to reality. What an unplanned surprise – to accomplish so much over coffee!

Do-It-Myself Family Portrait {Part 3}

Info Tidbits, Mommy-ing, On Blogging, Photography/Business, Pinked Out (girl stuff)

Okay, now that I’d chosen outfits, and completed lovey shots, it was time for Abby and Thomas’ session. I discovered a new “perfect” location around the big base lake and was so excited to try it out! We dressed the “babies” (they are 4 and 5, but we still call them babies), and packed up the tripods and cameras and headed out just before sunset. As soon as we arrived, I realized that I had forgotten my reflector! I decided to shoot without it, because I wouldn’t have another opportunity to do the session before the big boys arrived. Setting one camera up on the tripod for video, I attempted to capture the images I had envisioned with the other. Instead, the babies took me on a wonderful journey of spontaneity and joy. I never did get my ideal images; but I discovered something better.

Thirty minutes later the sun had set and Ryan and I started repacking equipment back into the van. I had so much fun doing this session, even though I didn’t get the portraits I wanted. Oh well, there’s always next time…