jo
I love to see my friends. Its just a little unnerving when they are on the other side of my camera. I stress out because I want to do an extra special good job. I am a perfectionist at heart. Well, this time was so much fun. Everyone laughed, rolled in grass, and laughed some more.
We got Mom and Dad in on the fun. They had so much fun laughing that at least one of them had their eyes closed in every photo but these two. but that’s okay because all you need is one!
And look at these lashes and freckles… LOVE!
My son brought me the mail and I found a funky box with MY name on it. Well, I met one of my favorite little friends the other night for a mini-session. I have so much fun with these boys that I wanted to have their Mom take a picture of me and her kids. We we all got silly and made crazy faces. See how much fun I am??
My little friend baked me cookies and mailed them to me. He drew a picture of us in the grass with us telling each other “I like you”. My heart is happy. Did I mention that my Starbucks in on them tomorrow? But really, I love his card.
Who is it that started the rumor that kids with autism are not social? Seriously? How awesome is he??
Last weekend was peak pollen season here in NC. To the rest of the country it means there is a solid coating of green on every outdoor surface. To a photographer this is more than annoying because its messy, it looks ugly, and it makes people annoyed. I almost postponed this family’s session. But I went ahead as planned. How lucky were we that the rock-star Mom MADE all the clothes in mint green? How did she know it would be all pollen-y outside for her shoot. Thanks to her, I had minimal shmootz to photoshop off of the clothing. And I love all the cool colors.
I also remembered that I had a parasol prop and I brought it along for this young lady.
Let me start out by saying this sweet young lady, all of FOUR year old had battled cancer and shown it where to go! I remember meeting her mom a few years back and she told us about her daughter who was 15 months and receiving chemo. But look at her now! She is four years old and a cancer survivor. What is your superpower?
And with four, comes being, well, strong in one’s convictions (that comes with being 42 as well, but oh well). Listen up photographers, here is your tip of the day: just because your sweet little client has decided that she doesn’t want to look at you or have her photo taken does not mean you rest. In her silent protest, she clung to her baby brother’s foot for comfort. Its one of my favorite shots from this session.
Speaking of baby borthers, hers is turning ONE! Happy Birthday!
And we cant have a birthday without cake. This was the whole purpose of the photo session to get some smash cake photos. He was quite the neat little cake monster.
Maybe for my birthday I will insist on my own cake that I can eat with my fingers. Mmm. It would make turning a year older something to look forward to!
I know we all stress out about the family photo. I even stress out taking people’s family photo because families are so stressed out about it. Its just a viscious cycle of stress but it doesn’t need to be.
I met this family the other night and they wanted a family photo on their porch swing. I wanted to make it fun. I did not want all of them to just sit and smile. Yes, I posed them but its not the traditional sit and smile look and I love that. It’s fun, stress free and it captures their family personality.
My daughter saw these photos and asked me to schedule a photographer to do our family photos like this because she thought it looked so fun. She is right, this is how a family photo should look, something that represents YOU. The next time we have a family photo session, lets have fun; bring things to express your personality, things that have meaning to your family.
Its, Spring! Well, at least on the calendar. 
A few weeks agao I met this sweet family for photos at the North Carolina Museum of Art for some family photos. How cute are they??
The blog title sounds like a bad pick up line, huh. “Hey Baby, you like Fiiiine, what’s your setting?” Ok, back to serious… Many aspiring photographers or people with dSLR cameras ask me what camera setting I use. I can never give an answer because there are so many variables. I use so many settings and its all dependent on the light. It’s not top secret, I am not trying to be elusive. Now you are probably really curious… if you really want to know, my go to setting to start if I am using my 70-200 lens outdoors is f3.5, 1/400 ISO 400 and I adjust from there, depending on number of people in the frame and the light.
Here is an example of a photo taken literally 10 seconds apart from each other. While my camera settings remained the same, a cloud crept over the sun and completely changed the look of each photo. I edited these photos exactly the same as well.
I happen to like the pose of the photo on the right and I happen to like the flat light for this pose only.
What’s my point? My camera settings are not what changed the overall look of this photo, it was the light. So when you have a camera that you want to learn more about, you need to consider your lighting because that is what will guide you to the appropriate camera settings.
And for fun…
I had the urge to do something creative today (it was that or clean the house). I keep finding religious relics that have been given to me by grandparents and great grandparents. I decided to photograph these things. I only ended up using two items: a statue of St. Jude and a rosary. I went to an old abandoned house, which has been littered with Budweiser cans since I was last there.
I started out testing my macro lens…
Then I just could not ignore the old beer cans. I was setting up my statue and he fell off a piece of wood, into the abandoned house and onto a smashed can. When I went to pick it up, I found his head broken off. I was pretty bummed out. But I somehow find a venue littered with old faded beer cans ideal for St. Jude.
Lastly, the rosary…
Some days ya just gotta smile with all ya got!
Well, as promised, I kicked of the Spring season today with photo sessions. I will make a full disclosure here…I am nervous before all photo sessions. True. This morning was worse because its been a few months since my last session; the weather was cloudy with a chance of showers but the radar was clear so all systems go! Then…I was chillaxing waiting for my family to arrive and it started raining. Seriously?? The radar LIED. But, my sweet family were sports and just carried an umbrella. Going with the flow is critical for a successful photo session.
Since I last saw these guys, they have welcomed a new family member and the smiles were endless from all. It was a lovely morning. I even got to sneak in a few unsolicited hugs with my little friends–its the little things that make us photographers happy.
More to come…
