It is time! Session time!

So you have finally made it. You have made it through all the steps. You have picked a photographer, picked a location, decided on what to wear for your session, and now the day has come for that session. Believe it or not you are not quite done yet. Why? Because this where all the stress begins.

Why is there stress at the session?
The session with your photographer can be stressful for a number of reasons. Are you and everyone comfortable in front of the camera? Many would say yes because they are constantly taking selfies and always in front of a camera somewhere, however it all changes when you are in front of photographer. For some reason it triggers the thought process that it has to be perfect and that there can not be a single thing out of place. All of the sudden people lose their personalities and become very stiff and boring in front of the camera. This takes away from the magic of the photo that is about to be created.

Do you have body image issues?
The current standards of society can leave anyone with body images. Everyone is affected, men, women, and children alike. No one is able to escape these standards. If you have body image issues you are not alone, however realize that you are you, and the people that are going to be viewing your photos are going to love you for you. As long as you are happy with them they will be happy. Do not let the thoughts of self doubt in this area make you shy away from the camera or make you tense. Photos are a way to remember the past, and that is just it a moment in time. Be happy in that moment and love you for you.

During the Session.
Your session will be unique to you and those who are there. Even for the photographer. Even if this is a mini session that has a set up, it is still going to be totally unique from the previous session or the one to follow. Be comfortable with you and your photographer. Show who you really are and let your personality out. This makes for the best photos and also helps to relieve some of the stress from the idea of being in front of the camera to begin with. Your photographer is going to give you small cues or suggestions to guide you to different poses and to get the best angle or shot for you and your loved ones, but this by no means meant to be stressful.

If you have children with you to be photographed take a deep breath. The younger they are the more likely they are to be all over the place. Under no circumstances do not try and force younger children to pose or do something that is uncomfortable with. This will lead to lots of screaming, crying and frustration for all the parties that are involved. Your photographer will find a way to adapt and still get great photos for all of you. Just take a breath and let them play. If they are shy, let them be shy, they may or may not warm up, but a photo session can still be done with great images. My biggest suggestion to you as the parent is to not show that you are stressed due to the behavior of your child, and above all do not get angry and yell at them. It will only cause them to get upset, cry and make everything that much worse. So instead scoop them up, swing them around, love on them and make the session fun. Play with them, make the whole thing a game. It will not only help the child to become comfortable with the photographer, but you will have the chance to get some photos that you will cherish forever.

At the end of the session you and your photographer will part ways after having spent an amazing time together. It is always a temptation to demand to see all the outtakes on the back of the camera. Believe it or not, you don't want to see these shots. It may or may not ruin how you feel the session went. Remember that not every image is going to be perfect straight out of the camera and this can cause some unease with your photographer. Every photographer only wants to showcase their best work, and demanding to see the back of their camera can cause some ease, because you will not see just their best work. You can also cause doubt with the photographer about how happy you will be based upon your reaction at that time. Instead of stressing over the photos the minute that the session is complete walk away on a cloud. Remember you have just rocked a photo session, and like with all good things the photos will come in time. Be confident in yourself and your photographer that everything looks great.

Do you have any other thoughts to add? I would love to hear them! Please leave them in the comments below!

Preparing for the moment.. the session

Preparing for the session. Sounds crazy right? Why should you have to get ready for a session? That is the job for the photographer. All you should have to do is just show up right?

WRONG!

Believe it or not there is stuff that you need to do on your end. There is a belief that some hold that a photographer can work magic because they may have powerful editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom that can make your photos look amazing. However it is not the job of the photographer to make you look beautiful. That is your job. Here is the link to an article regarding this very topic. Make me look amazing!

There is some planning that needs to go into your session on your part. For example what are you going to wear, and if there is more than just you in the photo what are others going to where? You need to make sure that you all coordinate your clothing. You don't want to have colors that clash, and you definitely don't want to have loud patterns or things that are going to distract away from your photo that is going to eventually ruin it for you in the end.

When deciding what to where consider where you are going to be. For example take a look at the photo below.

As you can see there is a large amount of red and green in this photo, however the young girl is still the center of the photo. She stands out as the model. Why? Because her clothing helps her to contrast against the scene. She does not blend in to the scene and does not disappear into the foliage around her, but her choice of clothing still gives her a perfect touch of feminism to make the shot about her, and bring out exactly who she is as a person.

When choosing clothing I am one that tends to believe that it is best to go with a solid color top rather than having things printed on the shirt or blouse. Why? Solid colors are timeless. The style of the top may not be but the color will always be timeless and therefore thirty years down the road when you are looking back at the photo you will not look at it in disgust and wonder "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!" ( I am sure we have all been there at some point.) Not to mention that with the way that fashion trends go that particular style could be back in style in thirty years. 

LADIES:

I have also noticed that women especially are very picky about certain areas of their body and how they look. I am right there with you ladies. I can not stand my little love handles either. So in order to make this easier for you here are a few suggestions. If you are not happy with a certain area of your body, either do not wear form fitting clothing over it, or dress in layers in that area. For example. Let's look at my love handles. I hate them with a passion. So here is what I do to hide them. I tend to wear tank tops a lot, but I know that these tops will show the love handles even more, so what I will do is where I looser top like a sweater, or flannel type shirt over the top, something with a bit of flow, that will not hug my love handle curves and yet still gives a great appearance. If I do not want to wear layers I will just choose a top that is not form fitting and has a bit of a flow to it, similar to the one in the picture above, and this way no one, including my photographer can see that small imperfection. 

You can also use long skirts to hide your legs if that is what you are uncomfortable with. Long flowing skirts can also make the shoot more interesting and give the photographer more to work with to make it fun. Things like twirling photos or if it is long enough maybe giving the impression that the wind is causing the skirt to "float" a bit. Either way it can be fun, and still help you more comfortable about you and who you are in your own skin.

MEN:

Believe it or not if men are uncomfortable about their waist line they can do something similar. Instead of making a point to tuck in their shirts, leave them untucked, or choose to wear a sweater that is a bit more forgiving in the areas of concern. 

When a man picks out the pants they are going to wear make sure they are long enough. You do not want to have him sit down and give off the appearance that he is wearing high waters. Also with standing poses the cuff of the pants should hit the top of the shoe and cover the sock. When dealing with size make sure that the pants are the proper size. Guys don't like to be uncomfortable. There is no reason that their jeans need to be so tight that they have to be "painted" on, but also there is no reason that they should be so loose that they are falling off. Pants that are to tight will make the waist line look larger (if this is a concern of his) however a waist line with properly fitting pants that a bit of give will not only keep him comfortable and less grumpy but will help that waist look a bit smaller. 

CHILDREN:

This is something that is a bit harder to work with. Typically children's clothes are full of shapes and colors which can throw off what you are going for. Do not worry! This is something that can be worked with and may actually add to the photo versus distracting because the child is the only one. Unless of course there are multiple children in the photo. If there are going to be multiple children I do recommend trying to limit the different types of patterns. But if they look good together, and the adults are sporting solid colors, this can make for a very fun shoot. 

With younger children I also would suggest that you select potentially 2-3 outfits for the session. I know that this may sound crazy, however after raising three of my own, I have learned that children manage to get dirty even when there is no where to get dirty. I am not sure how but they always managed to attract dirt to them! So with this thought in mind I would have the extra outfits. This will save both you and your photographer stress on the off chance that an incident of spit up occurred in route to the location, or there was a magical pile of dirt that your children found to play in. 

Remember when backing your bag for the session to bring extra wipes. Wipes are amazing, and will save you in a pinch for dirty hands, faces and feet. 

Now I know there are hundreds of suggestions out there and many ideas out there and I would love to hear them. Please leave them in the comments below so that we can expand the information here, and prepare others, and yourself to have an amazing session the next time you hire a photographer!

How to pick a photographer

It is that time of year. Everyone is scrambling to get family photos taken and get the Christmas cards out. And you know it has to be better than last year. Every year has to be better than the year before.

For many years families were happy with the Wal-Mart or JCPenny cookie cutter photos, but times are changing. People want to be able to express who they are, and who their family is. They want more than a posed, and potentially boring photo. So now they are going out and they are finding photographers (which there are so many out there!) and discovering that there is more than studio shots to be had in the photography world.

Now I must admit there are some dangers in taking this wild leap into the sea of photographers available to you. First of all we are living in an age where anyone with a camera believes that they are a photographer. Be cautious of these individuals. If you are looking for quality and a great experience with your session you need to be very selective about how you pick a photographer.

The first people that you want to eliminate from being your potential photographers are the ones that say they are going to shoot your session with their phone. Yes.. people do offer sessions that are shot strictly with their phone, and they even charge money for it! Insane I know but people actually pay someone to do it. Please, I beg you, do not have these people take your most important photos!

Second I recommend jumping on Instagram. Believe it or not this is a great place to find photographers, and find their work. This gives you a chance to look at their work, with no regards to price, or feeling pressured to sign a contract or anything of that nature. You can just browse to your hearts content and make a list of photographers that you are interested in to investigated further. Now I am sure you are wondering, how am I suppose to browse to my hearts content? Instagram is famous for hashtags. Log into your account, and pick a location or city, for example lets say you live in Columbia, South Carolina. So in Instagram you search the hash tag #columbiascphotographers, and there will be photos that pop up for you to browse. You can click on photos that you like and it will take you to the profile that the photo originated from which will give you the photographer information. Some photographers will have their Facebook information, while others will have their website information. Either way this is a great starting point for you.

If it is not the photographer that you are worried about, but it is the location, you can do the same thing with Instagram. Look up the location via a hashtag and once you find photos of the location you can find potential photographers who have already been to the location using the same logic as discussed above.

Next you want to narrow down your list. Call at make appointments to meet with the potential photographers. Yes, I said meet with. This is not the point that you are going to book with them. You want to meet with them. Just sit down over coffee or drinks, and discuss with them what you are looking for, see what kind of ideas they have or suggestions they may come up with. Pay attention to how they talk to you. Do they listen to you? Do they take into account what you are looking for? Or are they set in their ways? Are they open to fun new ideas for photos? Most importantly do you and your family feel comfortable with them?

The last question is very important. You must be comfortable with your photographer in order to have an amazing session. Being in front of a camera tends to be very stressful for anyone and if you are not comfortable and trusting of the person that is behind the camera it is only going to make the situation that much more difficult for you and your family. You want this session to be as low stress and as fun as possible in order to get those amazing photos that you are looking for.

Once you have discovered
that photographer that you are most comfortable with it is time to book the session and start planning the session with them.

Sessions.... the fun begins here!

I hope that this information is useful. Please leave some further suggestions in the comments to help improve finding a photographer for other readers. Or if you have questions please leave them in the comments I would love to have a chance to answer them!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Christmas Minis!

I love taking the time to be able to Christmas Minis! Please take the time to bring your fur babies by if you are in the area and lets have a great time!

Where is the future taking us?

Like many of you I listen to podcasts on a very regular basis. To be honest I think it has come down to almost a daily basis. I have come to realize that while I am walking that I am able to think about what is being talked about, and it also gives me the time to ponder the information that is being given.
Today I listened to episode 752 from Tips from the Top Floor with Chris Marquardt. Chris is based out of Germany and is known as the man that has maintained the worlds longest running podcast.  Here is the link to the episode that I listened too, Augmented Photography. During the first half if the episode he discusses an interesting thought process of where the future of photography is going due to Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality.

Sounds strange that he brings out three different types of reality doesn't it? To be honest I really only was aware of one. I did not know that other terms were coined at this point in time. The first, virtual reality, is exactly what you think it is. What we are all use to it as being explained as. The removal of yourself from reality and being placed into a virtual world that may or may not have resemblance of the real world. The second is the Augmented Reality. This as Chris stated is like Pokemon Go. Chris explains it as an over lay of virtual reality on to the world of reality. Finally there is the mixed reality is another form of over lay, however I will admit from his explanation I was a bit confused.

Chris through out the course of the podcast sounds excited about what this kind of technology can potentially do for the world of photography. I can to an extent understand his enthusiasm but at the same time I wonder, what is something like this going to do to the world of photography?

For example I love the idea of being able to potentially place a photo into Lightroom someday, and than project it onto a wall, screen, what have you, and than literally virtually walk into the photo and edit it, move the pixels, adjust them as I see fit and such, however this is something that I see as being a long way off. The question is how far off? I did a quick Google search and I found this cute article which at the time was only nine hours old Apple Glasses.

So maybe this is something that is not to far in the distant future. But as I said, what does that do to, or what can it do to the camera industry? What will it do to photographers? If this kind of technology becomes as easy to use as Apple and others are leading it out to be, then where is that going to leave photographer, or the need for the photographer? Will there be a need for DSLR's anymore? Or will we all finally be reduced to our smart phones? Is this the kind of technology that can even be placed inside of a camera to make it more powerful or is this something that makes the DSLR as we know it obsolete as we know it?

I know that is a lot of questions to think about, but it something that I have thought about ever since the podcast. On the one hand I think that it is amazing that we are moving in the direction that we are for technology purposes, but than on the other, I wonder if this move is threatening my very hobby, and very happiness?

What have you heard about Augmented Reality?

What are your thoughts about Augmented Photography?

I would really love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Please share them!

Where are all the photography clients?

Are you just starting out in your photography business? Or have you been in business for a while but you are still struggling to find clients? Believe me friend, you are not alone. There are times it just seems like there are no clients out there and if they are, they are like Pokemon, and they just refuse to get inside of the Pokeball. (Please excuse the Pokemon reference.. this is all the rage in my house right now.) It can leave you frustrated and wondering if you are even really cut out to be a full time photographer. How do I know you ask? Well because I am right there with you my friend!

I have been in business for a few years and I have struggled from time to time. The last few years I have struggled the most. I was doing well at my previous location, but when I had to relocate and start all over, it has not gone well. I believe part of that is because I no longer live in a tourist location, however it just seems that I am no longer able to get my name out there. I have tried the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Thumbtack, and even advertising at a few local stores, however it just seems to not be working. I am slowly beginning to think that there are no clients out there for me at the moment.

Have you ever had that feeling? I understand that the market is EXTREMELY saturated with other photographers. Pretty much anyone that has a camera believes that they are a photographer anymore which makes it even more difficult for people like me and people like you, but there has to be an answer right? There has to be a way to break through and shine above the rest in order to get the ball rolling again.

I ran across this podcast from Improved Photography. It covers inexpensive ways that will help you get your work noticed. These are things that I am currently working on trying as well. Please take a listen. Give it a try and if it works for you or even if it doesn't please leave some feedback in the comment section so we can help each other grow!http://improvephotography.com/9954/7-inexpensive-things-you-can-do-to-get-your-photography-noticed-improve-photography-episode-33-podcast/

Why do I love Photography?

It is human nature to have a drive to do something. Normally that drive is something that propels us through life, and is what causes us to choose our career paths and become productive members of society. In some cases it can take a while to find that one thing that really drives us and to push forward with what we can become by following this drive.

For me that drive was nursing. I loved every minute of it. I loved helping people, watching babies get stronger as they heal and grow. Helping people recover from traumatic injury or illness and having the chance to watch them walk out of the hospital with their loved ones, knowing that they survived. I was passionate and thrived on this and pushed everyday to take on more and do more for my patients. And than it happened. I burned out. I realized that the fire that burned to be a nurse and do all these things was turning into nothing more than a puff of smoke. This made me realize I needed something more.
One afternoon after a very long day on the football field we came home, and our pup was laying in front of the sliding glass door. The light was perfect and she just looked like she belonged in a pampered pets magazine. So without thinking twice I snapped a quick picture. I looked at the back of the camera and smiled. I had caught exactly what I saw and it was amazing. This in turn quickly became my favorite. A few days later I showed it to a friend of mine who had just had a baby, and from this one picture she asked if I would take pictures of her son. From there it just escalated. I fell in love with my camera. I took it out of auto and started teaching myself how to use it. I covered all the beaches in Oahu, and than slowly branched out to the Big Island and Maui. I did a few events, family reunions, graduation parties and such. This is when it hit. I was happy at work again, I had my camera that gave me the ability to focus and at the same time relax, and above all I was creating happiness for others through a whole different medium! If only I had found this sooner!

And than it happened. In one simple sentence my world, and life changed forever. My nursing career was over. Due to no real fault of my own. A failed surgery, repair, and all the damage left in the after math took away my ability to be a nurse. I was crushed and felt I had lost everything that made me useful in general. It was horrible to think that I no longer could have an impact on others lives, or make them happy anymore. I felt like my usefulness had ended. It was horrible feeling that way. I moped around the house for a long time and it just seemed like there was no way to repair the  hole that I had left from nursing.

I struggled with this loss for a long time, and at times I still struggle to be perfectly honest. Every week is still packed with the kids school activities, and sports, so of course as any parent would I was toting along my camera to these events. My children, especially my youngest started to take an interest in the photos that I was capturing and even started to ask if they could show their friends. It warmed my heart to see how happy just simple photos of a game or event that they participated in gave them so much happiness and pride. Enough that they were willing to show it off, and on top of that admit that their mother had taken the photo. There reactions alone have opened my eyes to many different possibilities photography can offer. 

Photography has also opened new doors for me. I see things at times that I believe a number of people miss everyday. Things that are beautiful and amazing. I realize that I have to take the time to "stop and smell the roses". 

Several  months went by after I was unable to return to nursing and I was approached about taking some cap and gown photos for a young lady getting ready to graduate from high school. I figured it would be better than sitting around the house so I picked up my camera and dusted it off while heading out to meet her at the location. We spent an hour taking photos all around her school and using different poses and such. I got home and uploaded the photos and realized that these photos were pretty good. I went through and edited each photo and later that week delivered them to the family. They were ecstatic! They loved each photo and couldn't wait to order to prints to mail them out in the graduation announcements. It touched me to see how excited and happy they were about the photos and it seemed to mean the world too them. That is when a light went off in my head.

The hole that nursing had left in my life could be filled with something that I enjoy just as much and I could still bring a form of happiness to others. Instead of mending sicknesses and actual wounds I was documenting important events, bringing families together, and above all assisting with providing happiness. All of this done with the click of a camera shutter and some editing to add a touch of perfection. 

Photography has given me purpose and drive again, and most importantly has filled a very large hole In my life. One that I never thought could be filled again. 

Why do you you love photos? Or have a love for photography? Please share your story! I would love to hear them all! 

What do I really need to be professional?

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to teach myself the best way to grow my business and to grow my blog. I decided that in order for me to stay consistent with my blog that this is the first thing that I needed to work on, and make it into something that would be sustainable. Since January I have been writing here about photography, shoots that I have done, what I have learned and some things that I have experimented with
. There are a number of other topics as well, but I will let you take a look at those at your own pace. I have put my own personal touch on each post and hoped that someone out there was finding my information useful. I didn't want to type entry after entry if no one was going to read it and over all if it was not going to help my business.

So first I started looking at the numbers, and I can tell that there are some people that read my blog, and as I have been consistent the numbers of page views have slowly grown. Now that I am being a bit more consistent I felt like there was more. So I started reading articles on growing your business and your blog. The first thing that I read is that I am doing everything all wrong with my business and my blog.

So what am I doing wrong? According to almost every article that I have read, I am not professional because I am not using a self hosted site for my blog or my website. My website is driven by smugmug (who has been amazing to me!) and the blog is driven by Google's Blogger platform. Seems to me that I am more the professional in my eyes. I have a website that I can sell my prints to my clients and is a clean set up that is easy to use and I have a blog where I can talk about the things that I am learning as I grow and hopefully I can help others. But in the eyes of others this is just not the case. All because you can see that I am using a free platform for a blog and I am using smugmug for my website.

I struggle with this thought process that I am not professional because my website has smugmug.com or that my blog has blogger.com in the address. Even if I had a self hosted site it would be the same, as it is now. I would have a blog and I would have a website to sell my prints and other products. So I ask what is the difference?

When it comes to my blog is the difference that you can see up front that I am using a free platform to put my thoughts and ideas out there? If that is an issue, I want to know why this is an issue. I am using what my business can afford at this point in time. I am still small and I am growing. So a free site makes me look unprofessional?

My website has smugmug.com in the address. I pay for this platform and the services that it provides. So since I pay for it that means I should be a professional right? I have learned sadly from the various articles that I have read that this is just not the case. Here again it is because it is not self hosted. Which I just do not understand.

So as I sit here in from of my computer and I type this out I really wonder what do I need to be professional?  Do I need to pay for a high end self hosting site? If I do buy a site am I going to be more "professional"? Is this going to drive my business because I will have gone from amateur to professional with just one purchase?

For some reason I just do not think that this is something that is going to change my business or my blog revenue over night. Or even in a week. Do I want to have my own web domain and self hosted site? Of course I do, eventually. However at this stage in my business I just do not think that this is something that is feasible.

What are your thoughts? What do you think makes a blogger or photographer a professiona? Please leave your comments below, I really need to see what others opinions are, I want to know if I am looking at this from the wrong perspective or if there is a solid answer as to what shows that someone is professional or not.

I have a DSLR... But do I really want to take it off Auto?

Good afternoon and welcome to this wonderful Friday everyone!

I sat down today and was getting my gear set up and ready to go because I have a shoot with a famous soccer player tonight. (My son). It is the opening game of the season and I want to make sure that everything is just right. Batteries charged, 55-200mm lens attached, lens hood, a flash...just in case, and of course memory cards. Those tend to be one that gets forgotten quite a bit. As I was getting everything together I smiled and remembered what getting ready for a game use to be like. Grab the kids, check the uniforms, make sure everything is right, shove the camera in the pocket and out the door. It was simple, and now I have so much more to think about, and sometimes it can be a lot, but when I look at those early pictures of my children playing sports and I look at them now I am so glad that I upgraded to a DSLR, and even more appreciative of the fact that I finally turned off auto and went to manual.

I have read in a number of photography groups about beginners asking if they really needed to take their brand new camera off of the auto setting and if they did, what mode, any mode besides manual should they put it in.

The very short answer, YES! Take it out of auto, and take control!

I remember being in that very situation, and worrying about taking control away from the camera and having to rely on myself to pick the aperture, or shutter speed, or the ISO, and make sure that it was focused and trying to catch that perfect shot. It was a lot, and it was a very scary thought. These are my children, and they only play that very game once, and than it is gone forever. My biggest fear was taking control of this camera and than missing the amazing moments in the game and never being able to share it with the family is back home.

My first DSLR camera was a Nikon D40. I thought that camera was amazing. It was a huge improvement from the Cybershot that I had been working with, and even with the kit lens I realized there was less noise and the focus was so much better than the previous photos I was getting. I had a huge fear of the dials, and buttons and anything that gave me control over the camera in any sort of way, and in many ways, especially during night games I learned that this was causing so much more stress than I really needed to be dealing with. The struggle to get the photo right was so great that I began to notice that I was missing more of the game struggling with poor image quality and the camera not wanting to focus than I was enjoying shooting the game or even enjoying it. This was when I realized that the auto mode was not all that I thought that it was.

I decided that it was time for a change. I started taking my DSLR everywhere with me. During practice I would use different modes. I was very stubborn and decided that instead of reading a manual I could teach myself, so every practice it was a different mode. Which in most cases worked well. The reason it worked was because I fought the same conditions during practice as I did during the game, so I was able to spend all week running through the modes and trying to figure out which would work best for the game. I will say that there was one mode that I avoided, and that of course was manual mode. It remained very intimidating to me. So for a whole season I practiced in aperture priority, shutter priority and so on. This did yield better photos, but I still was not happy. I finally gave in during practice and switched to manual, and since that day I have not looked back.

(One of my first attempts with my camera on manual)

It was something that was not instant, and definitely was not perfect, but I realized that I was free, and had control. I could pick all of the settings, and control the dynamics within the constraints of my camera, and it was as if a huge light bulb went off in my head. Suddenly shooting at night became a little easier. It wasn't perfect as I tried to push my camera far beyond what it could do in performance, but I noticed that there was a much better improvement and I loved the pictures much more.

Were my pictures perfect from the beginning? Absolutely not! Are they always perfect now? Definitely not. There are things that I forget all the time. For example I forget that the last time I shot my camera it was the middle of the day and I have the settings set to accommodate for the mid day sun, and the shutter speed up, and when I grab my camera and rattle off the first test shots all the photos come back black, or vise versa I was shooting a night game and transition to a day game and all the test shots are blown out. This causes a short set back as I have to make adjustments, but once I have it set I am ready to go until my lighting changes or what I am shooting changes.

As with anything in life there is a learning curve. But if you are not learning you are not living, therefore never be afraid to learn. Remember you bought a DSLR for a reason, and you only know that reason, but you need to own it. Don't just throw your money away by never exploring the other options outside of the auto setting. Take the time to explore, and learn how to use each setting, and once you have determined your favorite stick with it, but never forget that the other settings are there, just in case, there may be that time that you do need them.

There is a saying that eyes are the window to the soul, and I believe that this is very true, I also believe that photographs are windows to the past, and I want to make sure that I have done everything that I can to make that window as clear, and as perfect as possible.

(A few seasons later. It may not be perfect but so much better!)

I would love to hear your thoughts or answer your questions regarding switching from auto to another mode. If you have tips or tricks please share those as well! I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you!

Review of Altura flash set up

I recently started using the Altura speedlites system, and since this is my first speedlites system I thought that it could be beneficial to write a review from the perspective of a beginner.

The system that I purchased came with two flashes, two receivers and one transmitter. It also came with cases for each flash, mini stands, hard plastic diffusers, and cables to connect with the camera or into other light systems. I was pretty impressed with the set up, and it also had a full manual as well as a quick start guide.

Each flash appears to be fairly durable and the case that each comes in seems to offer the right amount of protection for the flashes. It also has Velcro straps so that you can attach them to your camera bag or even your belt depending on what you are doing. Each flash takes 4 AA batteries, and after a full 2 hour session of use the batteries are still working well. This is something that I must admit caused me to be surprised but at the same time I was excited as this means to me that I should not have to change out batteries every time that I turn around.

The flashes can be set up in a number of ways. You can attach them to the camera via the hot shoe, or attach the receivers and use them as off camera flash. When setting up the flashes you have multiple options. You can use the slave mode, manual mode, or strobe. Within these settings you can control certain aspects, such as ISO, and shutter speed. 

These flashes DO NOT transmit any information from the camera. The only time that this happens is if the flash is connected directly to the hot shoe of the camera. The transmitter and receivers work off of a radio frequency and thus do not carry any kind of information.

When I used the set up I opted to fire both flashes off camera and use the transmitter to trigger both the camera (a Nikon D7100) and the flash with a secondary flash in slave mode. This is where the trouble began. I set everything up per the manual and was unable to get the flashes to trigger with the camera. I eventually changed the transmitter on the flash to camera, versus flash, and than was able to get the flash to fire. The second problem I discovered was triggering the second flash. In order to fire the second flash it has to be in very close proximity in order to to sense the first flash firing. This was troubling to me because I felt that I almost had to point the first flash at the second to get the desired result, which took away the light from my subject. The third problem I discovered was a syncing issue. I could not get the flashes to fire at the right time. They would not sync with the camera. Even after watching multiple YouTube videos I could just not get it to work properly. The flashes were consistently firing before my shutter was even beginning to move.

After doing some research I discovered that I am not the only one that has had this problem. I looked in several forums and discovered that there were a number of suggestions as to why it wouldn't sync, with the D7100 and there was even a suggestion to try it with another D7100 camera. This was done, and ended with the same result. The flash system would not sync. 

At the current time I have not been able to figure out a solution for this particular issue. 

Over all I think that this can be a great system, if you can get it to work with your camera. I also think it is a great system for a beginner. However this is not a system that I would be comfortable taking into a situation that I would not be able to recreate if for some reason the system failed. With this in mind I would NOT use this system for event photography, or weddings.  I think that this system would be alright for things such as portrait sessions and head shots due to the fact that these are things that can be recreated at another time on the chance that there is a failure.  

The Top 5 Places to Photograph (well for me)

Traveling.. For some people it is all about business, or it is to see family, or it can we for fun. As a photographer my traveling is typically for business, however I want to make the trip fun and exciting, and still accomplish the business aspect, which for me is to come home with amazing images.

Over the last year I have not been able to travel as I would like too, but through groups that I am a part of, such as Improve Photography I have had the chance to travel through the photos of others. As I watch individuals post photos from places I realize that as soon as I am able I want to travel to these places and have the chance to take some epic shots just as these individuals have. I must admit I want to see the world and photograph it all, but I realize with this thought that I am biting off much more than I could probably ever chew, so I have selected the top 5 places that I feel are a must go to as soon as I am able to travel again. 

Photo credit Majeed Badizadegan

1. Iceland

I have come to the understanding how beautiful this place truly is. The amazing mountain scenes, Ice beaches, and caverns truly are something to see. I have loved every photo that I have seen from this location and each photo just makes the desire to go grow. Not to mention to have the chance to see the Northern lights and have the chance to bring home a piece of that is amazing, and I believe a must do. 

2. The Palouse 

This is a location in Washington state. It amazes me that I spent a large part of my childhood in this area and was completely oblivious to what was around me and what I was truly missing out on. There are amazing barns and beautiful landscapes. The waterfalls are truly amazing once you find them. 

3. San Fransisco

This city is not only a great place to visit, but to photograph as well. You have so many diverse things to photograph. There is the architecture alone that is almost one of a kind. There is also the chance to get the iconic trolley shots, or the fishermans warf. For the dark and dreary there is a trip into the bay to photograph Alcatraz. I will say there is not a lot around the island, but the ability to go and photograph the inside, and than add some creative editing, well, the fun may never end. But I must admit my most favorite place to go is the Golden Gate Bridge. It is iconic and as I have spent part of my childhood in this area as well, it is near and dear to my heart.

Photo credit Majeed Badizadegan

4. Oregon Coast

I love the coast line. I wish I could live out the rest of my days on a beach. There are a number of amazing places along the Oregon Coast that I would love to visit. There seems to be so much diversity as you move up and down the coast that I am sure that you would never get bored, and would eventually only leave because all of your memory cards are full! 

5. China

This choice is due to the culture and just a complete change from what I am accustom to in the US. There are tours that take you out of the major city and into the rural areas of China. I have seen pictures that are amazing of the Conrad Fishermen, and celebrations in the rice patties, and just the people. The people in the rural areas will allow photographers to take pictures of them, and in some cases will invite you into their home in order to take pictures. Please keep in mind that this is a guided tour and this is all translated through the guide and to my understanding the guide knows who is willing to allow strangers into their homes and who is not. However I believe that this is something that is totally worth it if you are able to go. You are able to see a part of history, and sadly it is a part that is fading away and like many other things will not be there much longer.


As I have said these are my top 5 choices of places to travel as soon as I have the chance to do so.

Where would you like to travel too? I would love to hear where each of you are looking to travel too!

Please do not copy, alter, or use the photos in this post. They are under copyright of the photographer who is kind enough to let me post them. For more of Majeed's  work please go too:  www.majeedb.com

Traveling and your camera... Part 4

So with the last thought in mind when it comes to traveling... What do you do about your memory cards? What are some things to consider when traveling with them?

(free photo stock traveling with your camera)

As I got ready for my trip this was something that I struggled with a bit. The first thing that I struggled with is how many do I really need? I really cannot give a good answer to this question. This is honestly something that only you as the photographer can determine. Some things to consider would be the type of trip, the number of photos that you plan to take, and are you planning to have a back up. What I mean by a back up is a second card with all of the same exact shots on it. I have a Nikon D7100 that has to memory card slots and I can use these slots in multiple ways. One being a primary card and the second card is written to at the same time as a backup. On the off chance that the first card becomes corrupt or fails. This is a trick I picked up from wedding photographers and this is something that they do all the time in the effort to prevent losing parts of a wedding due to card failure or corruption. The size of the card also matters as well. If you get an 8 GB card you are going to run out of space considerably faster than if you had a 128 GB card. In my case I opted to take three 64 GB cards. In hind sight I should have taken four just to have an even number as I was using one card for back up while I was shooting. 

My next area of consideration is the airport security. As a child I had a film camera and I remember an amazing trip that my grandmother took my cousins and myself on. We were given the great experience of going to Washington DC. I remember my father taking me to the store and we bought several rolls of film and when we got home we loaded the first roll into my 35mm camera. At the airport I hand carried my camera on the plane ( I wanted to photograph everything!) and I remember putting my camera on the belt for the X-ray machine. The man at the X-ray machine grabbed my camera and asked if my camera was already loaded with film. My grandmother informed him that it was and he immediately stated that it could not go through the X-ray because all of my film would be ruined along with the photos. The man kindly inspected my camera and meant me on the other side along with my cousins and gave us our cameras back. I understand that the technology has come a long way, but before I left I still did my homework to ensure that my cards would not be damaged in the same fashion as my film would have been. Based upon my research I can say that the cards are safe. Although I do prefer to have them in their card holders and buried deep within my bag in order to protect them as much as possible. 

As I mentioned I carried my cards on to the plane with me, and this a recommendation that I will give to anyone. The memory cars are like any other electronic item. They are susceptible to changes in climate, extreme heat, extreme cold, and moisture. These three things specifically are not controlled in the belly of the plane. This is the same reason why you will see people who are flying with animals get removed from flights. When the temperature is to cold or to warm the animal that is in the belly of the plane could die, and as a safety precaution they are not allowed to fly if it is determined that these extremes may be reached during the flight. I must admit that in travel I tend to treat my cards the same as I do my pets. I do not want to see them damaged in any way and therefore I want to keep them as close to me as possible. This way if something happens to my cards I am the one at fault for the loss or the damage and therefore I can only hold myself to blame. 

Thank you all so much, and if you have any information that you would like to see added to this post please feel free to email me, or leave the information in the comments below. 

Until next time my friends! Safe travels!

Traveling and your camera Part 3

You did it! The trip is booked! But......

(free photo stock image. Looked for one with a nikon, but this was the best that I could do.)

Over the last few posts I have been discussing the ability to travel and the questions that I have in regards to traveling with my gear, because this is not something that I have done on a regular basis. Up to this point in my life my traveling with my gear has been limited to just within a few hours of home. So this meant I would put my gear in my truck and just go. There was no big concern about theft, loss or damage of my gear as I had total control of what was going on with my gear. 

Now I am able to travel without much stress on a plane, and with that said, this is where the control is lost. Especially if you have to check your gear with your luggage. I have come to the conclusion that this is just not the way that I want to go. First of all my luck is not great. I have had my baggage lost on multiple occasions, and I really do not want to lose time due to not having my gear. Especially if I am traveling for the sole purpose of using my gear.

Once past the how am I going to travel with my gear question I move on to "How do I take care of my gear in different climates?" question. I am sure that there are people that are reading this and feel that I am over reacting about this thought, but it has become a very real concern for me. Before living in South Carolina I lived in Hawaii. Hawaii was amazing! The sun was shining and it stayed at a pretty steady 80 degrees, and never really dipping below the 70's. If it was raining I would wait in my vehicle for about 10 minutes, and the rain would pass and I could get out and continue to photograph whatever my subject for the day was. However South Carolina has thrown a huge game changer for me. For example in South Carolina it reaches at its peak about 105 degrees during the summer, but than there is the humidity to factor in and that raises the temperature to 115-125 degrees. (That's the highest that I have seen so far this year.) The heat is a concern in regards to my sensor, but considering that I am not out in the middle of the day shooting it is not a huge concern. However the big concern is the humidity.

I realized that this was a concern when I was out working in the backyard and realized the opportunities that I was missing to practice shooting the small insects and animals that I was running into while out. So I ran to the house and grabbed my camera. In my opinion I did not think that there was much of a temperature change from the house to the yard (as this was early spring) but I did not consider the humidity. When I got back out to the yard I began to take photos, and realized that they were soft, and seemed to be out of focus, yet in the view finder they were sharp and seemed to be the exact way that I wanted them to be. I took photos for roughly five minutes and they continued to get worse. When I finally stopped and looked at my lens the glass was covered with condensation. I also noticed that it was starting to develop on the body and the outer portions of the lens. So I immediately took the camera back inside. My saving grace was that when I went outside I did not switch the lens so this kept the inside of the camera and the sensor protected. However it affected the glass, and caused it to spot and I worried that the weather sealing may not have been able to hold. Several hours in I realized everything was ok, but it was a huge shock. 

In another instance several years ago a fellow photographer and I were deployed with our unit to Iraq. At the time I was barely dabbling in photography and opted not to bring anything more than my point and shoot. I honestly did not think that I would have the time to shoot much anyway. Not to mention it is a desert that has been ravaged for years with war and I did not think that there would be much to really photograph that would be of interest to me. However I was sadly mistaken. 

(Sunrise in Tikrit, Iraq)

The place in of itself was not great to shoot, but the buildings, Saddam's castle in Baghdad, and the sandstorms were amazing! Sounds strange to most but the sandstorms were one of my favorite things to watch roll in. But the damage the would cause to a camera was horrible. The fellow photographer that took their camera had to send all of their lens and I believe their camera body in to be cleaned when we returned and they were afraid that the sand may have damaged the sensor. It had already done a number on several of the motors in the lens which later led to having to replace them completely.

(Soldiers standing in formation outside during a sandstorm)

As you can see in the picture above a sandstorm for us was no joke. This photo was shot in the middle of the day, and yet due to the sand being so thick in the air it changed it to a very dark and orange environment. 

So what do you do to protect your gear in various climates. Here are some suggestions from what I have learned.

l. When traveling into a new climate make sure that you are prepared for anything. The best way to prepare is do some research into the area. Determine what type of climate that you are going to be dealing with. Is it humid? Dry? Hot? Are there potential storms I should be concerned about? Cold? 

2. Prepare for that type of climate. If you are dealing with a humid environment realize that your best way to deal with this is to slowly expose your gear to the environment. For example when you reach the location just unzip your bag and let the air slowly start moving into the bag, after 15 minutes carefully check your gear without opening the bag to far and with out removing it from the bag. If it appears to have climatized you can open your bag and go about your planned day, however I do not recommend changing lens in this type of environment. 

3. If you are using your gear in a harmful environment protect it. You can use rain hoods, or in my case while I was in Iraq I kept my point and shoot in a ziplock bag and during sandstorms would shoot with it in the bag. 

4. Inspect your gear often in a controlled environment. As soon as you are done shooting for the day take your gear to your hotel, home or where ever you may be staying and check it for dirt, water damage etc. This can be done more frequently if you are worried about your gear. If you notice that your gear is not standing up to the challenge of the area stop using it!

5. Clean your gear often. I say this with a word of caution. I am not saying that you should do a full on cleaning as Nikon or Canon would do if you sent it to them, but I am saying to do the basics and do not go out of your comfort zone. Clean the outside and all of the contact points and mirror if you have one. But do not clean the sensor of you are not comfortable or do not know how. You will cost yourself more money in the long run.

If you have more tips or suggestions or maybe some things that I did not mention please comment below! I would love to hear from you! 

Traveling and your camera.... Part 2

Traveling can be a stressful experience for some, but I have come to realize that it is even more stressful when I travel.

(photo stock image)

Truth be told it almost makes me panic when I travel. I typically fly when I do travel and this leads to a number of concerns. The first is baggage check in. I have had my luggage lost enough to know that it is not a safe route to go, and the older I get, well the lighter I travel. I have it almost down to a science now. I use the same jump bag that I deployed with and that holds everything I need with room left over. However this is not exactly ideal to tote all of my camera gear in. There is no protection, and I am not about to have my gear go unprotected.

So this leads to the first problem. Do I need to base my bag on where I am traveling, or do I base it on how I am traveling or both? Or do I by pass all of this and look at a bag that is rated to handle 95% of the situations that I usually find myself in while I am traveling? I will admit that when it comes to price and spending money I do get a bit squeamish. I am trying to get every bit of worth out of something that I purchase, so I want to make sure that what ever I do it is financially acceptable. Before writing this post I posed these thoughts written a similar format to a group that I am. I did not get many responses, however the ones that I did get seemed to follow my thought process. The all-in-one bag is the way to go. Or at least preferred. But I still wonder about how others feel. I know that I carry all of my gear in a backpack, but I have noticed when I have shot at weddings and such as a second shooter that the primary shooter always has a fancy leather messenger bag, or something along the messenger bag line which leads to question if there is a need to have different bags for different activities. 

I have taken the time and looked at various bag reviews and honestly they reinforce the idea of needing different bags for different situations. Here is the first article that I read.

http://improvephotography.com/gear/bag-gear/

This article lead to even more, you guessed it. Divided thoughts about bags and what is best for what. Which here are the links for those. Please keep in mind that these are written by different contributors to the website and are all vetted by the owner for authenticity before posting.

http://improvephotography.com/35962/35962/

http://improvephotography.com/35887/messenger-camera-bag-review/

http://improvephotography.com/35723/bag-review-sneak-peek-peak-design-ona/

I also spent some time with google and discovered these sites as well. They are not as detailed, but at least it gives a few answers.... about the bags... not the decision making.

http://www.cambags.com/

http://www.adorama.com/alc/1357/article/12-top-camera-bags-traveling-photographers

After digging through these articles I am still really stuck. I have come to the conclusion that you either go with personal preference, or what you think will work best for you. Worst case scenario you have a closet full of bags for different reasons. 

The one positive out of reading all of these articles is that there seems to be one particular theme. When it comes to traveling on the plane a backpack seems to be the best option that there is out there. The reasons that are listed and make sense is that you can fit it in the overhead bin, the weight is distributed properly on your back when you are carrying your gear anywhere you are going, and you can get backpacks with rain gear protection which leads to extra protection for your camera. Not to mention a number of bags are being made now that not only hold the camera and the gear but there is also room for personal items which means even less to carry while traveling! A personal pull for me really. 

When it comes to picking a back pack I believe it comes down to comfort and durability. If the bag is not comfortable your camera is never going to travel with you purely because you are like every other person in the world and like to be comfortable.  Durability will play a huge role as well. I mean if you are putting thousands of dollars in a bag you want to ensure that it is not going to be damaged. However realize that nothing is safe. A photographer learned this the hard way. He put ALL of his gear in a pelican case and checked his bag. Once on the plane and seated he glanced out and saw lenses and gear strewn all over the ground outside. About that time the stewardess announced over head that someone's camera stuff had been dropped from the plane while loading and they needed to speak with the owner of the bag. The pelican case had busted open when it hit the ground and nearly all the gear was scratched, and there were thousands of dollars in gear that was just destroyed. It just makes my gut churn when I hear about stories like this.... Just remember... Nothing is 100% effective, and be ready for the worst to happen. 

I'd love to hear your thought about this or any other information I have put out there! 

Traveling, and your camera

As I look out my window and notice the mound of yard work that I really need to get done I can do nothing but day dream about going out and about with my camera. When I say go out and about I more specifically mean going on a vacation, or traveling somewhere, well really anywhere but to my back yard. Don't get me wrong, I love my house and where I live, but it is summer, and it is one of the best times to see the world and all that it has to offer.

In thinking about traveling my mind set is slowly changing. All of my children are old enough to keep track of themselves, and for the most part travel on their own if they want. With this concern, and stress slightly lifted from my shoulders this gives me more time to think about me and what I want to take on the next adventure.

In most cases my traveling consists of somewhere within a couple hours of home and looking for new places to hike and explore. I love exploring a new area and photographing anything that draws my attention. Which is great, but now that I am looking to start taking bigger trips there are things that I need to start thinking about.

1. Where am I going to go?
I have so many options running through my head that I have no idea where to begin really. I want to see the world and I want to do it all right now! Very unreasonable thought I know, however it is not quite so unreasonable to plan to do as much of it as I possibly can. So in order to slow myself down I have started a "Bucket List" I am sure that a number of you have them, and I am finding that they are great to have. I love lists. My biggest reason for loving them, because I love to check things off of them! So I figure that this is the best way for me to accomplish the traveling that I want to do and at the same time be organized and make sure that I do not forget or over look a place that I want to go.

2. How am I going to get there?
This is a question that in most cases would be a simple answer, however, as I said before I love lists and checking things off of them. For example, I have never been on a cruise, and I also would love to go on a tour of Alaska. Well my friends I can officially take two things off of my list. There is a cruise schedule in Alaska and if I go at the right time I can go whale watching, which means, you got it, another thing off of the list. 3 birds with one stone!  I am not sure that I can do much better than that.

So here is where my concern now comes in. I must admit that I have not done alot of distance traveling with my camera and this leads to a number of concerns that I have about my gear. For example:

1. Do I need to look at having a different camera bag for different places or activities?
2. How do I take care of my gear while I am traveling?
3. How do I keep track of my gear while I am traveling?
4. Does the care for my camera change in different climates and what is different in those climates that I need to consider to protect my gear?
5. How do I protect my memory cards from things like X-Ray machines at the airports, and do I need to worry about things like climate changes?

These are just the 5 basic questions that I have, and I am sure that there are many more. However these are the 5 top things that I think about when it comes to traveling.

I am sure that are a number of you that have great answers for these questions and I would love to hear them! Please share them in the comment section below.

If you don't have answer, but may someone that does, please share this with them and than you and I can both learn from them together,

I am looking forward to all the suggestions, guidance, and new questions that may come along the way!

Sometimes I just need a reminder

For the last several weeks I have really been struggling with myself. When it comes to photography and even writing this blog I still feel like I am a newbie and that I am not really accomplishing anything or learning anything for that matter. With my photography I have been finding it very hard to convince myself to pick up my camera and do anything with it. I know that I need to practice or I am not going to get any better, but I just can't seem to do it. I am guessing that it is a lack of motivation on my part, however I am not exactly sure what it is. When it comes to the things that I write here I am honestly writing because I like too, and in some cases it gives me a sense of purpose. When I scroll through different groups and I see things that they struggle with I try to find the answer and see if there is something that I can do or explain to help, and on the same token apply it to myself. Once I am able to do that I share it here so that everyone who takes the time to read my blog will learn as well. I thought that if I shared my short comings and my accomplishments and things that I learned on each shoot in order to improve for the next that it would not only help reinforce it in my head, and potentially at the same time benefit someone else. However over the last few weeks I have felt like I am failing with that as well. I have felt that I am just doing it all wrong, or maybe I just wasn't smart enough to do all of it. This thought process has really weighed me down as a result.

This was all washed away today.

A few weeks ago my daughter had her senior pictures taken by the assigned photography company. Now I am going to leave their name out of it as a professional courtesy. We just received the proofs today, and I was horrified. They took 20 shots of my daughter and 19 of them are completely unacceptable. The background is horrible, the shadowing (that the photographer created on purpose is horrific) they have her tilted and leaning in weird directions. Not to mention, the posing. It was not flattering at all. I just couldn't believe that these were suppose to be the photos that she was to purchase to represent her senior year. When I saw them I wanted to cry. I know that when she sees them that she is going to hate them as well, and I have nothing that I can say that will make it better. I am planning to call the school and see if I can take her yearbook photo and submit it, but I am almost certain that this will be shot down because it will not be done by the contracted photographer which I can respect. I just feel sick for my daughter.

In an effort to not be to biased about the situation I did show the photos to a close family friend and my husband to see what their thoughts were. I did not say a word as they looked at the photos. They were horrified as well. They both told me that in knowing my daughter as well as they do that she is going to hate them and not want any of them. At that point both of them looked at me and told me that I should take her photos as they will be a million times better than what was originally produced. I reassured both of them that this was the plan and that my daughter had already asked that I do her photos for her. (Which was a confidence boost as well.)

Just for further investigation we decided to look and see how much the photos were going to cost. I could hear my wallet tuck its tail between its legs and scream when I saw the prices. The most expensive all you could get package was almost $600 and this is with out "premium retouching" (Whatever that is) and the killer was the lowest package. This package really had nothing to it, but as a professional courtesy I will not go into detail about the specifics. Needless to say, for virtually nothing they wanted $160. I sat for a very long time in disbelief and the expectation that this company had.

I charge no where near what this company charges and in a side by side comparison my work is much better. Which is not something that I take lightly in saying. It is horrible that my low self esteem about what I am attempting to do with my camera was washed away at the expense of my daughter's senior pictures, but it does make me realize that I can offer so much more to a client than what was offered to my daughter.

Sometimes I think we all just need a reminder that we are not as bad at something as we feel. Or I guess a shorter way to say it is that sometimes we just need a reality check. It is something I needed to remind me that I take great pride in my work and the products that I produce in order to have happy clients with beautiful work.

Just remember, you can only go forward from here. Going backwards is not an option. If this is your dream, as I am sure it is... Take it and run with it. Work hard and continue to improve. Never stop improving. If you stop... that is when you fail.

Things to work on

Recently I was lucky enough to work with a beautiful young lady and produce her senior photos. As I have been slowly working through her photos and editing I realized there are some things that I need to work on.

1. Posing- I realized that I am very weak in this area. I have been under the impression that teenagers know how to pose, I mean, seriously they are in front of the camera all the time. They are always taking selfies for snapchat, and Instagram, and Facebook. With this in mind I really did not think that I needed to instruct her on posing. I realized in the first 10 minutes I was wrong. I am not sure if it was because mom was there or if was because she was not in control of the camera, but posing was not her thing. So I was having to give her guidance, and of course I was not prepared so I was flying on a wing and a prayer that it would look good. I must admit that God came through though and gave me amazing weather, not to mention a light breeze that assisted with a beautiful hair blown look with almost every single shot. I could not have been more pleased with the looks I got, even though I was not always pleased with the posing. Which is my fault as I had failed to be prepared for this particular issue.

2. Preparing my client- I realized when I got to my shoot that what I thought was going to happen in my head was not going to manifest into an actual photo on my camera. I had ideas of very specific shots, and with specific attitudes or well I am not really sure how to describe it. However I failed to prep my client and her mother. I also failed to be prepared for the visions of my client and her mother. This was a failure of communication. This makes me realize that prior to booking I really need to sit down with each client in person or on the phone and discuss my thoughts as well as there so that both sides are prepared and all expectations are out in the open.

3. Understanding rules and policies of the location or having a point of contact- This one sounds scary I know, but it is not as bad as it sounds. I didn't get into any trouble, however there was just a lot of stress. Our location was a botanical garden/zoo. Due to the fact that I knew we had to pay an entrance fee, I also assumed that there would be some sort of media rules. Of course there was. However I  did not quite understand where I fell within the media policies. My biggest question was am I considered commercial or non commercial? There was no specific definition within their policy in order to differentiate, and there was only an outlier of rules for bridal shoots which left me to wonder if I may fall into that outlier. Of course with this in mind there was a potential of extra charges and such. However there was no way to determine by policy where I fell. I emailed the one point of contact, and of course I got no response. It finally came down to a phone call and finding a specific point of contact and speaking to a live person to get clarification. From all of this I learned it is much easier to have a point of contact and a person to speak with versus having to play the guessing game, or functioning on a hope and a prayer that I am not going to get in trouble. A liaison is the best way to go! This helps relieve your stress and that of your client.

3. Scope out where you are going- Yes I failed this one. I allowed myself to get cocky and think that I did not have to look at the location prior to the shoot. I figured that a botanical garden was a great place and there was nothing to worry about. Which it was not a worry. However had I looked at the location I think I would have planned out my shoot 100 times better! This place was beautiful, and full of nooks and crannies that were just amazing for such a tiny garden. It was overwhelming to look at and running from spot to spot, and now I wonder if there was a chance that I may have missed some amazing shots.

4. Being early is amazing!- We opted to do this shoot in the morning as soon as the garden opened. This was the best decision we could have made! We were the first ones in and we were over half way through our session before people really started to show up and becoming a problem with the shoot. It was amazing to not have to work around other people and worry about shots being inadvertently ruined by other guests. Not to mention the lighting was amazing for a 9AM shoot!

5. Editing- I noticed after the fact while I was editing that even though for most shots that I had great skies and I was super excited, however there were several shots that the sky failed me. It was flat, gray and just plain boring. This called for a sky replacement in Photoshop once I realized there was nothing that I could do in Lightroom to save the sky. I thought that I understood enough to be able to do this. However I realized several things. The first is that I am not great when it comes to more technical things in Photoshop, and two that I did not have the files to do what I wanted. I initially tried to use the sky from another portrait in the same shoot, but I just could not for the life of me make it realistic. Due to time constraints and the need to get these photos processed I did not feel that I had the time to do the research to teach myself how to do the replacement, and I did not have the extra money to purchase sky replacement files. So this left me at a loss. Sadly some of these portraits were amazing, but had I been able to replace the sky this would have made it perfect! So I have learned not only do I need to spend time behind the camera, but I need to invest more time learning to work with and learn Photoshop and Lightroom. I have the basics, but there are times that the basics, or a preset is just not enough.

With every shoot there is something new to learn and something new for me to share. I hope that in sharing where I have failed and the things that I need to work on that this will help you avoid my downfalls, and also help everyone to realize that no one is perfect. Mistakes happen, and as long as you learn from them there is not much more anyone could ask for.

Are we as photographers considered commercial or non commercial?

Lately I have had a number of eye opening experiences, and I have just had another one. I love to learn, however it has been rather complicated as of late. Let me explain.

I had a returning client contact me about a session. They wanted to do this session at our local zoo/botanical gardens. This made me slightly nervous. I have never shot at a place where I have had to pay an entrance fee and not to mention I have been ridiculed by other photographers for posting photos from the Zoo on my business page due to their beliefs about the zoo's media rules. With this in mind I went to the zoo's website to see what the exact policy was. This is where the confusion came in.

Per the zoo policy if the shoot is a commercial shoot there would be a $1,000 a day fee, plus extra fees if you needed to have a zoo Representative or not and than there were additional charges for other things based upon the number of hours that you were there and the equipment you may or may not need. There was also the charges per photo depending on if you were going to use them for textbooks, or other items. It was a lot overall. However there was also a clause about non commercial shooting. Which basically as long as you did not interfere with the flow of the visitors to the park and did not sell your photos you were in the clear. However if you were shooting bridal photos those had an extra charge and could only be shot after hours in the park. As I said it was all confusing.
After reading the policy the first thing I needed to do was figure out if I was going to be considered commercial, non commercial or potentially fall into the same classification as a bride with this particular shoot. I did some research and asked in several Facebook groups and came up with the same problem. It was a fifty fifty choice. Some stated that I would be commercial because I am being paid to shoot, and others stated non commercial because this is a senior photo session, it is not an advertisement shoot which is what made sense to be. However no one could really answer if I would fall into the bridal category or not as sometimes portraits in general can be lumped together like that.

In an effort to figure out where I fell I began some research on line. I was directed to this article from F-Stoppers https://fstoppers.com/other/fstoppers-answers-what-commercial-photography-2963 where various well known photographers described what they thought the difference between commercial and non commercial shooting was. Needless to say they seemed to come across as though they were not sure. I tried to find a state law or some guidance and there was just nothing that I could find, even with the help of Google that could answer my question. Which honestly I was surprised. Google usually never fails me. The last step that I could think of was to see what other photographers in the area had done. I noted that there were a large number of them that had shot at this location, and I noted that they had even linked back to the zoo itself. So this caused me to really stop and think. My thought process than became, "If the photographer linked back to the zoo they must have signed a contract stating that they had too." Which this led to the thought that this session would be considered a commercial session. At the same time I tried to contact a few photographers in the area, and sadly they had no information for me. Some chose not to answer when I called or when I asked they had never shot there and were unaware of the procedure.

I know that a number of you are probably wondering why I didn't start with just talking to someone at the zoo. To be honest I had started to get in contact with them. The minute that I was asked to do the session at the zoo I looked up a point of contact at the zoo and sent off an email. I let 48 hours go by with no response, and since this was a last minute shoot I needed to have my ducks in a row or I needed to find another location. I personally did not want to have to find another location because this zoo with its gardens are amazing. So I was holding out hope that it would all work out in our favor. After no contact was made from the point of contact I tried calling the zoo, and the first phone call was a complete failure. They wanted a message and they would get back to me at a later time. So I waited, until the next morning. I can almost bet I was the first call of the day. I called as soon as I knew the gates were open and I was praying someone would actually want to talk to me. As luck would have it there was someone who wanted to talk to me, and they even had the answers that I was looking for. Per the interpretation of the policy I would be shooting as a non commercial entity. Which seems odd because I am still selling the photos. Here is the catch. I am selling them to an end user. I am not creating them for marketing and they will not be used to advertise for a specific business. That is where the difference lies. This session also did not fall into the bridal category because there was not going to be all the extra things like hair and makeup and a huge dress that was going to be in the way. In their eyes this was nothing more than a family trip to the zoo.

So what I have learned that there is not a defining answer that goes across the board to determine if we are all considered commercial or non commercial. Even though we are getting paid for a service and a product it may not mean we are commercial. This is something that is determined by the location that we are shooting at, and what we are planning to use the photos for once they are completed. Which now that I know this is either going to be a blessing or a curse, as this now leads me to question every time that I shoot at a new location where am I going to fall, and I feel that I need to find a way to understand the policies as I read them a bit better in order to reduce the stress of trying to figure out what I am or am not based upon the project that I am working on. I feel like I have said all this to simply say, no matter what you do as a photographer when it comes to determining if you are commercial or non commercial it is left to the discretion of others whether you like it or not.

What are your opinions about this particular topic? I would love to hear them!

Trying to dig out of that horrible rut

I have noticed over the last few weeks that I have lost myself. I have not created a fun image in months, and I am honestly struggling to figure out my next move. It has been enough to make me wonder from time to time if I am just stuck temporarily or is this going to be something I can never get out of. I love my photography and I love to see the excitement from my clients, or even my own family when I create images.However I have not had the chance to feel that enjoyment lately. I seem to struggle with making something that I am happy with and proud enough to show my family. With this in mind I realize that I must do something because I am stuck in a rut, which I am not happy about.

I am a big fan of the Improved Photography LLC. This group of photographers spend a number of hours creating podcasts, articles and training material for us to use at either a very low cost or no cost at all. With this thought in mind this was my first stop. I went to the Improved Photography website and went through the articles that are available and ran across one in particular that is entitled "In a Photography Rut? Project Workshop!"  The article is written by Rowland Jones and is part of a series of articles that have been written. However at this point this is the only one that I have read. This article covers the basic history of portrait photography and how time consuming it was in the beginning stages. It also talked about how photographers began to change how things were done by creating new and different portraits that showed the emotion of the person that they were photographing versus just a stony face and a very stiff postured subject. The suggestion is made at the end of the article to create and schedule a formal portrait session. This includes finding a model, doing some research on a location and preparing for the shoot. There were also some suggestions about putting your subject at ease and discussion about post processing. If you would like to read this particular article in full here is the link:
http://improvephotography.com/30488/photography-rut-project-workshop/

After reading the article this has given me some perspective and to some extent has gotten the juices flowing about what I could do with a session. However this is something that I want to be personal and from my heart. I also want my personal project to tell a story through the photos that I take. This is something of a challenge because I have no idea how to tell this story. I have learned that unlike dancing, which can tall a story though movement, photography is something completely different. I have attempted this idea and failed several times. Each time I feel as though the photo needs an explanation or a thought bubble so that the viewer of the photo understands the story that I am trying to portray.

So as I sit here I am trying to figure out several things.

1. What is the topic, or title of my project?
2. What is the story that I want to portray?
3. Is this something that I am only doing for myself or is this something that I want to release to the public eventually?
4. What type of project can I do that is something that I can complete, and not become discouraged and quit?

I found an article about some of this at The digital Photography School. In the article it talked about why a personal project is important. There are actually several other reasons, besides getting yourself out of a rut. Personal projects can help to expand your portfolio, get you to step out of your comfort zone and get you out into your community. Which I believe these are all great ideas that may be very helpful.

If you would like to read the full article for further explanation here is the link.

http://digital-photography-school.com/importance-personal-projects-professional-photographers/

As I continued my research I found another article on the Fstoppers site that helped to define things a bit more. It talked about not letting your projects die and how to stay motivated which is something that I NEEDED more than I realized. This really brought things into prospective for me. This article broke down how to come up with ideas, and how to keep track of them and to expand on them to make the project specific and not quite so over whelming at the very beginning. As I said this is something that I needed to see as I believe that being over whelmed from the very beginning is a very huge issue for me as a photographer. I also found it reassuring to know that I am not the only one that struggles with the actual execution of the project, which in my case is the reason why it dies, and the ideas that were given to prevent this is great. I have come to realize that I need a time line for the project and it is not something that has to be a year. It can be as short as a few days to as long as I want it to be. However there need to be end dates and there need to be bench marks with dates in order to keep myself on track. Also one of the biggest take always from the article for me is that it is ok to fail. You can always go back and re-shoot. Which brings a lot of weight off of my shoulders.

If you would like to read this article as well please follow the link.
https://fstoppers.com/business/how-not-let-your-personal-photography-project-ideas-be-forgotten-83648

What are your thoughts? Do you have any suggestions for me? Would you like to see the project as I work through it?

I would love to know what you think and if this is something of interest to you. Please leave your feed back in the comments and give me an idea of what you are interested in.

As always thank you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts and give feedback. I hope that it is helping you as much as it helps me as we grow with our photography.