You all know I love taking photos, right? Whether you like mine or not (and whether I've been putting effort into the photos on here lately or not) I hope that's been made clear. ;)
So, I don't talk about it a ton here, in part because of face/privacy issues, and I have yet to set up a photography blog or portfolio, but I've been doing some portraits for people. Just some, here and there, like senior photos, babies, (ballet posters), a few families and most recently engagements.
And bridals.
And a wedding.
Whaaa? Yeah (this is where my daughter would say "I know, right?!"). I did the engagements and bridals as a gift/trade for a really sweet neighbor. And it turned out that they were in great need of a photographer for the wedding day. I tried to say no, but that didn't work, so I just had to give it my best shot. Literally.
Actually, I was still trying to say no when another sweet neighbor offered to come and shoot with me. That made all the difference!
I think we pulled it off nicely.
Shooting with a friend was awesome. First off, she rode with me, so I had someone to chat with on the way up. And that calmed my nerves. Because, oh yeah, I was nervous. Also, just practical stuff worked well, like we shot from different angles, with different cameras and lenses, so we got a lot of different stuff at the same time. Which was kind of awesome and didn't take as long. Also, if the bride's bouquet was blocking her face in my shot, it wasn't in my friends, so that rocked.
Having people actually want to use me as a photographer has been interesting. If I had to pick a career (besides homeschooling mom, which I love), I'd definitely pick photographer (or art teacher...). I have SO much to learn, I don't feel like a pro, but it's fun 'playing' pro. If I were to make a go at really being a photographer, I'd have to be better about what I charge people. And that's hard, especially when most of my 'clients' have been neighbors. And I love my neighbors. But it takes a lot of time to shoot and edit photos. And time is what I don't have a ton of. I think I could maybe try and grow a small business at this point, but I really don't have the time to. And that's okay, my time needs to be with my family right now. So what do I do about that? Okay, I'll take your photos, just don't tell anyone who did them? Because I can't say no all the time.
Also, photography has been a great way for me to serve others while doing something that I love. I've volunteered and taken shots for families in our neighborhood who are taking care of foster babies, which was fun and rewarding.
So I've been thinking tons about photography lately. I was thinking of maybe upgrading my camera but it really suits my needs right now. I am drooling over a new portrait lens, though. I have that old school 50mm, but it's super fiddly and I don't think I'd be great at manual focus in portraits. Kids move too fast. And I can't find my adaptor ring for it (where?!). So I'd really like a new 50mm, and the one I'm looking at is supposed to be nice. End of babbling.
My sidekick, sporting it's new camera strap and camera bag (Christmas presents - yay!).
