A few miles before we arrived at La Torre, I looked out the window and gasped. The light was falling perfectly, and the bridge I saw was one of the most magnificent sights I had ever seen. We were tired, and hungry, and it didn’t feel like the right time to stop and hike around to take a picture, so I said we could take care of it the next day.

The next day, it wasn’t the same. It was certainly pretty, but it wasn’t magical. It didn’t take my breath away.

The lesson I learned in Lucca is to trust my instincts. Next time I see that light on that bridge or the bride or a coastline, I’m doing whatever it takes to freeze that moment in time forever.

A wedding I shot back in September (where my mom acted as my second-shooter!) has been featured on Style Me Pretty Illinois today, and I know it would make the bride’s day if you left a comment on her featur. If you’d like to see my take on the day, view my Jenna Cole post on this same wedding here.

I have another wedding in two weeks, in San Diego. I asked on Twitter yesterday, but I’m trying to plan lunch for the drive between LA–>SD on Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening activity, Thursday dinner, meals on Friday, and some activities on Friday (I think there may be a rehearsal dinner/luncheon on Friday but I’m not sure when yet). Of course I’ll be busy on Saturday afternoon photographing the lovely Benita’s gorgeous wedding day!

 

I’ve owned a dSLR for 3 years now, and in that time I’ve learned a lot. On the left you can see a photo I took and delivered to my clients when I first started, and one from a session I did last year. I’m self-taught, and certainly don’t know everything, but I’d like to tell people about the things I do understand. If you have a dSLR and would like to work toward understanding how to use your camera better, click here to learn about the Aspirations Workshops I’m going to be holding during the month of February.

I’ve done workshops like this before, and here is what one of my attendees had to say about the experience:

I was very much on the fence about my photography. I went into this almost completely blind. Almost meaning, I did a few sessions with my father-in-law’s camera (Canon XT), was satisfied with the results of the pictures I took, but in no way used the camera to maximize its capacity. After that (and after getting lots of “ooo, great pictures!”, “nice work”, “oh you’re doing these for FREE? i’m in!”), I did my research, got the best camera I could get for my budget (Canon 40D with the kit lense, which I very much regret getting that lense to this day), started up a photo blog, and went on my way. I skimmed the camera manual for some guidance, had absolutely NO idea what they were talking about, and was completely frustrated with how my husband was trying to teach me. So being completely blind still, I did lots of sessions with the little knowledge I had of what my camera was actually doing, and was decently satisfied with the results of my pictures. I mean, I did have Lightroom and Photoshop anyways to fall back on.
Which brings me to my editing. I HHHHHAAAATTTTTEEEEEDDDDD it with a passion. Yes, all caps, and super exaggerated. If you don’t say it like that, then you won’t get the full effect. I spent hours upon hours editing EVERY SINGLE good and decent picture. It was so overwhelming, so tedious, so not exciting. From what I read, this was supposed to be one of the best parts about photography. Effects, actions, presets, the whole shabang was supposed to be fun! Eh wrong.
Now I know I was completely going at it from the wrong angle. Here’s what Jenna Cole taught me:
First we started out with Composition. I went into this knowing a few photo techniques, i.e. placing the subject(s) on a grassy hill with hands placed just right and saying, “don’t move”, or as my husband chimes in “try to look natural, but don’t move too much”. HA. Jenna taught us how to make the subject look flattering, how to make them look and feel natural, how to not take awkward ‘up the nose’ shots. All around, I learned the right angles to take and not take photos. For example, Jenna stood up on the bench above our model and took an above picture. Why I didn’t think of that angle before I do not know!
We moved on to ISO, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, using our histogram, and a few other techniques. She explained them in ways that make absolute sense! I won’t get into every single detail of each one, but if you had absolutely no idea what those words/acronyms meant going into the session, you would walk away completely knowing AND understanding what to do with them and how to get every shot at its best.
Jenna gave us plenty of time to photograph our model, helping us in each step to process the information she gave us and use it! She was there to guide me through what buttons to press and what settings to be on. She even let us use her lenses she had on hand (and even let us play with the precious 5D Mark II, which I did not want to let go of) and gain a visual on the difference between what we own and what we could have.
I’m now completely on the other side of the fence. And will not go back on again. Jenna Cole’s Aspirations session was completely unexpected in a very good way. I learned more than I thought I would, and can USE what I’ve learned, which I think is the most important aspect of workshops/mentoring sessions.

 

I took some pictures of my friend Paige. She’s my best friend in Chicago, will soon have 3 kids age 4 and under, and looks crazy good for someone who is probably going to give birth within the next month. Click here to see the rest.

Those jeans she is wearing? They aren’t maternity pants. I’m green with jealousy.

I’ve given up on trying to take my photos on the assigned day. Instead I’d rather focus on using the photos as prompts and trying to do something (somewhat) interesting. I took the first three all on the same day because my weekend was so packed I didn’t have time to sit down and create something good. And the last four were taken yesterday because the sky was finally nice and sunny, giving me much better light in my apartment.

Day 15: Silhouette

I thought maybe taking the picture in front of the tree would make this more visually interesting? And I ended up flipping my hair because I couldn’t figure out how else to pose.

ISO 250

50mm

f/3.5

1/200

Day 16: Long Exposure

I loved this prompt because it gave me the push I needed to finally try out light painting! Very fun too. I commented on Twitter that if we taught kids how to do this, I think they’d stay away from drugs and graffiti because I promise you, running around painting with your cell phone and attempting to pose is much more fun than ruining pretty buildings. I did this by using bulb mode, using a wireless trigger to open the shutter, using my iphone to paint my name (backwards with my left hand, mind you), sitting on the couch, triggering the flash, and then using the remote to close the shutter again.

ISO 125

35mm

f/4.0

32 sec

Day 17: Technology

For this day I decided I wanted to take a page from Ryan Brenizer’s book and use only my cell phone to light the shot. This shot is a little view into my life too, as I always have my cell phone on me and I’m constantly checking it for emails, texts, or tweets.

ISO 1250

35mm

4/2.5

.4 sec

Day 18: Your Shoes

Whenever we leave the entryway closet door open, T1 is there, pulling our shoes out and trying them on. He’s getting pretty good at walking in my high heels.

ISO 320

50mm

f/2.2

1/400

Day 19: Orange

I have a shot of this carrot soup that’s more isolated, but I liked this one where I pulled back and demonstrated what it’s often like for a mom with a toddler trying to do just about anything. T1 has learned how to pull the dining room chairs out so he can climb up on the table, which means if I want to get a picture, I better do it quick.

ISO 320

50mm

f/3.2

1/200

Day 20: Bokeh

I picked up some free Christmas lights at our ward swap meet, and so I thought I’d use them for the bokeh shot. I had this picture in mind when I thought of the T1+Christmas lights idea, but once I started shooting I remembered that to get bokeh you need distance between your subject and the “bokeh generator” (haha, not sure what else to call it) so instead I piled them on the couch and had T1 lay some distance in front of them.

ISO 2500

50mm

f/1.4

1/200

 

Day 21: Faceless self-portrait

I was going for some sort of “mom playing with her baby” faceless portrait, but this ended up being my favorite one. This one meets the rules a little bit better, but I don’t like it as much.

ISO 800

35mm

f/4.0

1/320

Just over a week to go! If you haven’t been taking pictures on the day they are assigned, be like me, just take them when you can. It’s fun to look at the prompt and dream of interesting ways I can create a photo around them.