Shutter Sisters

Iconic Summer

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We just got back from a week of traveling across the midwest to visit with our closest friends and family. Our trip included every favorite summer activity imaginable including camping, barbecuing, playing baseball, going to the beach, dining al fresco and spending time with friends. One of our stops along the way was a two day camping trip with our good friends and their two daughters. We spent our days chatting by the fire, throwing a Frisbee, and completely relaxing. There’s nothing like watching two little girls experiencing summer at it’s finest, unknowingly living the memories that they will look back on fondly. I’ve never seen pure and utter bliss like I did when the girls bit into those s’mores. I grabbed my camera and as I clicked away they didn’t even know I was there. It’s like they were in a s’more trance. To me, the image above represents summer.

Which photo represents your idea of the perfect summer? 

The Power of Three

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Aren’t these three mushrooms adorable? I feel like they’re giving each other a big group hug, thankful for the muggy weather and daily rain showers we’ve had lately.

As far as composition goes, you really can’t go wrong with grouping items in threes. That doesn’t mean there has to be only three items in the photo. But that fourth little mushroom on the right doesn’t count, in my mind. He’s small, off to the side, and out of focus. When I look at the photo I see three mushrooms right away. By composing your photos using odd numbered items it keeps things from getting too symmetrical and creates interest. After I took this photo I checked out the Shutter Sisters Flickr Pool and found some other photos that utilize the Power of Three.

mayalu captured these gorgeous poppy’s in a group hug too!

ojoyous1 did a great job recognizing this serene set up.

star8278 found three daisies all in a row. 

pinkorchid_too created a perfect cherry still life.

 If you have any examples of “The Power of Three”, I want to see them! And so does everyone else. Leave your links in the comments!

Fun

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Things are definitely starting to pick up with my photography business. The weather is getting warmer and people are booking sessions for the summer (which is very exciting). Last weekend I had two sessions, and when I came home from each of them John asked me two simple questions “How did it go?” and “Did you have fun?”. I was sweaty, tired, and coming down from the adrenaline rush of the session.  “Fun” wasn’t the first word that came to mind as I looked down at my grass stained jeans and felt my sore legs. I am still getting used to the stress and nerves I feel during each session. I just want everything to go well and, most importantly that all the photos turn out beautifully in the end. I know that with practice and time I’ll be able to juggle those feelings better. But for now, sessions are slightly physically and mentally exhausting. I do enjoy them and like meeting new clients and kids. But I did get a little concerned when I couldn’t answer John with a definite “Yes! It was fun!”. I mean, didn’t I start this business because I love it? Shouldn’t it be fun? My answer came as I started sifting through the photos from the session. With each photo I edited I started relaxing more and more. And after a few minutes I really was having fun. I discovered that the ultimate fun comes when I realize I really did get some beautiful shots. When I realize that I did my job, and I did it well.  Come one, how could anyone not have fun looking at the photo above?

Options

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I don’t know about you, but when I am editing photos after a shoot of any kind I like to have options to work with. Sometimes a pose or angle that I thought was great at the time ends up falling flat when I see it later. But if I am able to get a variety of shots, I feel much better when I start looking at them on screen.  Obviously it’s not always easy to shoot your subject in 10 different ways. When it comes to photographing kids I think we just take what we can get. So a beautiful little vase of flowers is a luxury to play around with.

These are just 4 of the best shots from the 30 that I took. But I love being able to pick and choose the best.  If you have a chance, try it out and show your options in the comments section.

 

Hand it Over

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Sometimes as I’m clicking away, making sure to record each event or small detail in our lives, I have to remind myself to hand over that precious camera and ask someone else to take my picture. On this day, it was my husband John. We were at an Earth Day festival in the park and I was busy taking pictures of our surroundings and of him. But I made sure to plop the camera in his hands and say “Will you take a picture of me so people know I exist?” Sometimes I worry that my future children will look at our old photo albums and ask me if I was even there. So I try to make an effort to be in a few shots at every occasion, no matter how small. So consider this your reminder! Don’t be afraid to hand over the camera and ask someone to capture your beautiful face.

Has anyone taken your picture with your camera lately? If so, leave a link in the comments. And self portraits don’t count this time!

Chopping Heads

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The above photo was an accident. I intended to capture Roxy’s whole body, but because I wasn’t looking through the viewfinder I chopped off the top of her head. But I actually really like it. I realize now that some of my favorite photographers go around taking headless pictures all the time and I am often really drawn to those photos. But it had never occurred to me to do it on purpose until I took this one. I think there’s a certain element of mysteriousness to a photo that is cropped below a person’s (or animal’s) eyes. What’s the first thing you typically look at in a portrait? The eyes, right? I know I do. So when that element is taken away, you are forced to take notice of other details.

Most “old school” photographers would tell you to never, ever cut off someone’s head in a photo. But I don’t really care what they say. And think I’m going start experimenting with this a little more. I did some poking around Flickr to find some good examples. Although, let me encourage you to never search Flickr with the words “chopping heads”. I am still scarred from that. However, after looking through the streams of some of my own contacts and the Shutter Sisters pool I quickly found what I was looking for.

Our own Tracey, chops heads all the time with great success! And I see lots of maternity photos taken from the neck down. It’s a great way to focus on those big beautiful bellies.

Here are some more of my favorite headless portraits:

Beebee Mod 

Emily (RWP) 

strawberrygoldie 

camerashymomma 

I could go on, but I’ll stop there for now because I want to hear from you. How many of you find yourself cropping heads out of photos and how often do you do it on purpose? Of course, I’d love to see examples!

get on the floor

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One of the best ways to shake things up a little bit it is to take a photo from an unexpected angle. In our daily lives we tend to view things from about 5 feet up (give or take several inches…I know, I know). But try laying, squatting, or kneeling on the floor or ground with your camera and notice the difference. It’s a whole new world from down there! Those of you who have small children are probably not strangers to kneeling down and getting on their level, whether it’s to take a picture or to give a hug. That’s a great way to capture your little ones in their environment.

But there are a lot of other subjects that look amazing when shot from down below too like buildings, nature, and streets scenes. And there are a few different ways I tend shoot from the ground. One way is to get down low and then shoot up at something, like the shot above or this one from southhollisqueen. I also love the look of a super low, parallel-to-the-ground shot like this one from veridianblue. Or there’s the less extreme, but effective technique of kneeling but still shooting slightly down on a subject like jen_maiser did.

Okay, I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t always have to physically get down on the ground for this to work. You can use Sarah’s Just Shoot It technique and hold your camera closer to the ground or actually on the ground and hope for the best. If you’re anything like me, it might save you from having some seriously sore thigh muscles the next morning.

So get on the floor and show us your results in the comments!

pay it forward

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I got to thinking while I was in the shower the other day. Does anyone else do most of their thinking in the shower? Anyway as I was lathering, rinsing, and repeating I got to thinking about photography (big surprise!). Usually my thoughts on photography have to do with myself, and the pending success of this new business venture. What do I love about photography? How does it make me feel? What do I need to accomplish today? But on this day, with loofah in hand, I realized that one of the best things about being a photographer is having the ability to bring joy to other people. It’s a meaningful thing to be able to provide someone with beautiful photographs of a particular moment in their lives. Whether it’s capturing a little girl squeezing her big brother or the tiny hands and feet of a newborn baby, I think that’s what excites me most about photography.

As a graphic designer I have spent a few years working for advertising agencies (stay with me, this is going somewhere). In Chicago I spent a lot of my time designing circular ads for big name retailers, like the ones that come in the Sunday paper. A co-worker once told a story that, as she was walking to the bus stop one morning she saw some garbage blowing toward her along the curb. As it came closer she realized that it was one of the circular ads that she had spent months working so hard to perfect. She had been spending her days producing garbage and now it was staring her in the face. Now, of course, I’m not saying that people who work in advertising have meaningless jobs. But, it’s never feels good to think about the work you do as meaningless or pointless and that is how I sometimes felt working in that particular situation.

So, as I had my moment of realization in the shower, it was nice to think that my interest in photography might impact others in a positive way. I feel like I can contribute to the happiness of others while contributing to my own, which is so important in my book.

But the best part is that there are tons of ways to use photography to make other people happy (and in turn, make yourself happy). You could make a gift for someone using a photo you took. Or take pictures at a party and then mail them to the host later. Also, a lot of animal shelters need volunteers to photograph the animals for their website.

How have you used your photography skills to benefit someone else? Or do you have any other ideas on how we can use photography to “pay it forward”?

Making a Dent

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I’m in the zone. As I start flying through the checklist of starting my own photography business, I generally feel a sense of accomplishment. It’s nice to see the pieces falling into place one by one, giving me the confidence that I really can make this happen. And even though I have been focusing most of my attention on things like tax forms and pricing equations, I am grateful for this community of women who remind me to be creative and practice my craft. I am inspired daily by the Shutter Sisters posts, and by the large community that supports them. Each day brings new ideas and challenges that push me and cause me to pick up my camera and practice. Sometimes I feel like I’m getting a free education from this group, so thank you all for that!

So, while it is important for me to focus on the business side of things, I need to keep in mind that none of that matters if I don’t push myself to be a better photographer. I could have the coolest website in town and the slickest business cards on the block, but if I don’t pick up my camera in between, it all means nothing.


 

Down to Business

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This week has been the week of TO DO. Last week I finished a 2 month freelance graphic design job so this week I have been home. I am trying to get things done related to the new photography business while I have the chance. I do feel like I am making some progress because I have been crossing things off the list but there are also a lot of things that seem to hinge on other things. Does that ever happen to you? Where you find out that in order to do one thing you need to do 7 other things first. For instance, I’d like to start shooting in RAW, or at least try it out. But to do that, I want to get Adobe Lightroom first. But to get Lightroom, I need to get more memory for my eMac. Do I really want to spend $150 on more memory for my 5 year old eMac? I’m still deciding.

I also spoke to a nice guy with the state about starting a small business here and what I need to do to get things going. He sent me all of the appropriate links and forms to fill out. But as I started reading through the tax info I got confused. So I moved on to another task that seemed simple – applying for a trade name. In order to legally do business with a name other than your own, you need to file paperwork for a trade name. A few months back when I was deciding on a name, I searched the state’s online database of names to see if Spark Photo was available and it looked like it was. So yesterday I e-mailed a woman to make sure it was open before I sent in my check and paperwork. She wrote back and said that it was NOT available!!!! There is a photographer in my state with the last name of Sparks and he uses it in the name of his business. I had completely missed it before because the ‘s’ on the end of Sparks sent the name to the next page of alphabetical listings. It was a total oversight on my part and I was devastated. I designed a logo! I loved the name! OMG! I was back to square one on a name. It took me a couple of hours to get over that one, but I don’t have time to waste. So I think I’ve decided to go with Paige B. Photography. I kind of like the sound of it and the way that it kind of rhymes. I do like my first name (thanks mom and dad!), so I figure that using it in my business name makes sense. What do you guys think?

Here are some other things on my to do list for the next month or so:
-Buy some actions. I really like these.
-Develop pricing
-Create the necessary forms (contract, model release)
-Design a new logo (wasn’t expecting that one!)
-Create some marketing materials (business cards, postcards)

Here are some things on my wish list:
-New lens (still looking into which one)
-Camera bag (maybe this one or this one)
-CS3 (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator- I currently have CS)
-Adobe Lightroom
–Blu Domain Website
-New Mac (ha! a girl can dream)

So, to recap – I have a lot to do. And here’s what I’d love to hear from you.
-What do you think of Paige B. Photography? Any other ideas you like better?
-What is on your photography related To Do list lately?
-What is on your photography related Wish List?