Four Years with my SLR

I glanced down at my calendar the other day and realized that it had been exactly four years since I bought my first SLR camera. Four years. Where does time go? Ask anyone who pursues and enjoys photography as much as I do and they will most likely tell you that their camera is like another child. Some of us them even name their cameras. It’s been an amazing four years and when I went back and started looking through my images, I was amazed at how much my shooting style and my technique has improved and changed over the years.

When I first started out, I had very limited knowledge about photography. I knew a bit about film photography from my time on the high school yearbook staff and my years in the pageant world. But digital was still fairly new. I frequented the I {Heart} Faces community a lot and stalked blogs like Pixel Perfect and Click it Up a Notch completely in awe of their beautiful images. I wanted to shoot images like that. I needed to capture those kind of photos of my family. When Noah was born, I finally convinced my husband that an SLR would be a good investment. So in February 2009, after we got our tax refund, we waltzed into Sears and I bought my first SLR: A Canon Rebel Xsi.

I thought that since I had read the photography forums, had a general understanding of what Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO were that I would just be able to pick my camera up and start shooting. Couldn’t be that hard, right?

WRONG.

In those first two years, I made a lot of mistakes. The biggest being that I actually thought I was good enough to shoot for other people. What I wouldn’t give to be able to redo some of those first ‘sessions’ I did.

I made every new photographer mistake in the book.

I overexposed…

I tilted my frame waaaay too much…

I used editing software that I had no clue how to use…

I over sharpened and overprocessed…

I shot in absolutely horrid lighting situations…

I didn’t bother to change my white balance. Ever…

Every once in a blue moon I would capture an image that had something right in it.

The first time I captured an image where Noah’s eyes were sharp and in focus, I couldn’t believe it.

 

 

When I bought my first prime lens and got that “blurry” background, I did a dance. I didn’t matter that the picture really had no purpose and I can’t remember much about this shot other than that it was the first time I had taken my SLR out and about.

 

2011 & early 2012 were a lot of the same mistakes. I bought my first set of “expensive” actions, but apparently I never knew anything of opacity. We moved to Alaska in January ’11 and I really started to push myself to figure things out. I was tired of my photos not looking like I wanted them to look and all of my time in doors during the winter led me to join Clickin Moms. For starters, I bought a few trial periods. Never really sure if I was going to be able to dive into photography head first like I wanted. I was hesitant. I think I felt more comfortable not knowing and not getting good photos than I was with knowing how to create the images and still being unsatisfied with my results. Throw in the added challenge of learning to shoot in very cool light, and a lot of my images were just….bad.

My exposure was off, my editing was over done and my composition lacked anything special or interesting. My images just didn’t have any meaning behind them. I shot for the sake of shooting and posting pictures on Facebook. But they were nothing more than that.

In November 2011 I took my first workshop with a local photographer. I had been shooting on manual mode for a few months, but that workshop really sealed my knowledge of Metering and tying all of the elements together. And in January 2012 I finally upgraded my Canon Rebel and bought the Canon 7D. I traded my kit lens and nifty fifty for a 50 mm 1.4 and a Sigma 30 mm.

My images were still overexposed almost ALWAYS and my processing was all over the place. I kept trying to recreate editing styles that I saw other photographers using and it just didn’t work for me. I was still unhappy with the quality of my images and still feeling frustrated with my work. I thought seriously about just calling it quits. I had a graphic design business, so why did I need photography? But I couldn’t do it. Creating beautiful images filled a void in my life. Even if I wasn’t shooting for clients and making money or running a steady photography business, I loved shooting. And I couldn’t give it up.

So, I finally caved and bought a Lifetime membership to Clickin Moms in March of last year during the birthday celebration. I had joined under trial runs a few times and never really dove too much into the forums. But, after reading a few other blogs and hearing so many people talk about how helpful their community was, I bit the bullet and signed up. I signed up for good because I knew that another trial run wouldn’t force me to make the most of the forum and the community. At that point I was capturing images that I liked (composition wise) but my settings and editing were still off. Blown out skin tones, images that were WAY too bright. So I pushed on and dug, dug, dug into their forums.

Sometime toward the middle of last year, things started to click. I bought a few Clickin Mom breakout sessions, did an editing mentoring session with April Neinhuis, and stepped away from using actions for everything. I learned to clean edit on my own and started to figure out my style and the images that I liked…what type of work spoke to me and what kind of images I wanted to capture. It was around then that I realized how much I enjoyed lifestyle work rather than standard portraiture. Capturing details and things that tend to go unnoticed. Being home all day with (now) two kids, I spend a lot of time trying to capture their childhood and it’s eventually what I want to do for clients.

Now here we are in 2013. I’m in the middle of one Clickin Moms Workshop and I’ve got two more coming up in April that I’ve decided to take. I’ve learned to use and manipulate my camera to do what I want it to do. I’ve found a style of shooting that I love and can’t seem to get enough of. I’ve started to discover my editing style and I’m seeing more consistency in how I process my photos. I’m way, way beyond my knowledge and abilities of four years ago. Despite thinking that I wasn’t moving forward and that nothing was changing, I have come a long way.

And I’m going to continue to move forward. Continue to progress and get better. I have big goals and big ambitions when it comes to photography. I have big dreams for a future steady business and the only way to get there is to keep practicing. I know a lot of new photographers read my blog and follow my posts and images. I also know how frustrating it can be to see other people’s work and think that they are better than you. My advice to you?

Keep Shooting.

Keep Practicing.

Every professional was once an amateur and they only got better by practicing. So don’t let your own doubts trample on your goals.

If you’re in the Dothan, Alabama area and you’re interested in learning the basics of Photography, check out the information on my very first Workshop! Seats are available now!