Courtney's Maternity Shoot

If you haven't already, read the post below.

I noticed all of these places around my house that I wanted to take pictures of someone in front of. I immediately thought of Courtney, my roommate from when I first met and started dating Jaren in March of 2006. She is expecting her first, a little boy early this fall.

This was my first "real" photoshoot and I enjoyed every second of it. Her husband Jordan came and I am so glad because some of these smiles wouldn't have happened without him there. And we got some sweet shots with him in there, too.

I like so many of them I am having a hard time choosing what to put up.  So here are a whole lot.

And probably one of my favorites:

What is the most amazing thing is that I took these pictures next to my fence, fiber glass, overgrown bushes, cellar door, shop door, grain silos, a ditch, side of the road and sand dunes.  Totally random places that came to life.

There you have it.  What do you think?

Me? A Photographer?

This is something I've been thinking about and thinking about for a while now.  I have always loved taking pictures, but didn't discover such a love for it until I got my DSLR May of last year.  And even then I had no idea what it would turn into once I discovered how to actually use it!

Starting January of this year I started reading everything I could come across on aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance.  I wished I had discovered this obsession in college so I could take classes.  I probably would have minored in it.

I bought a book called "Understanding Exposure" off of Amazon and that is when the rest clicked for me.  I started using my light meter (bingo!) and I just practiced and practiced and practiced.  So much that we had to buy a desktop to fit all of my pictures on.  I used up every ounce of space on my laptop and we have moved most onto our external, but I needed a desktop to work with.

I've also been using Photoshop Elements since January of last year, but just for scrapbooking.  Then last winter after Naomi was born I discovered editing pictures with it.  And so then I began to mess around with that.  Now I'm using CS5 and am learning how to use that.  I cannot believe the amount of things you can do with it!  It's very exciting.

So.  I was sort of sure that I didn't want to become a photographer.  But then I fell in love with it.  I really didn't want to be one of those girls or SAHM's who get a DSLR and call themselves a photog and charge and take mediocre pictures.  So I practiced some more.  And I had my first real "shoot" last Friday with a former roommate of mine who is now pregnant and I had so much fun.  I have been scouting locations for this particular shoot for weeks and have kept my eye out for places for months.  It was so awesome to see the fence in my backyard come to life!  Or the bushes I thought I would rip out.  Or the fiberglass under my porch!  Simple things started to stand out to me and had such potential.

My confidence has been boosted by this and my roommate.  She has nothing but such good things to say about these pictures and I would like to think she's not just saying it :)  I know I have a whole lot of room to improve but I want to.  I want to take more pictures and learn and improve and get better and experiment.

This new world is exciting and fun.  If you want me to take your pictures email me!  I am looking for more experiences to build on.  I am also trying to decide on a name;  Whitney K or Whitney Rae.  K is the initial of my middle name and Rae is my Mom and Grandma's middle name as well as the beginning of my last name(Well, it's Ray, but I like the look of Rae (the middle name) better).  I'm going to put a poll up on my sidebar to see which sounds better.  Let me know :)

Tomorrow I'll post pictures from Courtney's Maternity shoot!

Photography

Lately I have been quite obsessed with taking pictures.  It's reaking havoc on my hard drive.  I'm currently going through all of my pictures and deleting copy's or images I don't need.  It's addicting to press that button a million times and the picture only changes slightly.

I'm trying to learn how to use my 50 mm.  I want stunning pictures.  I mostly understand aperture and all that jazz.  Well, I just understand how to make the picture lighter or darker.  I don't use flash anymore.  That is quite wonderful.  I want to understand it all better, though.

I'm also learning how to edit pictures with my photoshop program.  I use Photoshop Elements.  I know there is a lot that it can do that I don't know about.  It didn't come with an instruction manual, so I'm on the hunt for one.

I took my sisters engagements because her photographer is MIA in California somewhere.  I don't think I did too bad of a job for not knowing what I was doing.  I don't plan on starting a photography business because I don't know what the heck I'm doing.  I just want to take good pictures for myself.

I take a million of my daughter.  I can't wait until we can go outside because I think my photos will be so much better.  Something about the outdoors....

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on books or anything where I can make better sense of everything.  I'm posting a picture of every day on my Project 365 blog.  It's a place for me to display what I'm currently capable of.  Hopefully we'll see some good progress over the year.

Here are a few of her engagements (remember I am an amateur):

 

I had fun playing with the colors in the photos.  

  

 

a little blurry, but I like the pose

 

 

 

Suggestions? Tips? Advice?