one year ago

One year ago I went to Walden's Photo and purchased my very first "nice" camera. I got the Canon digital rebel XTI and drove over to my friend's house and took my first picture of her baby with it! I remember how proud I felt and thought it looked like a great photo! I can't show the picture here due to privacy reasons... but, looking back, it wasn't anything more than a snapshot without flash. Oh well, it obviously got me hooked :)

I really like thinking about my learning process through photography. Where I started and how I got to where I am. I'm certainly not saying I'm the best photographer in the world, but I've put soo much time into being better and I'm surprised how much time I've made to read, practice, and do lots of research, mostly about child photography. It's been a bit of a challenge to juggle a full time job and putting my whole heart into photography, but I love it's rewards.

There are 3 kids in particular that I was able to photograph last June. I felt really sheepish and embarrassed asking their parents if I could grab my camera and take a couple of shots of them. I didn't want to look like a stalker! I just don't have any kids of my own, and children's photography is what gets me soo excited. The best part is, I was invited back into their homes to photograph these kids within the past year.  Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my first photos with you.  I didn't have the blog last summer so you probably haven't seen these!  Looking back at them, my style hasn't changed too much, but thank goodness I learned how to focus and I can gladly say that todays photographs aren't this fuzzy! :)  I've also learned alot about color and exposure.  I remember when all my images were so dark and grey (sort of like these shown below). 

You may recognize a few of these cuties from other posts Hunter Izzie Lauren

Thank you everyone for making this such a fun year for me!