Featured on: Lights and Colours

One of my underwater photos was just featured on Lights and Colours. Its a great post about the Canon Powershot D10, my little point and shoot underwater camera! Read up and enjoy!

Even if you're not sure you need an underwater camera, this is a great little point and shoot! The only downside is that it doesn't fit into my pocket, but that doesn't really bother me because it has a handy wrist strap AND I usually carry a purse (plus I am a weirdo that used to carry a film SLR with her, so a bulky point and shoot is still WAY smaller than my old Minolta SLR).

something beautiful about holding hands

After working on pictures from the wine festival (which were featured on Michelle's blog, That's so Michelle and published on Reston Style as well), I realized that this first one here is my favorite. Then I realized that I take a lot of candid shots of people holding hands. I think its that it is really easy to capture a good hand hold when you're just taking pictures at a random event without intruding on the situation. So here are some pictures of holding hands from the past year.

From the top down:

• Michelle and Nick
• Alix, Cole and Rowan
• Liz and Lee
• Rowan and his Bambi (my mom)

So I think this means that some of the best pictures don't have to be anything posed or anything obvious, sometimes just holding hands shows an amazing amount of emotion!

just an everyday afternoon

Sometimes hanging out in your parents neighborhood with your mom, sister, and nephew is the perfect time to play with your camera. I mean, I want to focus on children's portrait photography, so I better practice taking pictures of children, right? The fleeting light of the evening gave me a little focusing trouble, but I think it also added some nice warm tones! What I find kind of funny is that most of my photography portfolio from high school is of a different generation of kids playing around these same trees. Maybe I'll take the time to scan some of them in...

more underwater kids

I obviously like taking pictures of kids. I also think that I happen to be pretty good at it. So over the last few weeks, I have been trying to figure out how to possibly turn taking children's portraits into a job. I have been doing a little bit of research on the photography end of things:

• I asked photographers I know what they charge for a portrait session and what the client gets for that charge
• I googled prices
• I read articles on DPS about what people charge and what other new photographers have learned from starting up

Then I have been talking to parents, trying to feel out if there is some need that isn't being met out there. One of the things that I think really prevents people from hiring a photographer is the cost. I totally get that, and I think I have figured a way to bring that down. Another thing that was mentioned is that a lot of parents just want someone at events to take pictures so that they don't have to. I'm a little on the fence about this, but that is certainly a need that isn't being met, as far as I can tell.



So that's what I'm working on at the moment. You can also buy these prints through my smugmug.

the end of summer

I found myself with a few minutes before swim lessons yesterday and decided to play with my camera at the pool. I have been totally inspired by James Nord's photos from pools this summer (here, here, here, and here) that I thought I would play around and try some of my own. Shooting at a public pool can be a little problematic. First, I made sure that no one was in focus in any of the shots. If I found someone that I wanted to shoot, I would have asked permission and all that... but luckily, for what I wanted to do, blurry worked. I was also totally worried about getting my camera wet. I know, I shouldn't have been, but because I have a waterproof camera, I treat my DSLR as if it will melt if water comes near it. It was also weird laying on the ground to get the shots I wanted to with people watching. But all in all, I'm pretty happy with my 5 minute photo project!

Swim Kids

I love taking pictures of my swim lesson kids with my waterproof point and shoot camera. It's a great reward for the kiddies and it lets me practice some of my editing skills, since underwater shots require quite a bit of touching up!

Last summer I used to go underwater and look at the screen to try to get the shots I wanted. This was actually pretty frustrating, because it was really a crap shoot as to if I could get a great shot. I mean, taking pictures of 3 and 4 year olds is hard enough... try doing it underwater!

This year I learned to just set the camera on continuous exposure, submerge it pointed at the kids, and hold down the button! Chances are you'll get a good shot! Sure, I'd put more time and effort in if I was hired to take some underwater portraits, but for snapshots, I think these are pretty darn good!

I still haven't figured out a better way to edit underwater shots than picnik. It's just so easy to paint on effects that really make the shots stand out. I use the "eye bright" effect on goggles and on some of the high lights on the water. Then I burn the mid-tones on the water to make it look shiny! Its also fun to paint a blue tint on the water to make the pool look even bluer!

Sweet Baby James

This is my nephew, James. I took these pictures back in July when I visited him. Let me tell you, it is HARD to take pictures of new babies!! I learned that the lens that I have isn't great for indoor, candid style portraits. I also need a lot more practice asking people to kind of pose a little when I am trying to photograph... It's a learning experience!