Christmas Shopping

One of the things I want to work on is my camera-courage, the gutsy take-the-photo-anyway approach that helps to get the shots I want. It's hard to sneak shots of people. People have camera magnets wired into their systems. If you have a camera, you are immediately on their radar. Even in my hired sessions, I find that I need at least 20 minutes with a person or a group to find them in my viewfinder.

Last year, my husband took me and my camera to Charleston's King Street for a crisp walk and some photo fun, which I had. He corralled the little one while I went "shopping" with my camera. We didn't spend anything, except for lunch, but the take-home was more than enough Christmas for me!

(Image © Informal Moments Photography)

Story

It's not every day that I get to photograph people. We've got one car and too much to do on weekends to get ready for the baby to get out and shoot much right now. I'm craving the life right now, mentally photographing people we see when we're out doing our necessary thing, learning to observe again while being a part of it all myself.

I think I may post a series this week from my favorite out-and-about candids, the story-telling shots that make me happy to view and shoot.

This one is a memory - can you see? I can't help wondering what he is thinking, wishing I knew his story...

(Image © Informal Moments Photography)

Room to Dream

Some people have expressed some concern about my website and the photos I have chosen to display in my gallery, the nicest kind of concern that asks "why don't you post even more of what you do?"

The short answer?

Professionally, I want to be a wedding photojournalist.

Guys, you have no idea how passionate I am about this, and how absolutely stoked I am to have the beginnings of a plan in place!

I'm beginning to gear up on the slow track to joining the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) and establish myself as a documentary wedding photographer. I say "slow track" because I feel almost as though I am starting over entirely. I have tried a lot of things with my camera over the last several years, mostly dedicating it to the services of my dear friends and a few paying clients, but as it stands, I am still a beginner in many ways.

Now it is as if I have been given permission to be a beginner again, to be a beginner still, to take on jobs as I feel I am ready for them. I've shot over two dozen weddings now, many of them for clients who did not understand the difference between documentary wedding photography and wedding portrait photography. Many just needed a cheap wedding photographer, and I was determined to give away something to them that I couldn't afford for my own wedding.

With most of my friends married now (hey friends!), I'm feeling freer to raise my prices and set some new guidelines - for my family's sake, for my clients' sake, for my own sanity.

*I will more thoroughly educate clients on how I view my role as their photographer before the contract is signed.
*I will outsource my post-processing for faster delivery that is not dependent on my health or the state of my family affairs.
*I will limit the images displayed on my website to those kinds of unique images I want to produce (this blog will be the exception - it's my whatever I want to post spot!).
*I will only take photography projects I can and want to take based on location and ability.

The more I have thought about this, talked about this, dreamed about this, the more I have realized that my photography dream is not just in the details or in the "just shoot something because you have to shoot something" - it's in the story, the world that takes me beyond simple candid shots and stiff portraiture to bring me absolutely alive. It's in the moments people don't think to capture, the smiles that they forgot to pose because someone drew it out of them, the unselfconscious beauty that disappears too often when the camera appears.

I'm hoping to change over to a flash site sometime next year, thinking of getting a new camera - a CANON, just for fun, in spite of my practical Nikon approach - and a new lens or two, doing some SERIOUS Sauer family photography that hasn't gotten done since Pete and I got married! I'm also planning to track down some models to build my portfolio here in Charleston, and I will eventually be adding both engagement and portrait galleries to my website (for you wonderful, concerned people out there), as soon as I find time to dig out the images that live within my documentary style.

I can't wait to be able to post life-photos here at my blog, to step outside of my fears and live what I love again without reservation. I want to be a Matt McGraw, a Tracy Turpen, a Kelly Lorenz, a Carlo Carletti (though, okay, he gets Italy - I probably won't ever have that!!!) - really, I just want to be me, taking those kinds of pictures.

In the meantime, I've got one wedding still in post-processing, and a website design to finish for a friend, and then it's on to baby prep. I can't believe he's going to be here so soon - the time has really flown with this pregnancy. I can't believe I'm really not having to put the photography away to have him - it's almost too much goodness to take in...

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A couple notes on my new website:

1) I have updated the entry page on the site to allow for a large site and a small site for different size screens. I am still working on photo resolution for faster loading, etc.

2) I have changed the NavBar around for easier navigation between blog and website and throughout the different size websites. Hopefully, this will help anyone who was getting disoriented yesterday.

3) I am still needing to work in the code to fix the font sizing on my About and Contact pages; this may be an after-baby project - so sorry for any inconvenience.





(Image © Informal Moments Photography)

4:8 Project - Good

"Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD— for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.

“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow... and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.” (Jer. 31:12-14)

Last night, I read myself to sleep in the Psalms, sad and afraid and groaning with the rest of Creation for Jesus' quick return. I knew I wanted to post this shot today, but I wasn't sure what passage to put with it. This one brought tears to my eyes with its reminder of our hope, the goodness of the Lord. He is good, and though the mountains are shaken and the earth is removed and the sorrow of it all may overwhelm, He will restore and heal and renew.

I wish I could share this with the man in my photo. He seemed so sad. "Don't be sad! He is good, and your mourning will be turned to joy!"
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This photo is for my 4:8 Project, a project which I started to focus my photographical eye on the words in Philippians 4:8. Each time I post a photo for this project, anyone is welcome to comment with a permalink to a photo of their own for any of the words in the list below, from several different versions of the verse.

Each month, I plan to award the owner of one photo an 8x10 or 8x8 print of their choosing from my daily photos.

NOTE - Photos do not have to be professional quality. I'm just looking at how the word you chose makes the viewer consider your photo...

true
noble
right
just
honorable
pure
lovely
admirable
commendable
excellent
virtue
good
praiseworthy
reputable
authentic
compelling
gracious
good report
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Today's 4:8 Project honoree is Marcie, whose picture of "gracious" offers such a lovely perspective on His grace...

Only By This Death

black and blue
purpling mingled with drying blood that has been wept
red tears falling - fallen -
unseen
'til reflection remembers
as light reveals.

what was
must still be.

life lingers in her death
and now I breathe.

Twenty-Eight - Glowing Vow

today
faded strands of gray
weep glow and color
promising shade
tomorrow

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This month, I am participating in a contest/project on Shutter Sisters called the one word project. My word for the month is promise, so many of my Project 365 images this month may follow that theme. You can see more from others who are participating here.

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Note on my Project 365 photos: I have finally decided how I'm going to do this thing: I'm going to post my photo in the evening after I've had all day to shoot, instead of trying to cram my photo time into the morning in front of everything else. I have tried doing morning shooting and getting the new photo up by noon, but that is proving way too stressful. I've tried all-day shooting and putting the photo up the next day, but that just doesn't seem accurate. So here's my new attempt at making this work with my schedule, and getting the photos up on the right day!

Of course, this does mean that I shot twice today. You know, for this shot, I'm not really that sorry.

Twenty-Six - Among Thorns