Thankful for Day #12

... for the opportunity to take photos of my good friends and their families. As a scrapbooker it would seem only natural that I be drawn to photography as well. For me, it's no longer about just a beautiful scrapbook page by way of paper and embellishments. Nope. It now is about a good photo as a base. So any time I get the opportunity to snap pictures of someone else in a photoshoot type setting, I am excited. Excited because I get to hone my skills. I still SO SO SO very amature. I do not aspire to ever be professional but I would not mind the capability of being able to be a wedding photographer for a friend or family member. Or the one all my friends call to take their Christmas photos.

So today I got to take pictures of two families where the mommies happen to be sisters and happen to be girls I went to college with and have developed even more of a friendship outside of college. Let me tell you ... I was NERVOUS. I have never really before been asked to do this kind of thing. I have certainly offered it up and done it, but then I feel like I am in control and hey, if I screw up, you didn't ask me to do it so I didn't disappoint you. Right? Well I am currently going through all 600+ photos I took today and am pleased enough. Enough to the point where I believe the mommy friends will be happy.

So far this is my favorite photo. No editing done to it. I just love his posture and half smile here. The one foot kicked out. And that everything that is supposed to be in focus is in focus. Nothing is too bright or too dark.

If all of my pictures come out like this, I can certainly tweek them a bit and have a nice little package to present to my friends. Fingers crossed that the remaining 500 photos are of this quality.

I am also thankful for the lessons learned from today's shoot. (1) remember the end of daylight savings happens in November and plan start times accordingly so you don't run out of daylight (2) memorize a specific flow of pictures you want to do - don't rely on a list because things get crazy when kids don't cooperate or adults get stuck talking (I suspect this is one of those things that comes with practice) (3) remember to actually bring the candies you brought to bribe the little ones with you instead of accidentally leaving them in the car - it's much more effective when you have candy in hand (4) if you bring props, use them