Something Old :: My first photo shoot :: Kenosha Photographer

As part of my attempt at building my business up and moving forward to bigger and better things; I've decided to hold my own feet to the fire and keep up on my blog.  Nothing too serious, but at least once a week. Since this is about my first photo shoot, I'm going to call it throw-back Thursday.  So I guess that means that I'm going to have to blog more than once a week if I want to have other themes. *sigh*

Okay - so themes are silly.

Back on point....first shoot. 

I remember sitting in the living room when my son was just 5 months old thinking that there had to be a way I could continue staying home with him and make money at the same time.
This is an idea had by millions of mothers across the country, I'm sure.
Circut City (remember them?) were going out of business, and I convinced my husband that I could give this photography at home thing a fighting chance if he let me invest in a camera.
I am still more thankful than ever that there was a Canon left at the Gurnee, IL store - because I truly am a Canon girl.
A (few) hundered dollars and a slightly refurbished basement space later, VOILA! I was a photographer.

(Yes - it's that easy - yet incredibly controversial so we will save that for another blog post.)

My first subjects - my son and husband.

 

I love these photos, and I think that they look amazing and very close to what I would like to acheive during a shoot like this today.

 

Confession? The top one has been edited a hundred times in the last 5 years (slight exaggeration) to get the right skin tone.  I had NO idea what white balance even was when I shot these photos.  Never mind the aperature, ISO and shutter speed's affect on strobe lighting.

 

In laymans terms - I had no idea what I was doing, but I got lucky.

 

There were many shots that I took that I didn't like. Many that were horrible; that I would be embarrassed to show a client today - and it's all a part of who I am today as a photographer.

 

I was determined to destroy my downfalls and rebuild them into something bigger and better....and I'm still doing that today. I truly beleive that is what makes me a successful and (justifiably) professional photographer.

 

I have read countless books, taken thousands and THOUSANDS of photographs, invested more money than I'd like to admit on workshops & equipment.  I've read many articles, blog posts and forum posts on lighting, posing, equipment, technique, business practice etc. etc. etc.  I've even (gasp) spoken to other photographers in my market.

 

The one thing that I can say has stood out as the most worthy piece of advice - value your work. It has to be the hardest thing to do, especially in a saturated market like photography. But if you can overcome the evil of comparison and simply value your own work - others will value it too. And when it comes to operating a successful business, what more could you ask for?