Friends

Doing photo shoots for friends is always so much fun! For some reason the stress isn't as bad as doing them for people who are paying ( for obvious reasons ). This particular photo shoot was stress free because I know Lisa is NOT picky at all and would have fun with it. Lisa is actually my friend through marriage. I was good friends with her husband Jason. He has a slight part in my husband and I getting together. Which is a funny story that is only funny to Jason and I so I will spare you. So here are some of my favorites from the evening. I have this love hate relationship with the sun. I LOVE sun flare but yesterday the sun flare was NOT my friend. I wish I had noticed more how bad it was so I could have adjusted accordingly. But in some of these pictures, it makes the picture for me. Go figure.

My favorite one is where Linc is trying to pull Jason away from kissing Lisa! :)
Lisa brought Lincoln's halloween costume and we took some picture of him in it! Such a cutie. He REALLY wants Tyler to be Woody again so they can be the Toy Story people. :) How cute would Kayla be in a Jessie costume?

So I am "self taught" in photography. I have never taken any classes. I think for me I have an eye for what makes a good photo but as far as working my camera goes, it's like a foreign language. I have read articles, studied my manual and it still just doesn't make sense. Usually I just leave my camera on AUTO and occasionally I will adjust things manually, but not often. I got a DVD that was pretty good at explaining things and I have started to TRY to work my camera myself instead of doing everything in AUTO. I know photographers who would be so annoyed when reading I shoot in AUTO but I don't think a good photographer HAS to be someone who can work the camera great! In fact, it kind of makes me upset when people take crappy pictures but know how to photo shop the crap out of them to make them look good. I know photo shop is an art so it shouldn't be annoying....but for me I think I am a good photographer because I have a good eye. Well, I have an announcement! Yesterday was my first time shooting ONLY in manual! WOO HOO No auto here for me. It was a great experiment. Did my images turn out better? About 50 percent of them turned out a lot better. The other 50 percent were grainy, blurry or too dark. Dang! But I am learning and that is the important thing. I was having some serious issues with the sun as I mentioned earlier but I think overall, I did a good job with it being my first time and I have been getting better and better everyday. Utah here I come baby! Watch out!!! :)