Picture Time

I took a photography class from one of the newspaper photographers (Bryan Kelsen) about a month ago.  It was a very informative class and I was so glad I took it but I could only learn so much by listening.  What I really needed was hands on teaching.  So I approached Bryan after the class and asked him if he wouldn't mind if I tagged along and observed him in action.  He was excited about the idea and so last week (once I finally got my camera back and working again) he invited me to shoot a high school basketball game with him.  I got to see what he does and how he does it and then we went back to the paper and we picked the right photo and sure enough the next morning there it was in the paper!

After we fiddled around with his pictures, he took my camera and scrolled through all the pictures I had on my camera (which weren't that many since I just put in a new SD card).  I felt so exposed!  I've never had a professional critique anything I've ever done.  I'll admit I was nervous handing over my camera for him to see, especially since I didn't know he was going to do that!  I had a lot of crappy pictures on there, hardly anything to really show off.  But I think that was the best thing.  I probably would have deleted a lot of the ones that he said weren't too bad (none of them being great).  I had taken some pictures of the kids at the park and I was just snapping away not really paying attention to much.  As Bryan scrolled through them we had to laugh because a lot of them, because of their angles and positons, made it look like the kids had poles or swing chains coming out of their heads.  And most of the pictures of Alayna only showed one of her hands making it look like she only had one!  I had never really thought of things like that before which seems so obvious now.  He also gave me suggestions on using a reflector to bounce the light and to try different angles.  But most importantly to practice, practice, practice.

Today I decided to forget about the messy kitchen, cluttered toy-infested living room and take some pictures of the kids.  My main focus was Alayna but I ended up shooting the other two as well.  I didn't do their hair, I didn't coordinate backgrounds with clothes, I just shot some pictures.  And you know what, I really like how they turned out!  These were all taken in Alayna's room with the window curtains wide open, no other light.  I tried a makeshift reflector but it wasn't working (I really needed another adult to help me with that one and since he was at work I bagged it).  So here we go, let me know what you think.