Questions Answered Part 4

Alrighty!
Next topic to be discussed.. politics.
Um, JUST KIDDING!
Moving on from that last post.. any of you that know me know that I FLEE from drama and not saying that last post had some drama in the comments, but yeah.. I've never talked about our Babywise methods and crying it out here on the blog because I know it stirs up emotions with mama's. =) Like I said.. it's what works for our family and I even tweeked it from Adie to Joya because they were different babies. Let's just all listen to our hearts, our guts, the Holy Spirit and mother the way we feel led to mother. Sound good? =)

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Today is photography question day! And oh my gosh.. some of you called me a pro. Wouldn't call myself a pro, yet.. that's for sure! But I enjoy it and people are paying me and completely blessing my family so yeah, I'll tell you what you wanted to know!

Anonymous said...
my question- How did you get started in photography? I love photography but i don’t have that great of a camera but I'd love to become a pro like you :)
AND another similar question:
Sabrina said...
What inspired you to start your own photography business? I know you enjoy taking pictures but was it a hobby or well how did it come to be?
My photog business is so near and dear to my heart because it seriously *just* happened! I haven’t had to advertise myself at all. The Lord just seems to be blessing me with clients! How did it all come about? My Adie Grace was born, that’s what came about! I wanted a nicer camera than the 2004 four megapixel point and shoot that we had. Yeah, the camera that weighed 2 ounces but wanted to plop it on a tripod because the movement blur was so nasty. Anywho, Adie came a long and Darin and I made a deal. He would let me purchase a better camera if I never paid for “professional” studio pictures for her 3,6,9, etc milestone pictures. I had to take them myself. So I started with what I call “one-step-down-from-a-DSLR” camera.


I started taking Adie’s milestone pictures with this camera and my friends saw the pictures and then asked me if I would take their kids’ pictures as well. Took a few of those and then friends of the friends started calling. Then Darin suggested I started charging since it was taking up a bit of time. We upgraded to a DSLR in May of 2008 and last summer my business literally exploded.

To start out I would recommend getting yourself a good camera and start taking your own kids’ and family pictures. Practice, practice and when you feel like you want to start taking clients, don’t charge them much and build your portfolio. Once you start charging the expectations rise with whoever's paying! We don't buy things if we don't have the money for them so I had to "earn" my camera and photoshop. It took time but I LOVE where my business is now!

Angie said...
Do you photograph weddings?
Funny you ask this... I have had prolly 15 inquiries over the course of starting my photog business and back in November I booked to shoot one for this May. And then I lost massive amounts of sleep worrying.



And I became very flakey and cancelled the booking.



I just don’t think I’m ready. Weddings are a whole nother story. I’m not worried about my ability to be creative... I have ALL kinds of ides for wedding pictures! I just feel like I have a lot to learn about lighting situations in churches and gosh, if I the first kiss pic was grainey because I didn't have my camera set right I’d never forgive myself! It would also require equipment I don't yet have. I think I’ll do them some day but it’s just not time for me yet. I do have 2 photographer friends that have offered me to come to a wedding with them and shadow. I think I’ll do that here soon. Thanks for asking, tho! I feel very honored that you all even inquired with me to capture such an important day!!!

Sarah said...
Ok so I love your photography [obviously!] and I want to know what kind of camera a goober like me should start with if I want to start taking better pictures. I love taking pictures but I am craving a slightly better quality and don't even know where to start!
I would start with one of these:

FugiFilm Finepix

Nikon CoolPix

Canon Powershoot

All these camera's don't require extra lenses and are kinda between a point and shoot and an SLR. They are a bit bulkier but take amazing pics and are user friendly (and half the price). SLR's are a bit intimidating when you first purchase them. If you stick them on auto and never learn what all they can do, it's really not worth your money. they need differently lenses to achieve differnent picture goals and you can get a ton of money wrapped up in them. I also don't tend to take my SLR to the girls' everyday events because it's large and in charge. (I suck like that)

If you want to jump in and get an SLR, then DO YOUR RESEARCH! It's a big investment with your time and money. Take a class or find someone local to help you turn your dial off auto. =)

And for photo editing.. USE PICASA! It's amazing and free. I have Photoshop but still use picasa for blogging, photo organizing, the web albums to share pictures with my clients and for emailing photo's. It's seriously fabulous. Photoshop is amazing but yeah, I can do about 3.28% of what it is capable of. I also used Picasa until Photoshop fit into our budget. I actually had a copy of PS sent to me and 2 friends offer to burn a copy of the software all for free but yeah, Darin and I's convictions nixed using copied software. We believe it's stealing. We got an amazing deal on my new CS4 and it's a learning process, that's for sure!