Some people have the gift of learning by hearing instructions, or even by looking at a step by step manual. I, unfortunately, don’t really have either of those gifts… I learn by doing. A lot people ask me how I started with photography, wondering if I went to college to get a degree in it. The answer to that is… I almost did. For a long time, I bought into the normal societal assumption that to be anybody, to make a decent living, you NEED a degree. So naturally, when deciding I wanted to be a wedding photographer, I assumed that I had to go to school and graduate with a degree. Well, after a lot of conversations with numerous people, through lots of prayer and deep thinking, I decided against going to school… and instead, go and do photography. I watched tutorials, I went to photographer shootouts, I read books and manuals. I did take a few college courses on business and photoshop, but all my knowledge and experience in photography comes from doing as much of it as I possibly can.
So, at WPPI, that conference I talked about in my last post, my friends and I decided to further what we were learning and actually put our learning to the test. For these photos, since I didn’t bring my own camera (Nikon), I used Alexandra’s camera (Canon) to shoot. Now, before you Nikon lovers shun and banish me to the edge of town, just know I’m even more in love with my Nikon than I was before. But for the record, it really truly is what you do with the camera that matters…. not what brand you use.
Here are some of my favorites from the evening of shooting for fun….
(Photo Credit: Betsy Lackey)
These three images were taken with one table light to her left….
These were taken with the desk lamp on to her left, and a floor lamp held up to her face to her right…. kinda looks like studio lighting, no? Loved these photos!
Alexandra holding the lamp for the above shots…
Then I shot a few of Alexandra with just the desk light on her left… Love the soft and seductive feel of this one!
Then they both stole the cameras back and shot me, but they made me laugh too much…
So then we got dressed to attend a photographer social function and ended up being REALLY late because we were doing this….
All in all, it was rejuvenating and SO MUCH FUN to shoot just for the fun of it. I highly encourage you to have fun, experiment, and put your book learning to action…. however that looks in your own life.
