Keeping Up

     In all honesty, photography is definitely one of the harder jobs that I could have picked to do for a part-time high school job. I could have picked something that had regular, consistent hours, instead of a photoshoot here and a photoshoot there. I could have picked something that didn't require my mom to run me all over the city and my brothers to get dragged along constantly. I could have picked something that didn't involve correspondence and email/text answering at irregular times throughout the day. I could have picked something a lot easier, maybe work at McDonalds or something.
     The reality is, I didn't. And even though this photoshoot life is crazy sometimes (ok, it's crazy all of the time), I feel so totally beyond blessed that I am able to do something that I love as my highschool job. My work is something that I enjoy, from connecting with people to taking pictures to spending hours on editing. I am thankful to my family because they put up with it in all of it's insanity. I am thankful to my mom because I could not do it without her. I am thankful for my parents that they homeschooled me, so that I have the opportunity to be flexible with my schedule and to pursue things that interest me (yes, my mom counts all of this photo time as school credit). And I am thankful to my  Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because ultimately all of this comes from Him. In all of it's craziness, photography is infinitely better than McDonalds.
     That's a little bit of background for you about my photo life as it currently stands. Now, to catch you up on the photos... :) I recently did a shoot with two families, a few all-together group shots, and a few of each family individually. When I got into the car, I immediately hit the review button on my camera and began flipping back through the pictures. When I got to the group photos of everyone together, I was so, so excited. Each and every person's face in the picture was clear and sharp. I counted the shoot as a success at that point :) That was just the first of many family/holiday photo shoots, and I will continue to post some over the next few weeks.

Short and Sweet

     When I go to a photo shoot, I take a LOT of photos. My brothers often ask me about it; "Kaela, why do you have to take, like, at least three pictures of everything?" Actually, when I first started taking photo classes, that is exactly what my photo teacher told me - to take three of everything. You get one angle that you like, and you snap three photos, because the expressions of the subject might change, or the camera might get bumped (resulting in blurry photos), or you might adjust your zoom on the camera and back up a bit, or shift your lighting, etc. Then, you try another position for the subjects, or another angle, and you do it all over again. As you might imagine, the numbers build up quickly.
     Last month (wow, I am having the sudden realization that November is now technically "last month") I think I hit my all time lowest number of photos during a photo shoot - only 101 photos. Typically, I might take between 300-400 photos on a normal shoot, even though it only lasts about an hour or so. Newborn shoots take a bit longer, but only because they require a lot more posing and prop set-up. This particular shoot we were on a time crunch, so it was shorter than usual, and I didn't take nearly as many photos.
     That being said, the photos that we did get were so, so sweet. I loved working with this beautiful baby girl :) Thus, the moral of the story is that although taking a lot of photos is a great way to learn and experiment, you do not have to take a million to turn out with a few sweet ones. As long as you work efficiently with the time you have.

Growing Family

     Sometimes photos can be used to document a family, as their kids grow. And then, sometimes, they can be used to document a family as they grow in number. This fall, I met with a family to document both. In addition to doing photos for their little girl's birthday, we shot/designed some photos for their exciting news - the news of the additions that their family is expecting in spring 2013. Yes, additions is plural :) If you are still confused, see if the photos help...

I think you've got the idea - twins on the way!!!

We also did some birthday photos for this little girl's 3rd birthday...

And if she looks familiar, that is because she was in one of my posts from this spring. 

My little "Klove" friend :) 

By the way, the fact that the shoes are blue does not hold any significance. 

The babies' genders are yet to be determined. Just in case you wondered :)

Family Photos

     Two days after my senior pics photoshoot, I did a shoot at Seneca Park, over by the zoo. I had not been there since this spring, and I was pleasantly surprised at the gorgeous array of colors that we found there. Lighting, colors, and everything around us were absolutely beautiful.
     I am about to do another flash back for you now. Let's see if anyone recognizes this guy and his sister. If you are a new follower of this blog, they may not look familiar to you. I did his newborn photos back in March, and he has had lots of time to grow since then...  :)

Before...

...and After

Kids always grow so fast - and that is part of why I love photos. They capture moments of time, and then you can hold on to those moments forever :)

Senior Photos

     I was practically glowing. My computer was opened to my message page, and what I was reading made me thrilled. She asked me to do her senior pictures. I eagerly told anyone who walked in the room over the course of the next few minutes, simply because I had to tell someone. Anyone at all.  
     Maybe it seems strange that I was so excited. I am always excited when I am asked to do a photoshoot, but my excitement compounds when a family asks me more than once. With this friend, I had done her prom pictures last spring. I was so happy to be working with her again (she is way too photogenic)
     My other main reason for being so elated at this prospect of doing senior photos is that the girl who asked me to do them is not only a good friend of mine, but she is a fellow photographer. And then there was the fact that I had seen many of my teenage friends having their senior pics done by other teen photographers, and I was wondering what is would be like to experiment with senior photos. I didn't expect an opportunity to come up quite so soon, so this was a pleasant surprise.
     I was also slightly nervous. Senior pictures are so important, and they only happen once in your lifetime. I heard one photographer describe them as pictures that would be more widespread than any other work that you do, more so than even wedding photos. My mom, always my faithful "research assistant" helped me look up many different websites with senior photo ideas and tips. I looked at many different photographers blogs to see examples, and I wrote down a list of all the different poses that I had seen, taking that list with me on the photoshoot. I called my friend and helped her work through what outfits and props to bring. We worked out a time, a location, transportation, etc.
     The day of the photoshoot I woke up and literally praised God when I looked out my window. Gray, overcast sky, but not quite dark enough that it looked like it would rain. We had the warmest day all week, with perfect lighting to top it off. This weather-check was not specific only to this photoshoot - I do that with every single one (or at least with the outdoor ones).
     We had a blast with these photos. As I said before, she is also a good friend of mine. We tried tons of different things, and ended up laughing through most of the shoot. By the end, both she and I agreed that the whole thing had been way too much fun. Not only did we try lots of different things, but she laughed with me at my some-what strange photo language (for example: "this lighting over here looks blurry.") We also had many other adventures, like when we decided to run down a hill together and have my mom take pics of the two of us, or when we were shooting on a bridge during rush-hour traffic, and she had to run across the street in high-heels... 'nough said :)
     That being said, the photos turned out well, and I have been excited to share them with you. So, without further a-do....   :)

Stay tuned - I still have children's photos, family photos, maternity announcement photos, and newborn photos, soon to come (yes, 'tis the season for photos, and my photo life has been a bit busy) Have a wonderful day!!