Photos by the Numbers

Wow. Just wow. I have done a dozen photo shoots since my last post on here. 12 photo sessions = a LOT of photos. Just to give you an idea of how many photos that is, let me give you the numbers.

At my family photo session on March 9th, I took 479 photos.

On March 20th, at my first maternity session, just over 360 photos.

On March 29th, another family session, 449 photos.

March 31st (Easter Sunday) saw me at a birth for about 10 hours, which turned into 737 photos.

On April 9th, sweet newborn photos, 309 of them.

On April 20th, at a family session, 486 photos.

On April 23rd, twin newborns. Double the photos. Total of 458.

I took a 2 week trip to Europe with my mom and two friends. Between my mom and myself, and both our cameras, we took 1877 photos.

On May 18th, back to business, I did two family sessions. Total of 787 photos.

On May 25th, a maternity session and family session. 531 photos (actually a small number compared to most sessions).

On June 2nd, my latest session, a combined maternity/family photo shoot - 295 photos.

None of these numbers include all of the various times I pick up my camera here at home, just for fun. Many more photos happen with my family, my pets, and my every day life. Maybe I need to work on taking less and being more efficient with a few photos. Yet as a learning photographer, I can't always guarantee the outcome of the lighting in the photos. So at this point in time, while I am still gaining experience, I believe that more is safer. I would rather take several hundred at a session and come up with a dozen good ones, than take a hundred and feel disappointed afterward.

Most of you follow my Facebook photography page, but for the sake of keeping up this blog, here are a few favorites, to recap the past few months of photo-taking.

Family Session, March 9th

Maternity Session, March 20th

Family Session, March 29th

[Birth, March 31st] Let's just say those aren't "shareable"...

Newborn Session, April 9th

 (the baby who was inside the belly for the maternity session and arrived at the Easter birth)

Family Session, April 20th (the youngest of the three kids in these two pics)

Twin Newborn Session, April 23rd

Europe (just for fun)

[Below, Tatra Mountains, Slovakia]

[Castle Ruins, Slovakia]

[Holocaust Memorial, Vienna, Austria]

[Prague]

[St Vitus Cathedral, Prague]

[Prague]

[St Stevens Cathedral, Gyor, Hungary]

[Hungarian Folk Dance, Budapest, Hungary]

[Budapest, Hungary]

[A different St Stevens Cathedral, Budapest, Hungary]

Family Session, May 18th

Second Family Session, May 18th

The two sessions from May 25th and the one session from June 2nd are still being edited and approved for posting :) They will be up... hopefully soon!

Last pic for now... This is me. This is what I look like to all of my photo clients :)

 [Photo credit goes to my mom]

Hmm...

 Strange title, I know. I love names and naming things, but I must admit that I am really struggling to come up with creative blog-post-titles that go with each experience. So I'm skimping out on this one... while I think of some more titles for later dates.
     This post will be brief, but I wanted to share a few favorites from a recent photo shoot with a family. Sweet family, and I loved working with them. We did have a little bit of a challenge with our lighting situation. Bright, late afternoon sunshine and lots of shadows, which are difficult to work with and are nearly impossible to fix on the computer. So, we found as many shady places as we could and worked with what we had... and in the end it worked out alright :)

Enjoy your day!

Life in Photo World

 I feel like I haven't blogged in so long.... I've missed it. This is definitely the craziest time of the year for me and my family, but we're getting through it. Now that I have been officially banned (by my parents/teachers) from doing any school work on this holiday weekend, I am able to take a few minutes to catch up on here... it's my goal to get a couple posts up this weekend. Yay!
     Just because I have not been blogging faithfully does not mean that I have been completely out of photo world. On the contrary, I am learning how time consuming the whole process is. One does not simply go out and take a few pictures, and then put them on a disk. One communicates with people, sometimes for weeks, to find a time, location, and good weather for photos. Then one spends time researching different techniques, ideas, and lighting tips in the days leading up to the photo shoot. Taking the pictures is definitely my favorite part of the process. And then, finally, there is a few days/weeks of photo editing, also very fun. And then, when one sends the completed disk to the family, hopefully they receive permission to blog about the photo shoot. And then I sit down and tell you how much fun I have with it all. Because I do enjoy this process - and I am so thankful for every opportunity to learn more.
     So, here I am, bringing you a photo shoot with a family that I did a few weeks ago. This was my first time working with a family, all together. I have done individual pictures of kids, and even a few of siblings together. But not whole families at once. And frankly, the idea both excited me and scared me. The thought of coordinating everyone in one picture and still finding creative ideas was intimidating. Luckily, this family made it pretty easy for me. with some help from my mom (my self-appointed assistant who I am ever thankful for) we managed to come up with some fun family shots, and everything turned out far better than I had even dared to hope.

So fun! Stay tuned - more photo shoots coming :) God Bless!

K-love

   I'm not sure how many of you have ever heard of the radio station 104.9, also known as "Klove." My family, my friends, and most people who know me will tell you that I have an obsession with this station. It is a contemporary Christian music station that I listen to a lot. And if I am not listening to Klove, I am listening to other music from the bands and artists I hear on Klove. Just a little note about myself.
   Now, most everyone, I would venture to say, has been around a toddler or young child at some point in their life (I know, this seems totally off subject, but hang on, I will connect this with the previous paragraph in a minute). Even the most calm, quiet children are busy. As little ones, they are learning and exploring and there are oh-so-many things to do, places to be, etc. That is why, when I am photographing young age groups, I tend to just follow them with my camera, giving them fun new places to explore and props to play with (flowers, hats, umbrellas, etc.) Occasionally, I give them some directions, have them smile for the camera, or pose with mom or dad. Mostly, I just catch moments as they happen.
   One Wednesday last March, I got the chance to "shadow" an adorable little girl. A little girl who mistook my name - Kaela - for the radio station, Klove. Thus, my favorite station and I now share the same name :)

   This little girl was so incredibly sweet, and I had way to much fun with her and my camera. The hardest part was trying to limit the amount of pictures I put on here while trying to show you as many of my favorites as possible! Hope her sweet face brightens your day!