#4 - Learning Something New

There is nothing more vulnerable about being a photographer than admitting that you don't know everything there is to know about photography. But, here it is, I don't.

I have loved taking pictures ever since you could buy the disposable ones from the store and nothing was ever in focus. I didn't go to school for photography, but I learned from other photographers and have taken classes on my own because there is almost nothing more thrilling to me than learning something new.

I feel like, as a photographer, there is a balance between finding your niche - the photographs you enjoy taking and you're good at - and getting stuck in a rut. So I am always trying to identify the things within portrait photography that I am not comfortable with, and learn them! Because, as the title of this blog post states, my next Favorite Thing is Learning Something New.

My husband has been on a business trip for the last few days and when the cat's away, the mice will play ;) (Actually, my husband would be the last person to stop my messing around with the camera and I probably would have had someone to hold the reflector for me rather than having to awkwardly do it myself had he been here! HA!) And recently I have set my mind to learning how to use artificial and indoor natural light to my advantage in a way that I can be controlled and create stunning portraits.

Well, while my kids were napping, I set up a make-shift studio in our bedroom, set up my backdrop stand and used one of the windows as a softbox to get some headshots for myself! Heck, I take them for everyone else, why not try it on myself! I got quite familiar with the self-timer and once I figured out how to nail the focus, it seemed like it went pretty well ;) HA!

So, hopefully this is an encouragement to everyone out there - photographer or not - that you should never stop learning. You should never stop trying to prefect your craft, whatever that craft happens to be.