Best of 2010: "Little ones and littler ones..."

Another "Best of 2010" posting.  This time, my focus is on all the kids and babies I was blessed to photograph this year.  How do I pick just a sample of the 100s of photographs I took?  I kinda failed at that task and posted way more than I should have.  Kids and babies tug at my heart and I can't help but be in love with each of them that I have photographed!  

Enjoy!

Best of 2010: "So In Love...."

I was reflecting on my past year with 'pbj photography' and realized I am super-duper-uber behind in blogging.  Rather than filling your news feed with tons of new posts, I am just going to do a few "Best of 2010" posts.  In no particular order are, in my opinion, are the best photos from this past year in the category "So In Love..."  It has been a great year and I am truly blessed with great friends, family, and clients!

 

Let's sit around the circle and share something about ourselves...

The last time I updated my blog was October 18th.  It is now November 18th.  I have 5 subscribed readers of my blog and I have failed each of them.  Since I am awake due to my husband's extremely loud late night hobbies and my anxiety about an upcoming event, I will grace you with a sharing session.  I tell you more about me and you tell me some interesting (or uninteresting) stuff about yourself.  Sound fair?  I want to know more about my 5 readers.

I am not sure if anyone realizes this or not, but besides carrying around a camera and holding it up to my face occasionally, I have a "real" job too. Well, several jobs, but one that is officially recognized by the greater society.  I put in my 40 hours at a local long term care facility (aka nursing home) as a CERTIFIED Occupational Therapy Assistant.  First of all, I stress "certified" because that title cost me about $37K for the 15 months I spent a community college.  Second of all, when I say "assistant," that does not mean that I spend all day following someone around who knows more than me and getting them coffee and cleaning their equipment.  I actually hate that the word "assistant" is in my title because it discredits everything that I do all day.  I don't get coffee for someone with a higher degree (unless they ask REALLY nicely) or file another's paperwork or transcribe documents.  I work with a rehabilitation team to ensure that patients admitted to my facility go home (or wherever they choose to go) as healthy and independent as possible.   Most of my clients are 75 or older and most of them return to home successfully. I spend my day exercising, chatting, motivating, listening, hugging, and laughing with people that have seen the lowest of lows and highest of highs.  I love my "official" career, but my passion is photography.  Someday, full-time photography will be my "official" career and this momma will be pretty stoked!

So, there you have it.  A glimpse at what I do for 40 hours of my week.  I will gradually share what goes on the other 128 hours when I am not falling asleep at the computer.  Goodnight!

P.S.  Don't worry (in case you were), I will post some recent work from the past month sometime this week.

Advice to anyone who wants to take better photos of their kids...

 Disclaimer: I am not trying to be offensive or bash new, budding, photographers.  I think it is great when people latch on to a hobby that they truly enjoy and I fully encourage anyone who wants to try photography to take a class or two and see if it is for you.  :)

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Advice to anyone who wants to take better photos of their kids....hire a professional.  And, this is why:

You get a shiny new $800 dollar DSLR camera for Christmas because you think, "It is silly to pay someone so much money to take the kids pictures when I can just do it myself."

Off to the park you go with your family for your first photo session. 1000s of pictures and several hours/days later, you have about 15-20 pictures that are "okay" and you are frustrated because they still don't look like the pros.  You think, "maybe I need better editing software." 

You run out to Best Buy and grab the latest edition of Photoshop.  Photoshop is uploaded and you are excited to finally get the photos you want of you kiddos to show off to friends.  You even think, "hey, I should start taking pictures of other people's kids too and maybe advertise myself as a photographer!"  You upload your first photo to the program and see that you have no idea how to use the program or even how to crop the image.  Ugh.  Bummer.  Now, you spend several days/weeks playing around with photoshop until you figure out how to oversaturate/overexpose/overcontrast images and make them look "artsy."  There is still something missing though.  They still don't have the quality you want.  What's next?

You head off to the local camera shop and buy some new fancy, schmancy, lenses that you read about online.  Now it's time for another photo session with the kids and off to the park you go with your camera fully ready to go in Auto Mode.  1000s of pictures and hours/days later, you have about 15-20 images that are "okay."  Bummer.  Looks like you will have to spend more money and go to a class now to learn how to use your new camera, new editing software, and new lenses.  Christmas is right around the corner and you need photos to send out to family, so you run over to Picture People to get a few portraits (dropping about $200-400 on a few prints).

Total Investment: ~$2000-3000 for a handful of "okay" pictures and hours of stress. 

My advice: Hire a photographer if you want good portraits of your kids.  It will save you so much stress and money in the long run.  If you want a nice camera for reliability when taking everyday photos, I think that is a wonderful idea.  Just don't think that you will never need a professional photographer again.  Great pictures on high quality paper are something that will be cherished for years to come.  Take advantage of that when you can.  :)