My Latest “Photo Shoots”

Okay, it’s finally time for me to share the photos from my two projects last weekend.  I’m so very excited about both of these photo sessions, not just because I think the pictures turned out pretty darn well, but because both sessions gave me the opportunity to help out two families that needed a photographer on short notice for something that probably didn’t warrant the cost of a professional, but did warrant using someone with a little more experience than your average family member. 😉

First up was an early-morning session for the older brother of one of DS#1’s hockey teammates.  This very mature young man is a high school senior who recently signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Kalamazoo College (a college in western Michigan).  I don’t know much about baseball, but I learned that this is a pretty big deal in the high school baseball circles…to “sign” with a college and show that you intend to go there and play baseball.  I suspect the young man must be quite good at the sport and was recruited by several colleges.

His mom called me one night a few weeks ago and mentioned that he had signed his letter of intent, and that they wanted to get some pictures to submit for his high school website as well as the local paper.  She said that the family had been trying to figure out who would take the picture (since pretty much everyone in their family was going to be in the picture, lol!), and it was her father who mentioned, “Hey, what about that lady that’s always taking pictures of the kids on [younger son’s] team? Think she’d do it?”  I laughed when she told me that…clearly I am not quite as “invisible” as I like to think I am when I’m running around taking pictures at the hockey games. 😉

Of course I was thrilled to be able to use my passion for photography in a way that could help them with this very important event in their family’s life.  At the same time, I was also excited with the opportunity to hone my photography skills in a totally different circumstance.  I took lots of photos of the young man, with everyone from his coaches to pretty much his entire family, but I will just share a couple here.

 

 

Here’s his official “signing” shot. Such a handsome young man (and so polite, too!).  We did it at the high school, in a hallway that included a lot of windows and glass, so I was thrilled with all the natural light.  I got up on my handy step-stool (a trick I learned when doing my first-ever photo shoot, with my friend Katie), and I think they turned out pretty well.  Here’s one more:

 

 

I love this shot of him with his two younger brothers.  They were truly a great group of young men, and the younger brothers seemed incredibly happy for their brother, and proud of him, too!

I had a lot of fun with this shoot, and everyone was so appreciative of me taking the time to come out and help them.  It’s things like this that make me happy that I can give back my time and meager skills to those who are so happy to have it!

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The other photographic opportunity I had last weekend was also brought about by a hockey connection. 😉 In this case, the older sister of one of DS#2’s teammates, who is 15 and a freshman in high school, approached me after a game and asked me very shyly if I would mind taking pictures of her and her chinchilla for a 4H contest she was entering.  I had no idea what a chinchilla even was, but she was so sweet when she asked me, I couldn’t possibly say no. 🙂

It turns out a chinchilla is actually a kind of rodent much like a rabbit.  The young lady had won the 4H Small Animal Showmanship trophy for our local county fair last summer (a big accomplishment in its own right!), and she was now competing at a higher level for a state championship this year. The competition involves submitting a portfolio of her accomplishments in 4H, in school, and in the community, and also a question and answer session with a panel of judges. She needed a “head shot” for the portfolio, and then she also wanted some shots of her with her chinchilla, named Louise, for the presentation before the question and answer panel.

The plan was for me to go to where they live and do the pictures in their house.  However, when I arrived at their home, I realized they lived pretty much across the street from a well-known park in our area where many photographers (including my own!) do their outdoor shots.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for pictures, except for one small problem…it was 20 degrees out! :-0  I knew I was crazy for even asking this poor girl to entertain the idea of doing pictures in that kind of weather, but I asked anyway, just because I felt so good about the prospect of the pictures and thought it was worth a try. Both the girl and her mom agreed it would be a perfect location, and the young lady just put on a sweater and a light fleece jacket, with the understanding that she’d take the jacket off when I was ready to do the pictures.

I am so very, very glad that I decided to ask about the outdoor pictures, because I am not too humble to say that I think they turned out great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I added a few “filters,” all of which I received as “Lightroom presets” from a dear (and very generous!) photographer friend of mine.  Most of the time I like the natural image, but sometimes it’s fun to play with the filters to add a different look.

I took several poses with and without Louise, who turned out to be the sweetest little animal (and much better-dressed for the setting than either the young lady or me!).  I must say that this darling teenage girl made it very easy to take her picture. She has a beautiful smile and stunning brown eyes that just came to life with each shot.  I loved every moment of our little photo shoot! Happily, she and her mother were very pleased with the results.

I am also very proud to say that I have finally, finally branched out in my photographic endeavors enough to begin using the true manual mode on my camera.  Almost all of these shots were taken in manual, with fill flash when necessary, and there were only one or two shots where they turned out too light or too dark.  I won’t pretend that I have all the settings on my camera figured out yet, but I’m excited to finally start understanding how the manual mode works and how it can really be the best way to take pictures when you want total control of your shots.

So those were my latest photographic endeavors.  My next photography post will include more hockey pictures, because Lord knows I have enough at this point in the season. 😉

Thanks for reading!