Photographer in the Making

I've always loved taking pictures. I'd been talking loads of pictures before it was cool. Its MY thing. Now everyone takes pictures just so they can show them off on Facebook and Instagram-- plus having cameras on phones now make it a lot easier and a lot more accessible. 

Growing up I had my own video camera, which resulted in several priceless memories. I've also had lots of cameras (because I would have to get a new one each time I got sand in it from the beach).

Then when Blaine and I lived in Libby during our first married summer, I went and hung out with the town's local (only) photographer a couple of times and tried to learn about different things. We had different styles, but it was nice of her to let me explore and shadow her.

And then after having an advertisement for a Canon Rebel on the fridge for 4 years, Blaine finally bought me it for my birthday about a year and a half ago. (You may recall from my "Waiting for Baby" post). I haven't used it much, but the pictures I have taken with it show an obvious improvement in clarity compared to others. I took some outdoors shots in the mountains in Provo and then also got to practice on Abbie a little bit with her Prom pictures and also her Senior portraits... which turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself. Here is my model, not at all edited:

 she should be on a skin care ad 

and her cute little prom date Thomas, whose on his mission in Dallas right now

Anyways, while on our trip to New York, my camera worked fine one day and then the next day would not work! So I frantically called my aunt who is a photographer and was trying to see if she knew what could be wrong, but we couldn't figure it out. So today I took it in to the store and they figured out that (luckily) its not my camera, but my lens thats the problem. It still works great on manual, but the automatic part is what won't work. But the guy at the store was very helpful. He put a couple of different lenses on my camera and we were able to take some pictures and he explained what the advantages and disadvantages of different lenses were. I want to have everything ready to go before our baby comes so I can take a bunch of pictures of him and start practicing. So I'll probably invest in that in the next couple weeks and start exploring everything my camera and new lens can do.

I'll also have to start playing with Photoshop. I was the Sports Editor of the Yearbook for 2 years in high school and was pretty good with it back then. But that was years ago and its changed since then. So it will be a great project for this stay-at-home-mom. 

My mom taught piano lessons to make some extra money when we were growing up. But she's a lot better than me and actually had the patience to work on scales and all that formal stuff. I just like to play for fun and play things I want to hear, so thats out for me. 

Then I was talking to Blaine's grandma a couple days ago and she said that she sewed clothes for people to make some money from home. But I don't think thats very high in demand these days, nor would I have the patience. I do need to take the time to learn and get better at sewing in general though so I can make stuff for my kids. My mom always made us Easter dresses and stuff like that. And heaven forbid we ever wore a store bought Halloween costume! I can't drop the ball after the standard my mom set. Alivia, my 11 year old sister, is already a better seamstress than me. She's going to help me sew a couple blankets for baby boy when she gets here in July. 

But back to photography and making money at home. That has been and still is my plan and my hope. I think I would love learning all the cool features and effects and will use them all the time anyways on pictures of my own kids, so why don't do it for other people as well and make some money?! It's perfect. The only downside is that these days everyone and their mom is a "photographer." So even if I never get paid to do anyone else pictures, I'll still have great pictures of my own family and our own stuff and that'll be awesome. But I know of several girls who've done this exact same thing. So for better or worse, thats the plan. I'm excited to buy a new lens and get started with all my free time over the next couple of weeks.
Maybe 7 weeks to be exact, since today I am officially 33 weeks!