I’m a self-taught photographer.
I’ve never taken a formal class in photography, though I do pick things up from magazines, books, and online occasionally. I picked up my mom’s DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex – that’s photographer jargon for a removable lens) shortly after she bought it in May of 2007, and became fixated especially on the macro lens, which I used to take extensive coverage of the plants in our front yard. I then began to experiment to see what our point-and-shoot could do. I took lots of nice pictures with that little dude before I dropped him on the lawn in front of the capitol building on our trip to DC. Not a nice way to end, I think. Anyways, about a month later I received a camera for my birthday. His name is Ford (after Ford Prefect, Aurthur Dent’s alien friend in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), and he is wonderful. A brand-spankin’ new Canon, complete with macro setting! Je l’adore. But he stopped working in October. Just STOPPED. Dang him. So we sent him off to Canon, but now I’ve got him back, all better.
I don’t do a lot of portraits. In fact, most pictures I take are of non-human things. If I do take people pictures, it’s of myself or it’s a candid shot. So, most of my pictures are not posed – they are come-as-you-are, almost snapshots. I like to experiment with interesting angles on uninteresting things. As I said before, I love macro shots, especially of flowers. Landscapes I can also do, though my biggest weakness is for sweeping sunsets. I can’t just ignore all those pinks and purples and yellows and oranges. All this to say, my photography is kind of sporadic. Because I don’t pose things I only end up with good pictures on good days.
I am trying to get better with people. This Christmas, I did my first planned photoshoot with the Madelyn Hood and her family. We’re happy with how they turned out, and I need to find another family to shoot – need sample photos for future website!
