Since Santa was good to me and brought me a new lens, background stand, and background, I decided to put them to good use! Here’s what I got!
And the day after Christmas:
And my friend Gwen’s adorable little boy, Jake:
Last night Cynthia and baby Livi came over for a playdate with me and Braden. I was so excited that I got to take pictures of Livi (you know I’d been wanting to practice with someone else’s kids!). She was the happiest little thing with the best laugh ever and was completely enthralled by my two chihuahuas! Such a blast! Here are a couple from out shoot! Cynthia, I hope you enjoy them!
After reading horror stories of photographers finding their work in, let’s just say, online and offline places they did not want it, reduced to a form that would not impart anything good to their image, I have decided it’s time to start watermarking the images that I share online with a logo. This is not because I think my family is so desperate for images of Braden that they are going to try to steal them (they are bombarded weekly with more than enough pictures to give them their fill), but because soon I hope to be building my photography skills by practicing on friends and then eventually strangers. I want credit for work well done, and don’t want it scanned or screen-shot to the point of destroying it (or my reputation, for that matter).
So here is the official debut of my new logo/watermark. I hope you like it because you’ll be seeing it more if you follow this blog. For now it’s nothing high tech, just something I threw together in photoshop CS3 with a free font download (LainieDaySH) and a shared damask brush. I plan on using the version sans damask on my images for simplicity’s sake. Check out a couple of images (nothing new) with the logo added.
Braden’s Two Week Picture
Yes, you read that right and no, we’re not going back in time! By request, I am sharing the original image that was rejected by Tiny Prints for blown areas and excessive noise (I referenced this in my very first blog post). Hopefully it is being shown small enough that you can’t see all the noise. I’m trusting no one will mistakenly think this is representative of the work I am doing now but will instead be able to recognize the progress that is hopefully being made. Oh, notice I didn’t watermark that one, even though I tried my best to fix it up with editing, to no avail! He’s still cute, but it’s far from a technically perfect photo!
“Bell’Anima” comes from the Italian words for “Beautiful” (bella) and “Soul” (anima) which is why I have chosen this to be the name of my future photography endeavor. I am thrilled you have decided to follow my progress as I work towards capturing inner beauty and preserving the essence of fleeting moments through my images. My goal is to produce photography that is crisp, bright, colorful, sharp, and able to evoke the true emotion of the moment. I may have a ways to go, but the journey will be exciting nonetheless.
My love of photography started early. As a child, I thrived on being in front of the camera, and remember being overjoyed whenever my father asked me to give him “my look” for a picture, essentially my smiling face, puppy dog eyes, and batting eyelashes. As time went on, I became “that girl.” You know, the one with the camera ever-present at my fingertips for any important moment–the one always wanting to take your picture. I thought I was bad then, but having a baby took it all to another level.
When my son was born, I was thrilled to finally have him home from the NICU and could not wait to start my project of taking pictures for his birth announcement. I had picked out the announcement months before he arrived and it was simply a matter of getting the perfect shot. Out came the point and shoot camera, and after about an hour, I beamed with pride as I showed my husband the “amazing” pictures I had just taken. “They are just as good as professional photos,” he assured me.
Two days later I received a phone call from the company that was printing the announcement for me. The images I had submitted were useless….the blown spots and amount of “noise” made them virtually unusable. Blown spots? Noise? But they were as good as professional photos! Apparently not. Crushed, I set off to re-shoot and finally settled for a shot that was cute, but, in hind sight, very far from professional in appearance. Discouraged is not even the word to describe my feelings. I learned that what I thought was good could always be made better, and began to appreciate the value of constructive criticism as a vehicle for growth.
I decided to invest in a “fancy camera.” That would surely fix all my problems, right? Ummm….no. I quickly learned it takes more to get amazing pictures than a nice camera. And that is how my obsession began. I started spending every free moment practicing my photography, refining my photo-editing skills, and soaking in every bit of knowledge I could find.
I am not sure why I wrote that last sentence in past tense as if I am done with the learning process, because I am far from where I want to be. I have seen tremendous improvement in my pictures already but am ready to take them to the next level. Every penny of spending money goes towards better equipment and every free second goes towards improving my skills.
Que Sera?
I recognize that skill and talent in photography take time and investment to build and I am not yet where I want to be. My images may be better than those taken by your average mom, even some with “fancy” cameras. Bell’Anima Photography as I envision it, though, is still just that, a vision, a part of the future rather than the present. For now, I am just a mom with a camera. Photography enables me to capture the beauty of my son’s first year and I appreciate every moment I am able to document.
I work full time in a demanding career unrelated to photography and feel truly blessed to love what I do for a living. I don’t see that career ending anytime soon! Simultaneously, I have a serious love affair brewing with photography and cannot ignore the joy it brings me.
So where does that leave me? Well, every penny of spending money continues to go towards better equipment and every free second towards improving my photography skills.
I will practice whenever I get a chance and build up a robust portfolio of images that capture my vision for “Bell’Anima” photography. I will build up to the quality of work that I wish to deliver. Then and only then will I be ready to move on to the next step, setting up shop. And when I do, it will start very small, and build up when the referrals are so great as a result of work well done. Since my day job is a passion of mine as well, I am lucky not to need to rush through my photography journey but I get to savor it instead.
Thank you for being part of my journey! I hope it is as inspiring to you as it is to me!
