Take a part of this with you

   For the first time in, I cant even remember when, I set aside 2 weeks and labeled them as "vacation" on my calendar.

   The first week got away from me. We were supposed to take 16 long days and travel all the way out west, exploring mountains, indulging in artistic towns, and seeing new sites. Instead, my work load was too heavy and I spent that week trapped in my office playing catch up.  Really think about that. I sacrificed time with my husband, amongst gorgeous scenery to sit in a dark room and stare at a computer screen....

   That's not right. Plain and simple.

  Yes, it felt good to get caught up, work on some new things, and tie up those lose ends before vacation, but I never, ever wanted to turn into that person- where work was more important than LIFE. I love my job, it's my obsession, it's my addiction, it's what helps me express myself, and it pays the bills, but... it's still my job.

   Many people think working for yourself or out of your home is awesome, and most days it is, but also remember exactly that- my work is in my home, therefore, how can you ever get away from it!? There's no door to lock up and walk away from for the night, there's no answering machine that will keep people satisfied until I have time to get back with them and there is no one else to pick up my slack when I am sick, gone, or need a day to myself!

   So, with that being said, the 2nd week of vacation we decided on the good ole Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee (again, for the 6th year in a row.) I can't even say I don't know what draws us there, bc I know EXACTLY what it is. It's not the mountains, even though those are exciting to explore, it's not the art, even though that always leaves me with a sense of inspiration, and it's not the southern cooking, even though that leaves us very happy at night. It's the fact that everything, and everyone there moves through life at a peaceful and slow pace that I envy and while we are there, we can pretend to live the same way for a few days.

   We can wake up in the morning and not rush out the door. We can drive through town, stop calmly at the red lights, and inch our way down the road as we look at the scenery. We can do what needs to be done during the day and get back to our room where we can lay in bed before sleeping and talk about the day, read a book, or watch t.v. Please, again, really think about that. Am I saying my life is SO busy that I can't even find the time to read a book at night before I go to sleep? Yep. That's what I said.

   Again, that's not right. What is there to life if you don't have enough time to slow down and do the things you love, even if it's for 30 mins? Ok, I know it's not the end of the world, but it was really starting to alter me. The number one reason why I fell in love with my husband is because he made me feel like it was ok to dream, to live, to explore, and to not worry so much about the "right way to live." Somewhere, in my busy life, I had lost that and I felt like this vacation was 9 days for me to get it back.

  Did you know that in Tennessee if it snows a foot, no one INSISTS that you still HAVE to come into work or the world will end, like in Michigan? That they obviously value life more than money.

   Did you know in the south it isn't uncommon for someone to leave a note on the door that reads "Closed for the day for my daughter's birthday" during regular business hours? They obviously cherish life's precious moments more than everyday hustle and bustle.

   Did you know in the mountains the weather doesn't always go as planned, the sun doesn't always shine when you need it to, and the animals don't come out so you can get a picture of them exactly when you pass by... There's a true sense that the world is much grander then you could every imagine there, definitely grander than you or I and our lives. I was glad to find that again.

   In short, we took a few days to shop, to hike, to sit by the river, to explore, to relax, to view art, and to appreciate the land the animals.

   The image to the right was from the aquarium, one of our rainy day trips. It's me with the jellyfish. I have never, ever seen a more beautiful site, almost to the point that they were hypnotic. To walk away from them was difficult. Animals that we viewed there were amazing and truly made me question what is real and make believe- they were unbelievable!

   The thing that I was most excited about though was to be able to sit, and stay sitting, long enough to create... It's something I do every day for my job, but with digital tools. It's so different when that creation comes out of you, made by your hands, as a true reflection of what you and only you are capable of, without any helpful tools.

   Amongst all this I made a pack with myself, to not lose this sense of life again, to take a little of the south with me when I returned back home. Promise myself, at 7:00, work is done! Those images that I was so close to finishing will have to wait until the next day, those people who text you at 10:00 at night on a Sunday will have to remember that I have scheduled weekends too. And I mean this all in the kindest way. Most people DO understand, and that's what I have to work on. It's ok to take a break, it's ok to have a life, and it's ok to treat my job, like a job! I need to bring that balance back! 

   So with that, I leave you with a peaceful view of the mountains, early in the morning, wrapped up in fog, with the sun dancing on the trees hoping you have balance in your life or will find it soon, that your love for life will never leave, and that we all take the time to take a deep breath and remember why we are here. Not to work all the time, not to play all the time, but to live, happily, progressively, truthfully... in a way that allows us to smile when we lay our head down onto our pillow every night. 

All Work and No Play

   So, finally, finally, finally I got a chance to sit down and edit some of the shots from my first free art study session.

   In order to help me learn and grow as an artist, I am in the process of randomly offering free sessions to the public, and the public in return giving up their own time, to help me experiment with different photo techniques that I have been wanting to try out, all based off a lighting book I purchased a few months ago.

   My first experiment was solely about light, that is where these shots stemmed from, and before I knew it, I had learned a lot more than what I had expected and my assignment for lessons learned had went in a whole new direction. As far as I am concerned, the outcome- success. 

The first goal with this session was to really just take my time. A lot of session people book with me they are worried about getting the "biggest bang for their buck." They move quickly. They want to get their child in as many different poses and outfits in 1 hour as they can. It was nice to actually take a good amount of time to just stop and say, "Ok, let's try this, let's try this again, try it one more time until you nail it," and focus on getting a few solid, solid shots vs a whole slew of ones that I feel like are good, great, but not a true reflection of how far we could have REALLY pushed the bar had we taken control of our nerves and used the proper amount of time.

   When I say we took took our time, I mean it. The models (who were beyond perfect for this task- thank you Hannah Mae and Alexx, and their mom of course too- Amy) spent a few weeks chatting back and forth about pose ideas, wardrobe, location options, makeup and hair. There was then the prep time to get it all together, and then once the actual day came around the morning consisted of a lot of time crammed in my bathroom carefully painting on their face makeup and styling their hair as big as possible. The concept grew from my love for fashion.

After we were physically ready it was time to go in and start shooting. The girls did some stretching, some warm up poses, and then we started. This is where we took even more time. We didn't change our wardrobe after about 20 some shots, we didn't move our location, we didn't change our backdrop. We merely kept shooting bc I didn't feel like we had truly NAILED it yet. So we kept going. We took a few 20 more. At the end of the day, in fashion or advertisement or even family portraits, you only need one strong image to help you say what you need to say. Why not make sure that one image is exactly what you want and it speaks not only loudly but aggressively, bc no one else is ever going to see those 100 other outtakes, 20 other good enough shots, or even the other 2 that made up the top 3. It's the one shot.

      After a good hour or longer of shooting we broke down, the girls changed, and then we went out for ice cream, which, I can't be sure, but I'm almost certain was necessary for the creative process! ;) Then I waited for a gap in my work schedule before I even started touching the images. This is where goals and lessons changed, and even more time was spent, which people don't realize.

   Once I began sifting through the photos what I learned the most was if you want different results, you need to try out different methods, even if they make you uncomfortable. During this shoot, I wanted good light, but I wanted different light- that was the second goal. Good, different, moody light. At the end of everything I noticed- I was so worried about keeping the situation controlled, I forgot to move things around and play with the light, things were...typical of my usual work. Did that mean the whole experiment was a waste? I hadn't achieved my MAIN goal... so.... what was I going to get out of it?

   That's when I decided to push the bar on my editing.

   Usually I am fairly realistic when it comes to post. Why? I have no idea. It just feels right, and safe. I never liked taking photography to a level of graphics. Art is art. Graphics is graphics. And Photography is photography. But.... bc the main goal of this session had went out the window anyhow, what did I have to loose? The session was free, I wasn't meeting any expectations for clients. So... I played. And as the old saying goes, and I have learned the hard way, "All work and no play makes AJBC's portraits dull." Ha! 

   And due to that, I can say my first attempt at these free sessions, although priorities shifted, was what many would call a beautiful mistake.

Editing. It's not an "option"

   Edits. Post. Frills and Fluff.

   For those of you who are unfamiliar with digital photography and how it works, editing is basically the manipulation or enhancement of a photo.

   And right away, maybe you're thinking to yourself, "I don't like it when people make their photos look fake," or "I don't need all of that done."

   Well, believe it or not, almost 99% of the professional photos that you see have been touched in some way, whether it be to do something completely fun and unnatural, or maybe just to add a pop of color, add some crispness, fix a blemish, or remove something distracting in the background. You may not even notice, but more than likely, it's been touched, and for good reason.

   Take the above photo for instance. If you were to view the photo on the right (the after photo) first you more than likely would think it was in it's natural (or close to natural) state. Good. That's exactly what I want you to think when viewing my work. I don't want the main focus to be the edits. I want the main focus to be the subject- these beautiful wedding flowers in their rustic setting.

   Now, how would you feel if I would have presented to you the actual original photo as my final product? I think you would be pretty disappointed. The overall feel is drab, the flag, flower pot, and beam are distracting, and there's a small bit of light sneaking through the bottom of the photo where the pinic table stops. With a little work, this photo came a long ways!

   Another thing you may wonder is, "Why take a photo like that in the first place?" Well, most of the time I try avoid doing countless hours of work in post, but sometimes, you have to.This was a quick shot I got bc of lack of time, the picnic table was the closest, rustic, elevated object to me, and there was no time for flash equipment. Instead of junking it, I took some time, played with it a bit, and am very happy with the final result. 

   Long story short- this is a perfect example as to why you want a photographer who is willing to do edits and go the extra mile for you (if need be.)

(Please keep in mind- just getting the photo right originally, with out edits, is the way to go and my personal practice, but sometimes, it doesn't always work out like that, and this example is perfect for getting that point across!)

   Which brings me to my next point- why I say no when clients ask me if they can have ALL the pictures from their session, even if that means they are unedited and why you, as a client, should not be willing to sacrifice edits (or be willing to perform your own) to save money.

   Let's say I DID give you all your photos from your session, unedited, bc maybe we worked out a deal that after viewing all of them you could pick which ones you want me to edit. That seems fair and reasonable, at first. But now think about this. What if you were to go through your photos and come across the above photo on the left (the before)? Chances are you would bypass it bc of the distraction and not even think about what "could be" and be too fixed on "what is."

   That's 1 reason why I don't offer that option. I want your portraits to be viewed how they were meant to be seen- as little piece of art, your art.

   And speaking of art- although your portraits are your portraits, they are also little pieces of me and my artistic view of the world that I am releasing to you to enjoy. With that being said, that's also why I don't allow other people to take my images and edit them to save money, or for any other reason. Each image is special to me and I personally tweak and meticulously perfect each one as I see fit. Some images may have to be worked on for awhile, some images are done within mere minutes. But the point is, they have passed through my fingertips and exited them the way I intended.

   The above set is a perfect example of just that. This image was taken at another wedding I photographed in April. The weather was chilly, there was a chance of rain and we were all happy to run inside after the outdoor ceremony. The bride's mother had put a rosary outside bc it is said that they will ward off rain (and it worked by the way!) When I got to the editing process the image was nice but it needed some "uumph" so I added some nice warm colors (the photo on the right is the result.) I love warm colors. At the last minute though, I thought about it and realized, that image was not an accurate depiction of the cold day we endured, and I changed the edits to cold tones before finalizing the image. Yes- I personally like the image to the right, but that wasn't the point of the photo. I want the bride to remember the day as it was and how the rosary did it's job well! Had I allowed someone to take my image and edit it to their liking to save them money, or for whatever reason, my work would be floating around in a way that doesn't represent my view or artistic view point.

   So, with out further ado- go for the edits. There's a reason why they are there. And if there isn't a good reason for them, well... that's for a another blog. ;)