My First Boise Shootout

I was very lucky to find an amazing group of local photographers!  One of the best things about the group is that they hold photographer shootouts, where a location and models are arranged and the photographers just jump right in and shoot.  Everyone is shooting the same thing at the same time, but everyone's photos look so different! 

Different angles, different processing, different styles.  So fun!

The first shootout I went to was in September.  A few of the photographers brought their kids as our models and we all pitched in on huge balloons and brought props.  It was really fun, but... 

It was also when I was first trying to get the hang of back button focus.  (Back button focus is where you set one of the back buttons to focus your shots rather than pressing the shutter button halfway down to focus.)  I'd read about it on a photography forum and several photographers swear that it's the best.  It worked fine when I was practicing on stationary objects in the house, but the first time I tried it on actual people I about died at how many images were out of focus.  Not just "soft" - all out blurry!  I'd gotten a little better by the time I went to the shootout, but as the photo below shows, I certainly hadn't mastered it!



Photo by Ali Smith,  http://www.alismithphotography.com/



There I am, right in the middle, looking at my camera, trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong to get so many out of focus shots.

  Thank you to sweet Ali for sharing this photo and making me laugh! 

(Without her help a few weeks later I may never have gotten the hang of it!)

Here are 12 of my favorites from that evening...

  

Photos taken 9/16/2011

Hunting Eastern Idaho

I was able to spend a bit of quality one on one time with the hubby on a trip to eastern Idaho a few weeks ago.  He wanted to go hunting and I wanted to take photos, so we compromised and did both.  It was really nice being outdoors together and it was a beautiful day with one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen.  I ended up just sitting on the hill watching the clouds move across the horizon.

Enjoy!

This may be my favorite photo of our dog ever...

 

The clouds didn't really want to cooperate for silhouette shots, but I managed to get one that I liked.

 

 



The first time I've ever seen a moose in a potato field!  I have to give the credit to my hubby though, he called him in close enough that I could get a few shots with my camera!



My Golf Course Lesson

Last month my friend wanted me to take photos of her two year old son.  She had his one year photos taken at the golf course by a talented local photographer that recently moved out of state and thought it would be fun to do it again to show how much he's grown and changed over the last year.  Shouldn't be a big deal right? 

Well...  

When we arrived, I immediately started sweating.  It was still REALLY bright and there was no shade anywhere!  She had brought me there the week before to scout out possible photo locations, so I knew ahead of time what the conditions would be, but somehow I thought (and prayed!) that magically a cloud would come floating in or the sun would start setting faster than normal and save my poor, inexperienced bacon!  Her little boy is normally in bed at the time we began shooting, so we couldn't stay until lighting conditions were closer to my comfort zone.  It was much stronger light than I am capable of taking nice portraits in.  The photographer from last year did a great job in the same conditions - I felt like I was never going to measure up! Just like a bad case of test anxiety, the more nervous I got, the more I botched my settings, the more I messed up, the more nervous I became.

Big lesson for me!!  Looking back I needed to just take a deep breath, calm down, and not worry about comparing myself to others.  I need to remind myself frequently that the photographers I admire started somewhere too!  It's a journey that doesn't happen overnight and even the bumps along the way will help shape my photos of tomorrow!

 

Luckily, this little guy is so cute that it shows right through my blown highlights and technical difficulties!



Oh buddy!  I know just how you feel!



One great thing about strong light - silhouettes.

  

  

Thank you to my friend for her patience and support...

Gymnastics

Ok, this girl is awesome!  Her cartwheels and flips made me wish I was more coordinated! 

These two are just too cute together!!

Just the Two of Us

So we attempted a family picture, armed only with the cheap tripod and my camera remote.  Oh boy what an experience!!  The clouds came in and it was much darker than I was expecting, the monsters were bouncing off the wall, and the dog... well I was starting to wonder why I had thought it would be a good idea for him to be there!  I'm still attempting to find the "one" family picture that turned out, but I was excited that there were several of just me and the hubby...  I just had to post one.

Big Bro and Lil Sis

One of my favorite things to photograph is children.  I especially love it when I can photograph them as they play and let their personalities shine through.  These guys were so fun!

 

  



The vintage look is perfect for this little guy!



I love her eyes in this photo.

Boys are awesome!

Seriously Behind Already...

Sure enough, life has gotten in the way of the photography project.  I knew it would happen, but I hoped it wouldn't happen so soon.  :)  I will catch up eventually I'm sure, but in the mean time here's a few of the littlest monster.  You really have to have at least one photo of your kids like this...

"I'm still cute when I'm messy, right mom?"

Really?  Chef Boyardee isn't shampoo?!?