Other People's Young'uns

Readers,

I took a photography class last March, and ever since then, as my husband will tell you, I've taken an obnoxious number of pictures. On an average day, I take at least 50 and edit about 10. On a day with some kind of event (party, etc), I take about 300, and edit about 75. I went to another birthday party at the gymnastics place last weekend, and I took 400 photos. I came home with a right middle finger that was so sore, it hurt to bend it (that's the finger that helps hold the weight of the camera body while my index finger is busy clicking).

I am not a great photographer. Some days, I'm not even a good photographer. I am not on the verge of opening a business and putting up a facebook page, although I have photographer friends who have done so and deserve to, because they generate consistently good work. Brooke notices the natural world in ways that constantly surprise, Meghan takes the cutest pictures of babies ever, and Jen has this one picture in particular that I'm obsessed with.

But I want to be better than I am, so I practice. And practice. And practice. And study other people's photos that I admire and wonder, "How did they do that?" And I fill up a hard drive with my trial and error. And this is why it makes me bonkers, BONKERS, I tell you, when someone asks, "You take the cutest pictures! What kind of camera do you have?" The question implies that the camera itself is responsible for the image, and can be separated from the talent and effort of the shooter.

Because I can only take so many (thousands of) pictures of my own children, I look for opportunities to take pictures of other subjects. Since Christmas alone, I've volunteered to shoot senior portraits, kids' birthday pictures, portraits of the teachers at Laney's school for the school directory, etc. My work isn't always consistent, but it's consistently free.

This is the kind of stuff I'm shooting when I'm not taking pictures of my kids:

Mariah, senior photo

Kassedy

Sisters

2 year old on her birthday

Alex, running. I took about 60 photos of her running in circles until I could get my camera to move at the same speed as a two year-old runs, so just her upper body would be in focus while everyone else was a blur.

Mariah, Senior portrait 2

Izzy makes a wish

Miss Sam

Downtown Missoula service station. It was snowing, and Thor and I had just come out of the pizza place across the street where we'd split a bottle of wine when I saw this station under the streetlight and insisted on getting the camera out of the car and taking this picture. I did not add a texture to this in Photoshop - that diagonal linen look is actually falling snow.

I can tell a difference between photos I took a year ago and the ones I'm taking today, and hopefully, I'll be able to take another step forward over the next year. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who volunteers to be my subject, and everyone who doesn't complain that I take (and post) too many pictures. 

And it's a 12 year-old Nikon that you can buy on ebay for $149, if you're still wondering. 

-Brooke