Your answers to some FAQs...

It humbles me that I get inquiries from hobby and aspiring photographers who stumbled upon my website. My business is still new, there are hundreds and hundreds of amazing photographers out there who do such inspiring work, and I consider myself a beginner who is still doing a lot of learning (and will always be learning--I love that this is an art where I will never settle for complacency). Still, I feel bad that I can't always get around to answering all of these emails personally: A few have slipped through the cracks in my inbox during extremely busy times.

So since work is slower right now, I thought I'd take a moment to answer questions I get asked most frequently.

What camera and lens do you use?
I just upgraded to a Canon 5D, but the work that you see currently on my website was mostly done with a Canon 30D. I use different lenses in different situations (after all, that's the point of having different lenses), but I'd say a good all-purpose lens for professional portraiture is the 24-70 f/2.8L. A great starter camera (and one that produced fantastic results for me--especially for the low price tag--was the Rebel XT). Nothing in photography is cheap: If you're serious about photography, keep it simple in the beginning while you're learning. You can produce beautiful photographs with a good starter camera and a cheaper lens as you learn how to use your camera and begin to build your portfolio. The Rebel XT paired with the "fantastic plastic" 50 f/1.8 lens produced some wonderful photographs for me when I was just starting out.

Here's my little PSA on the subject of cameras and lenses: I think one of the biggest misconceptions in photography is that if you buy the camera and lens that a certain photographer has that you'll produce photographs just like that certain photographer. That's simply not true. The biggest step an aspiring photographer can take is to take her camera off of auto. I'll even take it a step further and say take it off of semi-auto modes, like Av and Tv. Cameras are not good decision makers--photographers are. There are places and times for auto, Av and Tv, but it's imperative to know how to properly expose a photograph and to understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed. Then, it's a constant learning experience to understand how to further adjust those settings based upon what you want to photograph and what you want your final result to be. And that doesn't even begin to touch on depth of field and light and a million other variables and how those affect your final outcome...

Did you go to school for photography?
No, I didn't. At some point, I would love to--maybe not to complete a degree--but at least take some classes in some areas that I feel I'm lacking. I'd love to learn how to develop film, for example.

In case you're wondering, I do have a degree in professional writing (with minors in literature and public relations). I wrote for a professional health magazine when I graduated college, and then worked in public relations prior to having my daughter. When she was born, I left my career to stay at home and raise her. I then dabbled in a little freelance graphic design, writing and editing on the side as my photography hobby kicked into full gear when she was born. I truly wanted to go to college for art, and I didn't. Writing was my reconciliation with the guise of it being a more employable "artistic" job under the presumption that all visual artists are starving or struggling. While I was in college, I took a film course thinking it would be fun to watch movies and then write about them. Little did I know that we would wind up discussing imagery, storytelling via imagery, and why directors chose to frame and compose their movies the way that they did. Later, I took a media studies course where we spent a great deal of time studying images in advertising. Both of these courses really sparked something in me, and at that time, I petitioned the college to allow me to add an art minor to my degree, but my request was denied. And at that point in my life, I was married and we were starting to think about starting a family, so even though I would have been very happy continuing to be a professional student (and sink myself further in debt), I decided to just graduate with the major and minors I had. I found while writing professionally, I was most enthusiastic about meeting with the art department to discuss photo sessions to go along with our stories or marketing materials. To me, however, my degree is not wasted. Ultimately, my aim in photography is to tell stories and to evoke emotion, which, ultimately, is the aim of a good writer.

So if you didn't go to school for photography, how did you learn?
Lots and lots and lots of practice, trial and error, and study of photographers that I admire. I've spent hours reading books and then applying what I've learned in real-life situations. I've got three semi-willing kids who have spent their lives in front of my lens both when I was shooting just for fun and documentation of their lives, and now professionally. Treats are not a commonplace occurence here, so it's amazing what they'll agree to do for a lollipop. :) I also pay an annual fee to be a part of a network of professional photographers who help me run my business and help keep me improving artistically.

Knowing how to thoroughly use Photoshop is also integral to the processing of my images. I pair Photoshop with the use of a Wacom tablet to digitally "paint" my images. It takes me about 8 hours to process a session because I spend quite a lot of time on each image and carefully evaluating it and trying different techniques on it. I also spend a long time working on my b&w conversions, which I probably should stop doing because I probably only sell about 5% of my images in b&w since my clients always seem to prefer my color images. Believe it or not, my b&w images are not just color images with the color removed: Doing that in Photoshop just creates a lifeless and dull and very gray image. My b&w images actually have color in them--it's just about achieving a pleasing, seemingly colorless balance.

I want a part-time job. Is doing what you do a good choice?
There are obviously quicker and more efficient photographers out there. I spend about 60 hours a week on my business--and that's only with an average of 10 sessions per month. This year, it's my goal to become more efficient so I can spend more time with my family and my friends--and get back to the gym! :)