We All Start Somewhere

Next weeks, photographers will share their favorite images from 2020.  I may or may not participate.  However, what I did want to do was look at my first paid session from 2010.  Man, I was so excited that someone wanted to pay me!  I hadn’t had my DSLR for very long, but I just knew that I was knowledgeable enough to receive compensation for my work.  The confidence level was on high.  I look back on those images now, and all I can do is shake my head. Sometimes, I think that maybe I should offer a refund to this client.

When I look at the top images, I see everything that I did wrong.  From posing, lighting, and the lens that I used, there was so much room for improvement.  However, here’s the kicker.  Because I was confident and provided direction, the client listened to me.  They followed my direction, and let me lead them.  This self-assuredness made the client feel comfortable taking my direction.

The common denominator with this second set of images, taken in 2018, was my confidence.  I knew the vison for the session.  I understood the connection that I needed to capture in the frame.  My comfort with the exposure triangle was solid, and I knew the best lens for the session.  I also knew that I wanted to session to occur an hour before the Golden Hour to have the best light for my subjects.

So, what happened in that eight-year timeframe?  I learned.  I practiced. I attended conferences, and I read.  I learned to shoot on the Manual Mode, and had a better grasp of the exposure triangle.  I found my favorite lens.  Most of all, I learned my camera.  Knowing the abilities and limitations of your camera is a big part of photography.

We all start somewhere. No one starts out in photography knowing it all, and shooting a perfect session.  There are a lot of buttons and modes on these cameras, and knowing how they operate is critical in producing a quality image.