Taking Time to Learn

Every time I pick up my camera I try to expand upon what I already know how to do. It's not always easy. I get into a comfort zone with the settings--sometimes forget to change them, and then get to be very thankful for Lightroom and Photoshop ; )  The other day, a photographer that I follow on Facebook posted a status update that I really needed to hear..

"There are so many bad photos out there because the photographer wanted to be artsy. Your clients are art by themselves. Their chemistry should be your canvas. By the way, I'm not saying I haven't been guilty of the same thing but I wish someone had told me before getting distracted by other artists' work. If you're a photographer, capture your clients as they are, not as you hope to impress other artists" - Carly, Carly Bish Photography

I sometimes catch myself being caught up in thoughts like "They take such good pictures, I want to be  able to reproduce that" or "They got the lighting so perfect on that shot", and "How do they think of these poses?!"

I am my own worst critic when it comes to anything to do with a creative outlet or school--my scores, my photography, how my scrapbook looks, perfection in my typed reports--I can always find something wrong with it. After reading Carly's post on Facebook, it brought to the surface what I already knew: This is first and foremost my hobby, and the reason I have been asked to do the photo shoots that I have is because they like the photos I have taken. Simple as that. To every one of you that have allowed me the pleasure of photographing your families and special occasions, as well as anyone who has ever told me that they like the pictures I take--I can't thank you enough!

I continue to grow with every photo I take, and I'm excited to dive deeper into the world of portrait photography as I go along. This past weekend I had so much fun with my first Fall Mini Session shoot, these ladies (and precious little boy) were awesome subjects, and we couldn't have asked for better fall colors : )

Hope you enjoy a few of my favorites from that day, and look out for my faves that come out of this weekend's shoot!

The Energizer Bunny didn't have a full class load, work, and photography on his plate...

It has been yet another busy month filled with everything from stressful school weeks to surprisingly relaxing and sunny days where I got a lot done.

First off, I think I finally got all of my photos hung up in the house! .....with the exception of the canvas print I need to order by this weekend with a Groupon that I have, but I don't know what I want to put on it! On a side note--I <3 Groupon, but those darn expiration dates sneak up on me every time!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the living room and dining room put together...we are already thinking about where to put the Christmas tree! : P

The shelf in the corner of the dining room was sanded and painted by yours truly today, which brings me to my next topic of conversation: my I-did-it-by-myself projects! ; )  The boys got the tools out, but this girl used them like a pro--and led me to discover how much fun hand sanding a shelf is NOT!! Note to self: don't rescue a shelf from Goodwill whose openings are too small for the power sander to fit through, even if it is only $2... : P  Despite the less than perfect removal of the stain on the inner shelves, I still like how it turned out. Here's a couple before and after pics of the future holder of my shot glass collection : ) The big shelf I decided to tackle after I got home from school today, already got a coat of paint on it! The best part: the power sander fit in all nooks and crannies of this one! ; )

 Before, sanded, and finished : )

Almost forgot to take a before picture--okay I did forget, so it's already got some paint on it, but you get the idea. It was a "pretty" shelf that had wonderful stain marks on the top : P

I've been a little project bee this week (thank you, Pinterest, for sucking me in to the dark hole of awesomeness!! hehe) Michael's craft store has all of their fall decor on clearance right now so I couldn't resist gathering a few things to make a fall wreath to hang on the front door. Including the glue gun and glue sticks, it cost less than $20 to make, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Yeah, I probably could have found one already made for about the same price, but there's much more satisfaction with the one I made myself. A few weeks ago I also made something I found on on Pinterest that was super simple and easy. All you do is take a picture frame and put a piece of scrapbook paper in the opening and ta-da! Instant dry erase board..

Also in the works this weekend--baking!!! On the menu: homemade chicken noodle soup, chocolate porter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (maybe peanut butter, haven't decided yet...), and Halloween sugar cookies. I definitely don't need all those sweets hanging around in my house, so they will be appropriately distributed among the friends and family once they have passed my taste test.

Last weekend I was in dire need of some get away from thinking time, so I decided the perfect remedy would be to take Joey's nephew out to the park for a little bit. I killed two birds with one stone with this one--not only is Joey beyond entertaining these days, I was able to break out the camera and have some fun. I had gotten so caught up in school I couldn't believe weeks had gone by since I'd even touched it! It turned out to be a perfect fall afternoon and hanging out with Joey was exactly what I needed, even if it was just a short hour that I forgot about all that was waiting for me to do when I got home. After that though, it didn't seem so bad : )

 THE coolest watch ever...

Hey Ashaley, my watch has lots of stuff on it.

Oh yeah? Does it at least tell you what time it is?

Um nooo....but it has a couch on it and it blows air!

That must be a Marry Poppins watch!

No, it's mine.

: )

This has been a rather long post so I'll wrap up with this fun shot I took on Tuesday morning. My mom told me about this old truck close to PLU that has a tree growing through the middle of it in a field. When she told me this I imagined a pretty big oak tree right between the cab and the bed, and even though the scale and grandeur is not quite what I had pictured, I think it's just as cool...

Hope you all have a great weekend--I know I will, it's payday on Friday and my weekend off work so that's always happy! : )