Photography Update / Children's Photographer, Brooklyn, New York

Hi. I know its been a long time.. Interesting enough, I actually like writing, but can't seem to add the blogging to my "photography workflow". We are now working on building a studio, but still rocking out those pictures in my home.

I went to a seminar yesterday, which by the way, was a complete waste of time as far as technique goes. But, even if you get inspired to pick up your camera more often to capture little moments, its all worth it. The presenter basically showed lots of pictures of himself from his past. Too much of that, really. (oy!) but it made me think. Regardless of the kind of camera you have, just shoot! Take pictures of simple things that you may think is stupid now. 10,20 years from now those pictures will be a memory. The simple fact of reflecting in the future will bring you joy. You'll laugh at the fashion choices you are making now, laughing at the graphic design of food package labels, laughing at hairstyles, laughing at your home decor - the same way we laugh at photos that are 20 years old now. Also, give the camera to someone else and let them take a picture of you! You may be camera shy now, but when you're 60, you'll want to see yourself as you look today..

World renowned photographer Jay Maisel has this anecdote he tells often. Someone asked him, "Jay, how come you take your camera with you all the time?" to which he answers "Its easier to take pictures that way."

With that said, I decided to take my camera out today. Since it was a beautiful sunny day, I went to Union Square Park where there are always interesting things to see. It is actually not that comfortable walking around with a big camera for me, but part of training your eyes to see things differently, comes with the experience and comfortability of taking many many shots. So what I look like a tourist. I didn't take many shots, but I saw this guy painting amazing t-shirts by hand, and took a picture.

As you can see, I also took some pics of my baby, who is growing up sooo fast! The playground section in Union Square Park in New York was built over so beautifully, I hope to go back there with all the kids soon.

I am really going to try to blog daily.. seriously. I have a lot of studio shots to show you, but I'll leave this post as a reflection of my thoughts right now.

Photography

...Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start....

Well, this is the start of my photography career.. I am hopeful and excited, and driven to succeed. That is, I am hoping that someday soon the decision of where to set my aperture, shutter speed and ISO comes naturally and flawlessly. I am hopeful that one day, composition will come effortlessly... but until then, I have to practice, practice, practice....

The part that is driving me crazy now, is lighting.. I'm using wireless flash from Nikon, which is amazing... which was proven when I am being taught. I get the rules, when I think what I want to do, I know which way to turn the dial, but the problem is when you have a kid sitting there, and I'm rushing to get the picture instead of thinking how I want my picture to look. I played around a bit today.. I'm not entirely happy with the results. Although, I probably have to replace my SB-600 flash batteries, it seemed to be weaker than it was on Wednesday at my lesson with JC (I guess I should really stock up on batteries... which that is the con of using the wireless flash..) , and I have to change my setup.. I didnt have enough place to shoot.. I was squeezing myself to the wall, and still couldnt get the entire picture.. ridiculous, huh?

My two big boys are sick and tired of having their own personal papparazzi, and the little bebe is getting quite active. I hope to change the "studio" setup tomorrow night, so I can really practice some more.