Month 3 of my Project 365 is complete! This is a personal project where I’ve committed to taking one photo, every day, all year long. Anything goes with this project & creativity is key, so the subjects range from people, to places, to things and from the traditional to the avant-garde. If you are interested in seeing what I’ve been up to this past month, click on the image above or go to my personal photography blog at www.bethpoe.com.
Meet Maddie. Easy-going & personable, Maddie wins the award this year for the quickest turn around between the date she first contacted me and the date we did her senior session: one week! That is a rarity this time of year, but she was anxious to squeeze her session in before school started and I just happened to have a time slot open that fit into her schedule. It’s awesome when things work out that way!
Because Maddie wanted a natural setting and she was scheduled for late afternoon, I anticipated a full-sun scenario where we’d be working primarily in the shade or capturing backlit images. However Mother Nature had her own thoughts, Continue reading
Meet Sophia. Like a burst of sunshine this young beauty lights up a room with her sweet personality and beautiful smile. Equal parts rough-and-tumble athlete & fashionable girly-girl, Sophia wanted to play up her feminine side for her senior portraits. Continue reading
Hello fellow photographers! I wanted to share a great online resource I’ve discovered that is chock full of posing guides for all types of shooting situations: families, newborns, high school seniors, engagement, wedding, maternity, etc. I especially love the ‘posing cards’ that are downloadable directly to your phone or tablet, giving you access to the poses on-the-fly during a photo shoot.
Click here to check them out!
It’s no secret I love natural light portraiture. Like love, love it. It’s my thing. My jam. My modus operandi. I absolutely love the look and feel, and I love its purity: no imposing soft boxes getting in the way, no umbrellas flopping over in the wind, no cumbersome lighting cords tying me down. I like to travel light, and natural light photography gives me the freedom to do so.
Yet, for all the wonderful qualities that come with natural light, it does have its limitations. And to be honest, lately I’ve been feeling a little boxed in. I figured it was time to expand my creative toolbox, try something new and dip my toes into the world of flash photography. Continue reading
Ahhhh… comfort zones. Warm. Cozy. Stress free.
I’m currently taking a Lighting & Portraiture class, and I must say I was pretty darn happy when the first homework assignment was to take a portrait using exclusively natural light. Seeing as I’ve specialized in natural light portraiture for several years now, this first assignment was right up my alley. You want me to take a portrait using natural light? No problemo.
Now I will admit, it was verrrrrrry tempting to simply bring in some already prepared images from my Studio B Photography business. However, that would not only be cheating, it would be self-defeating and I wouldn’t be learning anything new. As such, I decided to put a twist on natural light portraiture that would make it challenging for me, or at least a little different than my current modus operandi… Continue reading
“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundreth of a second.” – Marc Riboud
QUICK: When was the last time you used your camera in a setting other than Auto Mode?
…Been a while hasn’t it? Perhaps, it’s actually been since …ever. It’s okay, you can admit it – you are an Automatic-aholic. You, like so many others, have fallen victim to the ease and security of Auto Mode (or any of the other preprogrammed Scene Modes on your camera). Really, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. In fact, feel free to blame the technical gurus at Nikon, Canon, Sony or any of the other brand name camera companies for your addiction. I mean those guys really know their stuff and they’ve programmed today’s cameras with some pretty wicked features that conveniently take all the guess work out of photography. But with all of that convenience comes a price. And that price is creative freedom. Sure you can take some really decent photos using those preprogrammed modes, but wouldn’t it be great to create something a little better than decent – to venture beyond the everyday snapshot? If so, then you need to break the Auto habit and explore some of the other wonderful things your camera can do for you. Continue reading
Be honest with yourself: Are you an Automatic-aholic? Do you shoot in Auto or P Mode because you have no idea what the other modes on your camera are for? And by other modes, I’m not referring to the ‘Scene Modes’ that come preprogrammed on some cameras. Nope, I’m talking about the other other modes on your camera. You know – the ones you avoid. The ones that don’t have cute little icons like a flower or running man to help you, but instead are comprised of some weird little alphabet soup of letters like:
A, Av, S, Tv and (*gasp*) M
Sound familiar? If so, then consider this your intervention. It’s time to admit you’re addicted to Auto Mode and you don’t know how to stop. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. But now is the time to break free and discover what your camera can really do for you. Don’t worry we’ll take things slow. In fact, today we will only discuss the letter A (or Av on some cameras.) Nothing intimidating about the letter A, right? Continue reading
Hold on a second here… Wasn’t this blog supposed to be about photography? If so, how can the title of this post possibly be ‘Cameras Don’t Matter’? This is blasphemy!
Before you go calling the photography police, let me share a little story with you: A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said “I really love your pictures – they are wonderful! You must have a fantastic camera.” The photographer said nothing until dinner was over, then he commented to the host: “That was a wonderful dinner – really delicious! You must have a fantastic stove.” This simple story by photographer Sam Haskins sums up a key concept every photographer should know: photography is not about the equipment. Continue reading
Eyes Like A Shutter / Mind Like A Lens 