NOT a portrait photographer - but willing to make some exceptions

While I was in college, I spent a great deal of time and energy trying to make some extra cash through photography. I would hire "professional" models to help me build my portfolio. They would usually give me a discount and in turn I would give them some of the photos to help them build their own portfolio.  Then I would get all bugged out because several of the pictures did not turn out all that great. It was a real roller coaster. Pretty stressful too.

I shot one wedding for a dear friend of mine at that time. I wanted to try my hand at wedding photography. I am always amazed at what a good wedding photographer can do to keep those beautiful wedding day feelings alive through the images that he/she takes. But let me tell you something...IT'S HARD WORK! Some people wonder why it is so expensive to hire a good wedding photographer. It's because it takes a lot of experience, organization, quick reflexes, and improvisation - qualities that I still yet have to develop as a photographer. You only get one chance to get it right when it comes to wedding photography. I tried to compensate by taking as many pictures as possible...almost 1000 in the the span of 5 hours. Try editing all of those pictures!! Crazy.

Anyway, model/portrait photography was a little less stressful in that sense. However, where I ran into problems was in meeting the expectations of the client. Many clients wanted me to edit their photographs in certain ways, ways that I did not feel were appealing or in line with my artistry. Or even worse...they would edit the photos themselves! LOL. I know. I'm crazy. That just happens to be a peeve of mine. My mentality is just that I take my photography pretty seriously and I do a lot of work to provide the best images to a client. If the client edits one of my photos without my permission, I feel plagiarized (for lack of better words). Imagine that Ansel Adams was on assignment for National Geographic (if you don't know who Ansel Adams is, look him up, everybody who likes to look at pictures should know who Ansel Adams is). Now imagine that after Adams submits his photographs to National Geographic, one of the magazine editors adds color to his image. How would you feel about that? Now, I'm not Ansel Adams...not even close. But maybe you get my drift.

All of that being said, it's just easier to avoid portrait photography. Not to mention I enjoy the other modalities of photography more anyway.

However, I am willing to make exceptions every once in a while.
For example, my sister-in-law wanted some pictures taken of her daughters (my nieces), Brianne and Shannel. So we went ahead and did the photo shoot. Actually, Ia was the main photographer! So I guess I really shouldn't take any credit for the photography, except for the fact that I helped with lighting and did all of the post-processing...

I love those girls! Shannel (the younger one) is still afraid of me though... lol. 

Let's give a round of applause to Ia for the hot shot camera work too! Btw, she has a blog. Y'all should read it. 

sunbee-sunbee.blogspot.com

Well, fate would have it that one of my best friends, Israel, and his wife, Felicia, were expecting their first child. Like...soon. They had not had any formal pictures taken and were wanting something special before the little guy came out. So I went ahead and took some maternity shots and received payment in frozen yogurt!!

Beautiful couple. Beautiful baby boy too (I've already gotten to see him)! I'm super proud of my buddy, Israel. He's turned out to be a great guy...diving right into the husband and father thing like a boss. He's leading his family to follow God's footsteps and he has the support of a wonderful wife. Blessings to them both!

Thanks for reading!

God bless,
Sean