Impromptu Wedding and Family Gathering

Last Saturday my Uncle got married. I found out about it Friday night. The whole thing was last-minute, but beautiful nonetheless. Seeing as there was no photographer besides those of us in the family and my mother wanted pictures I took along my camera. I’m still getting used to taking my camera places with me. Despite the fact that everyone knows I want to be a professional photographer I feel very self-conscious when taking photos. Though I guess the best way to get over that is to get out there and take photos. I happen to be a very introverted person with very extroverted goals in life.

Anyway, I got a bunch of photos from the wedding and decided to post a few here for the world to see and critique. I know they’re not superb quality, but everyone’s got to start somewhere right? Please, let me know your opinions and how to improve. I’m not sure I ever want to do weddings professionally, but maybe someday that will change and I’ll need all the practice and tips I can get.

Also, before I post pictures I have one complaint to voice. While I am in love with Lightroom I’m tired of it crashing my computer. Does anyone who has experience with Lightroom know how to solve this problem? Do I need to purchase more RAM or more storage space? I really want to purchase this program once my trial runs up, but I don’t want to constantly be restarting my computer. Somehow, I feel this will drastically hinder my digital work flow and make me want to pull out my hair.

Here are the photos from my Uncle’s wedding that I would like to share with all of you. Hope you all are having a great week and hopefully once this move is out-of-the-way I’ll be back to blogging several times a week.

Yes, I realize the background on the above photo is completely blown out. It’s what I was going for as I like the effect and it wasn’t the only cake picture I took.

So As To Not Leave You Hanging…

Life seems to have this uncanny ability to get in the way at times. We have work and bills and friends and hopes and dreams and sometimes they all don’t like to play well together. Things come up and other things get pushed to the side and life gets chaotic.

That’s what it’s been like around here lately. It’s the end of the school year and since Tom and I both work at schools life is a bit hectic at the moment. There are concerts to attend (Tom’s and our friend’s) and other activities and things that keep us after school for longer than usual. It doesn’t help that it’s a 30 minute drive home with the traffic on the interstate and if we want to go home and let the dog out before a concert it turns into 90 minutes of drive time by the end. Needless to say we are so happy to be moving to the town we work in and have friends in.

While all this attending concerts, getting school stuff done, and getting home late is going on it’s been hard to get out and photograph. I’m hoping that once school is over there will be more time in the day to photograph even though each day our closing date gets closer and we’re still nowhere near done dealing with all the paperwork from the bank for our loan.  However, for now, I have two more pictures I edited while playing around with Lightroom and Photoscape to share. I really should find time to go through and play with monochrome on some of my photos.

One more exciting thing to share before I share my photos: I entered a photo in a photo contest for the first time. If I win it will be published in Pop Photo Magazine which would be so exciting! Entering a photo in a contest is something I’ve wanted to do for several years and just haven’t done. This year I put it on my list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2011 and I did it! Fingers crossed that the people at Pop Photo like my photo!

Photographing Spring Flowers and My New Found Love Of Light Room

Last night Tom (husband) and I took the dog for a walk right as the sun was going down. Of course I had to take my camera with me since there have been very few opportunities lately to take pictures outside. I’m so glad that I decided to take my camera! Spring has finally started to creep in here where we live and I was able to get a few good shots of beautiful tree blooms and a good texture shot of the fence by our apartment.

This one is my favorite of the four I edited to post online. More would have made the cut if it hadn’t been so windy and therefore harder to get an in focus picture. I’m still practicing with using manual focus instead of auto focus since I like the control I have with manual focus much much better. Here are the other three from last night:

On another note, I downloaded a 30 day free trial of Adobe Light Room 3. WOW!! I’ve only used it to edit these 4 pictures so far and let me say that I am in LOVE! We’ll see how the next 30 days go with editing in Light Room and Photoscape (a great free photo editing program you can get here.) Photoscape is really good for resizing and adding a “watermark” to your pictures. This program is how I get my name on all of my photos.

Let me just say that Light Room 3 blows the RAW editing capabilities of Paint Shop Pro X3 right out of the water. I do believe that if all goes well the next month I will be purchasing this program and adding Photoshop later on when I have the funds. Until then, I look forward to experimenting with my free trial.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Photoshop vs. Paint Shop Pro: Which To Pick For RAW Editing?

So I am in desperate need of photo-editing software. I had a free trial of Paint Shop Pro X3 and I did like the Raw photo-editing. However, I know that Photoshop is more prevalent and more commonly the subject of digital darkroom classes/workshops. However, the price for Photoshop is more than I can afford unless it’s completely worth it.

I’m lost…

For what I need now, Paint Shop Pro along with my free download of Photoscape would be more than enough. However, what happens when I start my business and have increased work flow? Will I outgrow this program too fast? Or is it worth it to get the more affordable one now with hopes of my photography allowing me to purchase Photoshop later on down the road.

I could really some opinions and suggestions from those of you who visit my blog. Please feel free to share any advice you may have.

Photos of the Auditorium and the Calm Before The Storm

Yesterday was Hubby’s 6th grade band concert, and it went very well. The concert actually consisted of five 6th grade bands from five different elementary school; three of which Hubby teaches. We got there about an hour before the kids were supposed to show up so I got a few good photos of the auditorium without anyone in it. I call it “the calm before the storm.” Anyone who has been to a 6th grade beginning band concert knows what I’m talking about. Actually, anyone who’s ever been to a band concert (the school kind, not the rock kind) knows what I’m talking about.

So far I’ve got two photos to share. I’d have more except my free trial of Paint Shop Pro expired two or three days ago and I haven’t decided if I want to purchase that or Photoshop. Any suggestions would be welcomed as I’m having a hard time making up my mind. Right now I don’t really need all the bells and whistles of Photoshop, but I might later on. Also, most digital darkroom classes feature photoshop. It’s just SO expensive; and since working as a paraprofessional hasn’t made me millions yet it’s hard to hand over the $600-$700 it costs for photoshop. I’d love to be able to purchase a previous copy, but have had a hard time finding any online. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great.

Sorry if this post sounds choppy, it’s been a long week and it’s only Wednesday. It’s worth it though if at the end of May we’re in our own house. So, without rambling on for any longer here’s the pictures I promised.

Hope everyone had a fantastical Wednesday! And, as my friend’s 6-year-old would say “May the fourth be with you!”

Photographing Flowers In The Park On A Cloudy Day

So it’s May… You’d never guess it here at 6,000 ft in Colorado. I think we’ve seen the sun for probably a total of 7 days in the last month. The past few mornings there has been snow on the cars in the parking lot. However, despite the cold and dreariness the flowers in the park have bloomed and so have most of the trees around town.

These past few weeks have been chaos with trying to buy a house, but I did find some time to get out and photograph today while running the weekly errands. It was a grey and cloudy day out, but I still got a few good pictures. There were more, but I took my hubby out to dinner for his birthday (which was actually last Wednesday), so I didn’t get to finished editing and converting them.

Here are the few that made the cut and have already been edited. If any others make the cut I’ll post them tomorrow night. It’s amazing how fast the end of the school year gets crazy. (Hubby is a music teacher and I work in special ed.) As always, any positive comments or constructive criticism are welcomed. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Have a great week everyone!

Taking Pictures of Things Around The House

These past few weeks have been chaos between trying to figure out what’s going on with the apartment we live in and trying to buy a house that I haven’t been able to take many photos. I do have a few photos from around the house to post however. Hope everyone had a much less stressful Friday than we did.

Not technically from around the house, but it goes best with this post.

Husband and Dog Mini-Portrait Session

In preparation for starting my own business I’m trying to gain experience taking pictures of people. Last week I had my husband let me photograph him with our dog Penny-Lane (yes, after the Beatles song; we are a musical family). These are the best photos from that day and one photo from another day. Obviously I am aware that I have a long way to go and grow. However, the point is to keep at it, and keep posting so that I feel accountable to myself and others. Any constructive comments bad or good are much appreciated. I hope you all had a wonderful Wednesday!

The two above are my favorites. The one right below is my husband’s favorite.

The rest are from the same day.

Missing Out On Photographing Due To Weather

Colorado has the weirdest weather. In a span of 20 minutes it went from being dry to raining to snowing really hard to raining to dry. To say the least spring here is never boring. This makes photographing outside somewhat difficult though. I’d really prefer not to get my camera wet and the snow this time of year is VERY wet. I did get a few shots of the snow from my office window though. The above photo shows the snow and the second picture I just like more. Maybe one of these days the sun will come out and I can go outside. Hopefully it will happen before all of the spring blooms go away.

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Creating A Portrait Photography Business From The Beginning

My name is Jennifer Chapman and I am a photographer. My dream in life is to be paid to be a photographer and that’s where this blog comes in. I have decided that now is the time to work on building my own photography business. I know it won’t be easy, and I know there’s lots of competition to be the best; but I believe that I am up to the challenge. No one ever got to be the best by not having to compete every step of the way.

My plan for my career in photography is to become a natural light portrait photographer. I want to specialize in children and families while also offering couple and pet portraiture. I plan to launch my business in April of 2012 which should give me plenty of time to build a portfolio to show prospective clients and gain more experience in this field of photography.

Once my business is up and running this will continue to be my blog, however instead of documenting the process of starting a business I will transition over to blogging about my business and specific sessions. I hope you will follow along with me on my journey to realizing my life’s passion.

(Picture above is of my wonderful husband who is amazing in his support for my attempting to realize my dream.)