Be Present. LIVE the precious moments.

Yesterday I focused on taking pictures at weddings... today I'm talking about the rest of life!

I love photography.  I love looking through pictures of my little girl as she grows.  And I love sharing her picture with my friends & family.

But there's a line.  A line between creating memories & just getting photographs.

This goes for times with my daughter, date nights with my husband, weddings, parties, etc.

Yeah, sure, if my daughter does something totally adorable, I'll fumble around for my phone to grab a quick shot.  Sometimes I catch it, sometimes I'm too late.  But I'd much rather actually live the memory than just have the picture.

But I refuse to see life through a camera lens.  Yep, I'm a photographer & I said it.  I need to live life, not just watch it go by.

It happens more than you may think.  Vacation... does everything need a picture or will you remember the vacation even if you don't take a picture of every animal at the zoo?  Christmas & birthdays... do you need a picture of every present that is opened?  Or can you just grab a few shots, then sit back & enjoy the moment?

So next time you're making wonderful memories & you're tempted to grab a quick picture, just remember: is it worth it?  Will you be ruining the moment by getting the picture?  Is life passing you by while you're trying to get the perfect picture?

The bride & groom invited you to attend their wedding... not photograph it.

The bride & groom invited you to attend their wedding... not photograph it.

They invited you to witness their exchange of vows... their first kiss as a married couple... their official debut as husband & wife.  They couldn't invite everyone, but they chose you to share that special day with them.  That seat your sitting in?  It cost money.  The food you're eating?  Probably pretty pricey.  They even paid for a professional photographer to capture all the moments so nothing would be missed.  Oh, and that delicious cake... there's a piece with your name on it!

So why on earth are you spending the entire time taking pictures?

When I attend weddings, I typically ask myself one question: What's the end result of this photograph?

Do I plan to scrapbook it?  Frame it? Put it on Instagram?

I dare say that very few are planning on making a full wedding day scrapbook for the bride & groom.  And if they are... why?  That's why the bride & groom have chosen & met with a wedding photographer.  Most are just taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures.  They plan on uploading them to Facebook afterwards (or worse... during the wedding).  Trust me, Facebookland doesn't need 62 snapshots from so&so's wedding.

Yet wedding after wedding, I see multiple people zooming around with their cameras.  Capturing the bride walking down the aisle, the vows, the lighting of the unity candle, the first kiss, the couple walking back down the aisle, the first dance, the father/daughter dance, the cake cutting... do I need to go on?

www.FowlerPhoto.net

It's quite amazing how many people have their phones or cameras up, taking a picture as the bride walks down the aisle.  To me, it's kind of rude.  You've been invited to attend a wedding, to witness a marriage.  The couple wants you to be there to celebrate with them... not to be a back-up wedding photographer.

In fact, most of my brides still choose not to see their groom before walking down the aisle... because they consider the moment that special.  So if that moment is so special to her, why are you taking a picture instead of joyfully smiling with her?

I will never forget walking down the aisle on my wedding day.  There were no cell phone cameras pointed towards me.  Only smiling faces of friends & family.  I've never smiled so big in my life.  I was so excited & felt so blessed that these loved ones had come to my wedding.  They were there for me & Josh!  I looked at their faces as I passed by, all full of emotions, and it was wonderful!  Every bride should feel that special.

Is it wrong to take a picture at a wedding?  Of course not.  But please consider the bride & groom.  Enjoy their day with them.  Celebrate their marriage.  Trust me, they will appreciate it!

www.FowlerPhoto.net

Why Shoot RAW?

I remember reading about RAW files on the Pioneer Woman's website a few years ago.  She talked about how it was amazing, but the files were huge & she needed more back-up hard drives because of it.

So here was my thought process:
-What I'm doing is yielding great results.
-What she's doing is also yielding great results, but she has to spend more money on back-up hard drives.

Seemed like a no-brainer-- RAW wasn't for me!

But then last year I did some second shooting for a great local photographer & she had me shooting in RAW.  After that I was hooked!  I can't believe I was scared of it, and felt completely unprofessional that I hadn't been using it, especially for weddings.

Why is RAW so special?

www.fowlerphoto.net

Need I say more?  This is before & after.

Why not just be a fabulous photographer & have great exposure all the time in camera?  Shouldn't I be good enough to get the perfect exposure every time?

Well yes, I should be.  But I'm human.  And sometimes crazy things happen, like conditions go from super bright to super dark very quickly.  Or sometimes I think I changed my settings correctly & guess what?  I didn't.  Things happen.  I'm a human & I live in an imperfect world.  Brides trust me to get all the magical images from their special day, and I am going to do everything humanly possible to make sure that happens.

So now I've bought a second external hard drive & four new memory cards.  Overall it was about a $400 investment (I shopped around & got great deals-- & I needed more memory cards anyway).  But it was a crucial investment!

If you're wondering what this whole RAW thing is about, start researching!  Any DSLR camera should shoot in RAW, but you will have to make sure you have a program on your computer to open & edit a RAW file.  You can't just shoot in RAW & upload to Facebook-- each image has to be converted to JPEG to be useful to anyone other than a photographer.

One more thing-- I don't shoot everything in RAW.  Anything for a client is always shot in RAW, but when it comes to grabbing a quick shot of my little girl, I've started using JPEG a lot more recently.  That way I don't have to run it through Lightroom & get bogged down in editing.  Every picture doesn't have to be a masterpiece!

Do you use RAW?  Do you have a need for using RAW?

Don't forget to check out my photography site here!

Hazelnut through the months.

It seems these days that parents are taking fancy picture of their kid every day for the first year, photoshopping in numbers, a different background each time.  There are a million variations of it.  But when it came down to it for me, I knew that easier meant I was more likely to follow through.  And I did, for the most part.

The days weren't exactly one month after the other-- and I didn't beat myself up over it.  It is what it is!  I do love to see how much she's grown.  Her legs went from skinny to chunky to sturdy.  Her hair gradually grew throughout the year.  At one year, it was starting to fall into her eyes.  I'm glad I took the time to do this!

Bathtub Finger Paints with a Toddler

I found a recipe for homemade finger paints here, but didn't have cornstarch on hand, so I used flour instead.  It worked great!

Here's the recipe I used:

2-3 teaspoons of flour

4 pumps of baby shampoo (ours is a foaming shampoo- if you have liquid, just use a small drop)

2-4 drops of food coloring

3 teaspoons of warm water

Mix all ingredients together & stir with a toothpick until it's the right consistency.  Repeat for each color.

I have trays that held baby food when she was younger.  An ice cube tray would be the next best thing, but I would probably half the recipe so that it will fit in the smaller cubes.

Hazelnut is only one, so we helped her get in to it a little bit.  We spread it around, painted her, and then put our own fingerprints on the wall of the bath tub.  Her little handprint is hard to see, but it's on the left.  I had to remember to put down the camera & just have fun!  Once I did, she saw how much fun it was & joined in.  Her little smiles & giggles make everything so much more fun!

Outdoor Summer Concerts

Are you ready to be slammed with pictures?  I got a couple of new lenses for wedding season this year & Josh & I headed out to an outdoor concert to try them out!

Hazel all wrapped up in her Sasha Wrap.  It's super comfy & convenient and Hazel loves it!  It's really great for outdoor events where we don't want to bring the stroller, but don't want to carry her the entire time.  She's very well secured in there, too!  It's also perfect for when she naps because she's all snuggled up next to me!

Somebody loves putting her hands in her mouth!

Look at my little chubsters!  It's hard to believe there was a time when we were concerned about her gaining weight.  :)

She loves to stretch out her legs & "stand."  We joke around that she's not a baby anymore-- she's a big girl!

... and a happy girl!

LOOK at those thighs!  Do you see the knee dimples??

Why does Hazelnut have to be so cute in a picture where I look so dumb?

The couple next to us asked if this was her first outdoor concert.  When I thought about it I realized it was actually her 3rd!

Daddy thought he'd join in since Hazelnut insisted that hands were the tastiest things ever.

Somewhere in the midst of this her headband got completely twisted around!

Funny faces with daddy!

We see this face a lot lately... everything goes in the mouth!

I love my little girl!!

Maybe she's born with it... No, I'm pretty sure it's 'Fotoshop'

So well done... I'll let this speak for itself.  :)

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

What's your take?

Fascinating Friday: Wonderland. (You are really going to want to see this!)

I stayed up way too late last night looking over all these photos... truly in awe of a most beautiful story and amazing creativity.  All I could think of was, this is absolutely fascinating... a true wonderland!  So I had to share it with you.

Passion, creativity, and excellence are three words to describe this artist.

She began this project "Wonderland" after her mother died & it's been a way of coping for her.

What a beautiful, magnificent tribute to her mother.  She describes it as 


"a very personal tribute to the memory of my mother, and the stories she read to me as a child. The plan was to create a storybook without words – an unexplained collection of strange and magical characters, set in the woodlands and landscapes that surrounded my home."

And let me tell you, Alice in Wonderland-- as great as the recent movie was-- needs to be checking out these pictures for inspiration!

You can also see the behind the scenes pictures (which were way awesome) here!

There's no way to share part of a picture and do it justice-- you're just going to have to go check them out and truly soak it in!  Let me know what you think!  Were you sucked in to the magical world like I was?

Aspect Ratio & a Personal Vendetta.

All the time I want to make something like this, but on different subjects-- a quick and easy explanation of something.  It's usually photography related, and I usually don't have time.  But this week I made time to make just one.

When I show clients proofs, I show them a 4x6 proof.  90% of the time, there is enough room around the edges of an image to allow for cropping to different sizes.  But sometimes I snap a shot so quick, I either forget about it, or I'm far more concerned with catching the moment in action (usually with kids!).

In the 2:3 ratio image above, you can see that there is plenty of room on the sides-- that's on purpose, and quite handy.  Let's say this sweet little family wants to print an 8x10 of this image?  Well, those sides are going to be cropped right off... and you'll be left with the image on the right.  In this scenario it's not big deal because I left plenty of room in the image.

If you want to know my honest opinion, though, I hate 8x10 prints. I don't find them useful at all.  I wouldn't want to put anything smaller than an 11x14 on a wall, and 8x10 is usually too big for a desk.  So maybe to take up an entire scrapbook page?  Again, I'd rather use a 5x7 and frame it up nicely on the page instead.  So for most scenarios, I'd like to rip an 8x10 from someone's hands and tear it into tiny pieces.

But to each their own.  :)  I sell 8x10 prints because, well... not everyone has a vendetta against them, and I like to make people happy!  Also, I'm pretty certain I've sold at least one 8x10 to every one of my clients.  Sooo... clearly people are finding uses for them!

Which Camera Should I Buy?

I get tons of emails and Facebook messages asking me about a variety of photography related things.  It's flattering, and I try to answer each one individually.  But I also know that I was way too shy to approach most people with questions like these when I was starting out, so I thought I'd just share some on here.

Do you shoot with Canon or Nikon?  I shoot with a Nikon.  I'd like to say there were a ton of reasons why, but really, it was because my dad had a Nikon D40.  And well, why not?  I have played around with a Canon for a bit while teaching a friend how to use hers.  I think it really all depends on what you start on.  I started with a Nikon, so that's what I felt comfortable with.  But I bet my friend prefers Canon-- because she's used to it!

So... what should I choose?  When going to buy a new camera, as yourself a few questions:

     

     1) What am I using it for?

     2) How does it feel when I hold it?

     3) How accesible are the buttons I want to use the most?

-If you're wanting to learn the art of photography (things like aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to start with), then you'll want a DSLR (the big camera with an interchangeable lens).  These are also good if you have money to throw around & want really good pictures of your kids without knowing anything.  :)

Taken with my Nikon.  I'm not much into nature photography, but I almost stepped on this flower walking into my apartment after a session one day.  Couldn't help but stop to take a picture!

-If you're wanting good pictures of your kids but don't really care to learn all the ins and outs of photography, then a good point & shoot will do.  I have one of these myself, as well.  I use it for almost everything other than my business.  If I'm going to the zoo, I take my Kodak Easyshare.  The beach?  Hanging out with friends?  My Easyshare fits snugly in my purse and has a wrist bracelet to hang on to all day easily.  It's all I need!

Taken with my dear ol' point & shoot Kodak Easyshare.  It's ALL I used on our cruise to the Bahamas.  Sure, I took my Nikon with me, but who wants to lug around an expensive & bulky camera on vacation?  I still have the memories!  And no, this wasn't my bottle cap-- it was laying on the ground in Nassau.

-If your teenager is really into photography & wants to learn more about it, by all means, get them an entry level DSLR.  You can pick them up for less than $1000, including a lens & a battery, get them a memory card or two, and also a photography class.  Or a book, or there are plenty of websites that teach the basics of photography.  I mention this specifically because there were several moms emailing me last year at Christmas.  If you think your kid will truly enjoy it, go ahead and get that killer deal-- if it's Canon or Nikon, it's a good camera.  If it's others, I can't vouch, but it's probably at least decent.

Feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments!  I'll try to answer them in future posts!

The Name Game @ 22 weeks.

22 weeks... it would figure that the fun part of pregnancy flies by quickly!  I am enjoying every second of it-- especially now that I'm starting to show a bit more!  I grabbed the camera & made my adoring & sweet husband take pictures to commemorate it the other day.  Right now, she's about 11 inches long and weighs almost a pound.  Funny... I think I've gained a little more than a pound.

Naming our little one has proven to be a difficult decision.  Names are a very big deal to both of us.  Heck, I have a tag here on my blog dedicated just to names.  It sets the stage for our child's entire life, and I want to give her a good name.

We've gone through several names that we liked, but now aren't so sure about.

Katelynn Julianne.  ...  I love the name.  Lynn is my mother in law's middle name.  Anne is my mom's middle name.  But when it came down to it, I wasn't naming my baby that.  It's a perfectly good name, but just not my kid's name.  No good reason, it's just not.

Adelaide.  ...  I love this name, but I don't have a strong reason why.  For me, I have to have a reason to name my baby a certain name.  It has to have some sort of meaning to me, and this just doesn't cut it in my mind.

Then Josh started singing 'Adalida' by George Strait.  Somehow I made it through life without hearing this song so far.  I'm a little sad about it, too, because I like the song!  But no, as much as I love the song, I've never heard of a person actually named Adalida, and spelling would be a nightmare for the poor little thing.  But here's the song in case you're wondering about it's awesomeness.

We've learned that every name has a downside to it, whether it's the spelling, how common it is (or isn't), or how easy it is to be made fun of.  Our biggest problem is that many of our very favorite names are also names of other family members.  At first I thought it was weird, but the more I get into the naming process, the more I realize that I just can't help it if our families have great names!  This naming thing is hard, and that's one of the things that I'm just going to have to overlook in the process.

That being said... we have decided on a middle name.  After several weeks, we have kept to it, so I'm pretty confident that we'll stick with it.  I will throw this disclaimer out, though... we are two individuals who don't mind to change something at the last minute... after she's born, there's no telling what her name will be!

But without further ado... we've chosen the middle name of Catherine!

I should be embarrassed about this picture, but I'm not.

I'm a little behind the times, but losing the internet for a day will do that to a girl!  And we just happened to lose internet on the same day that I was part of a blog party!  I guest posted over on shannon*bear with a fun photography tip, as well as an embarrassing picture of me.

And hello, who doesn't want to see an embarrassing picture of me?  And for the record, you can see this picture in real life when you book me for a photo session (aw snap, did I throw out a shameless self promote there?)

So head on over to shannon*bear and see what you missed!

*PS: I'm not really embarrassed... because sometimes you have to do what it takes to get the shot!

Then & Now

Dad & son... 1st & last shuttle launch.  30 years to complete the picture.

Source

Leaves you kind of speechless, huh?

The babes are growing up!

This past weekend was my brother's wedding reception.  They'd had a small ceremony back in October, but wanted to have a reception to celebrate in June.  It was so great to see my sweet nieces again & see how much they've grown!

Rylie is all about making some faces...

Rylie & her grandmother (my mom)

And check out Sunaura!  She loves purses & putting things in them & then taking things out of them.  Since we're going to miss her 2nd birthday coming up in July, I went ahead & gave her her gift-- this purse with bracelets & sunglasses.  And she's finally getting some hair!  Hard to see it in this pic, but it's there, and it's some sort of mixture between brown, blonde, & red.  Really pretty!

And someone still enjoys posing for the camera...  kind of looks like the Olsen twins when they were little!

And sometimes a wedding reception can get kind of boring for 2 pre-teens, but they seemed to keep themselves entertained!  I think there is a "ball & chain" joke in there somewhere...

My dad teaching a little one how to play banjo-- so sweet! 

Sunaura blowing sweet kisses!

I love my family for so many reasons, and when we get together, we kick back & have a ton of fun!

A picture worth 1,000 words.

When doing event photography, it's always like Christmas looking through the images afterwards.  With portrait sessions I generally have an idea of what the finished product will look like, but at events, you never know what is going to happen!

That's why when I was scanning through images from my brother's wedding reception, this one totally caught my eye.

For one, my brother has some sort of weird aversion to cameras.  It's like when a camera comes within 50 ft of him, his face looks funny & not at all like himself.  But in this one?  He looks totally like himself.  I also love the busyness of the image & the lighting.  It really describes the moment & feeling of the evening.

Wait... I should explain... I have 3 brothers... this isn't the one who just got married.  And the little girl in his arms, as well as the blondie behind him are his daughters.


**Edited again to add: NOT the blondie on banjo-- that's his dad.  Our dad.  The blondie in the gray shirt... whew... this is getting complicated.**


At any rate, I love this picture because not only does he look just like himself, but he's smiling a genuine smile.  And his precious baby girl-- she'll turn 2 in a few weeks, but is still small for her age.  But oh, she's such a fighter!  And so intellectual... I'm kind of scared what she'll say when she starts talking!

Just as a reference point, this is a picture taken of them last year by Blue Frame Photography when we had our large family picture made!  If you're in WNC looking for a great photographer, I definitely recommend them!

Photo Credit: Blue Frame Photography

Burning dresses.

Sometimes it's hard to see photography as work.  Sure, when I'm doing the bookkeeping it feels like work, but when I'm out on a shoot, it's so much fun!

This past weekend I went back to my hometown to shoot a wedding & squeezed in a trash the dress session while I was there!  It wasn't a normal session, it was a post-divorce trash the dress, and the gorgeous lady had lost weight & no longer fit into her wedding dress!

We had to get a little creative, but I think it worked... and man, did we ever trash the dress!

Then the next day I got to capture a beautiful, sophisticated wedding with a really fun-loving bridal party.  I've known the bride indirectly for years- we went to the same high school, were in band together, worked at the same summer camp where her dad was the head guy, and went to the same college, but it wasn't until we worked at the same place after college that we really got to know each other.

Every detail about the wedding was so perfect.

I mean, really... look at that bridal party.  Don't they look so fun to hang out with? 

And yes, we slightly blocked traffic, but really, it's their wedding day & it's a small town.  Instead of getting upset, people rolled their windows down to say congratulations!

What did you do this weekend?  Did you burn a wedding dress?  :)

Battle at F-Stop Ridge

A friend showed me this commercial the other day and I love the genius of creativity!  It's a commercial for a camera store.

Photography: The Back Story

I posted this on my photography blog yesterday and wanted to post it here as well!

-----------------------------

Why I decided to do photography as a business isn't a story I've shared with many because quite honestly, it's not a short conversation.  I usually stick with "I've always loved photography" and leave it at that.  But for those who really want to know, there's a much bigger, more personal story to it.

Truth is, I have always loved photography... always had a camera, and smashed many a point & shoot in the bottom of my book bag through my school years.  It was rare for me to ever be without a camera and when things went digital it rocked my world.

But on July 10, 2009, my life changed, and it spurred me to be more than just a girl with a camera.  I got the call around 5pm that my twin nieces had been born.

"Oh wow!  I thought they weren't due until the end of September?!"

They weren't-- they were 11 weeks early.  My mom then went on to tell me that one of my nieces had not lived for more than 30 minutes.  The other one was in the NICU.

We were slightly prepared for that-- we had been told that something may be wrong-- but it was all up in the air until they were born so early.  My husband and I were on a business trip with work and were just about to leave for NC to pick up our dogs.  I was so thankful that we had to go up there anyway because like any other family member, I felt the need to be there.

That weekend I watched my brother and the mother of those twins go through extremely difficult circumstances.  Suddenly they were faced with picking out names for both babies, signing birth certificates, a death certificate, and then the hospital asking what their plans were for Kyah, who had passed.

Thankfully, I had a friend whose family owned a funeral home.  I called and asked her what one does in this type of circumstance.  She pointed us in the right direction and to the right resources to get through the time.

Things were handled as best they could have been, but in the weeks and months afterwards, we realized we only had 2 pictures of Kyah, both snapped with a cell phone and neither one particularly fabulous.  Yet this was all we had to remember her by.  

I later learned about an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep that sends professional photographers in to take pictures of the family and baby during times like these.  It's completely free to the family, and they have these pictures to remember forever.

If only... if only... we'd had pictures like that.  It helps the healing process.  It's something to show siblings later in life.  It's the only memories, and although it's a terribly difficult time, to see sweet memories in photos makes all the difference.

And somewhere along then, I decided that I needed to do more than just take some fun pictures whenever I'm around.  I need to do something bigger... to help people in my own way.

So I did.  I started learning all about the technical side of everything related to a camera.  A year later I put a name to it: Fowler Photo.  And now, almost another year later, I'm almost to the point where I'm close to submitting to become one of those photographers for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.  I'm already a part of a group that takes pictures for babies in the NICU.

I'm also proud to announce that I'll be doing pictures for the March for Babies Peninsula/Newport News walk!  I can't think of a better organization to partner with-- they're really making a difference by giving hope to babies born too soon.

My husband told me the other day that he'd never seen me so passionate while pursuing something that I loved.  It's true.  I love this, and I if I'm able to make a living while helping families in these situations, then all the better.

Taking a break.

Just for a day, I'm chillin' & not making a post.  Actually, I guess I am, but it's not really full of substance or anything!

But if you're just dying to hear from me today (you are, right?), check out my photography blog.  I just added some more pictures last night!