Learning and growing

I have this need to see progress, even if it is baby steps,  I need to be moving forward. Learning and growing, it is what keeps me going.  Every small improvement keeps me hopeful.  Every thing that I can cross off my list as completed improves my mood.  I write a million and one to do lists,  sometimes I even add things I have already done, just so I can see something else crossed off on the list.  I know it is silly, but it feels good to have accomplished something and be able to see it.  I have been focusing on growing as a photographer a lot in the last couple of years.  Reading, research,  online courses, and a lot of experimentation, are some of the ways I have been working on improving my art.  Sometimes it is discouraging,  sometimes I feel like a total failure but then other times I get the shot that I had been envisioning, or I receive a compliment from someone who has been following my photographic journey about how much I have improved, and it feels good.  Enjoy the baby steps,  do not forget the positive and good things that happen on what can sometimes be a difficult journey.  This is what I try to remind myself of everyday.

This image I love. I am proud of it.  It is a leap and a jump above the newborn images I was taking a few years ago.  As I learn more about light,  and about my own style I am creating more and more images that I love.  I hope that I can continue to learn and grow, and my newborn images are even better the more I practice.  Even this entry is a small baby step. It is my 13th entry since I started posting again,  I have never in the 8 year history of this blog managed to do more than 12 in a year.  Progress, it is a good thing.

Progress and New Beginnings

I am a little surprised with myself, but at the same time rather proud.  This is the most consistant I have ever been since I started this blog 8 years ago.  I actually done more posts in the last ten days then I have done most years!  Obviously I am pathetic at keeping a blog, but I am yet to give up.  I am actually beginning to believe I can do this.  It is amazing how different it is when all the pressure is gone.  All that imagined pressure that has been stopping me all these years.  What a waste.  Well,  new beginnings, with a lot less stress!  

Speaking of new beginnings.  I love photographing newborns, especially when I get to pick them up and smell them.  Oh how I love that smell.  It is nearly reason enough to get into newborn photography. :-) Normally I am more of a lifestyle newborn photographer, but sometimes new parents are not so keen on being in front of the camera, and then they usually bring their newborns to my studio instead (Eimi Thoren Fotography, din fotograf i Örkelljunga) (nice plug right?).  So it is a relatively new process for me, posing a newborn.  I have found there is a huge amount of information and courses online, so much so that it can seem overwhelming at times.  But I am so grateful for it.  One of the sites that I owe much of my growth to is Creative Live, their courses are amazing.  I have learned so much from them, and still have so much more to learn, but I can say it is been a major help in this, my photographic journey.  Definitely check them out if you are interested in improving your photography, though they also do courses in many other things as well. Oh, and the live ones are free!  Nice, right? I leave you with a recent newborn image, there is something about this image that is a bit, hmm, I do not know, different, but somehow it intrigues me and draws me to it.  Besides, isn´t she just adorable?

Happy Duck, dirty knees

I love this image cause even though I realize ducks cannot smile.  It sure looks to me like that is exactly what this guy is doing.  He just looks so happy.  I am not so sure that he was considering there were a bunch of crazy kids running around, and then a crazy lady crawling up on the grass in front of him with this huge black thing coming out of her eye!  ( ha ha).  This image is the classic of how to take what could be a rather boring image and make it more interesting.  All I had to do was get down,  get way down, in the duck poo covered grass, but it was worth it.  I love teaching photography, and find it fun to give a student a single simple tip, and watch them run with it and improve their photography.  So I guess my tip for today is to get down.  Had I taken this shot straight on it would not have been nearly as interesting to look at.  New perspectives can do amazing things to help your images, especially when photographing animals or small humans( I am a child photographer, so I see a lot of them).  Get down to their level and see what you come up with! And yes, I end up doing a lot of laundry, but the kids love it when I get down and dirty with them.