…I hope. Last weekend a great couple friend of mine and Andrew’s was kind enough to let me take a crack at their engagement photos. Despite the nerves of a first time ‘professional shoot’, this experience undoubtedly confirmed my dreams to make photography a career rather than just a hobby.

As cool as I tried to play it off, I had butterflies like you couldn’t imagine last Sunday. I did some Pinterest research naturally to peruse common poses as well as blog reading to get a sense for what couples are looking for in their engagement photos. After all, they serve as a timeless keepsake for this happy happy moment. The one thing I did want to keep in my mind was that I didn’t want these to look posed. Granted, it’s an engagement shoot, posing is a part of the deal. But it’s the unnatural, awkward posing I see that makes me cringe. My wish is for my photography to capture those moments that are similar to those you feel you missed out on because you didn’t have someone to click the pic. Have you ever been sitting on a bench with your partner in crime in front of a beautiful scene and wish someone was there to take some pictures of that candid, private moment? How about a sweet afternoon hike where everything just feels perfect but there’s no one around to capture that emotion? That’s what I want my photography to reflect…the moments you don’t want to miss that are perchance, that aren’t filled with pretense.

Technically, this was a great learning experience from head to toe. Learning the art of positioning throughout the shoot, helping to direct couples to pose naturally, what feels natural, what’s natural to them, lighting, and of course the editing afterwards. This is where shooting in raw would have been helpful but I think I did great in regular ol’ jpeg. (I’ll get there, I’ll get there). I have to consistently remind myself how far I’ve come and what I’ve accomplished because there’s still so much to learn and I feel like I’m still at the base of Photography Everest.

Not too shabby though – that background wasn’t blurry in the original photo (pats herself on the back), I’ll take it.

So what’s my next move. I’ve set a few short term goals for myself – an online photography class (bought), shadow a professional shoot, and most importantly, try to start outlining the arsenal of equipment I want to get and what that means for my pocket book (ouch). That’s like a whole other Mary Poppin’s bag deep can of worms that I can’t even…can’t even.