Remember my first gig?  Remember me telling you about someone who asked for a business card and I had nothing to give them?  Those kind people invited me into their home yesterday (in spite of my unprofessional manner of passing out contact information) to photograph it before they put it on the market.  I made it clear that I’m learning photography and that I know nothing about real estate photography, but they invited me to practice on their home anyway.  It gave me an opportunity to try a different subject matter to see if I enjoyed it.  It was also low on pressure since they have a professional coming to photograph it for the MLS database later this week.  Isn’t that generous of them?

As you approach the home, you are greeted with a beautiful iron gate.

Inside the gate you find an elegant fountain surrounded by ample parking for your guests.

The view from the front porch offers a view of the fountain and the peaceful surroundings.

As you enter the home, you find yourself in a spacious and inviting two-story foyer.

To your left is a rich formal dining room that offers elegant crown molding along with the finishing touches of a regal medallion around the beautiful crystal chandelier.

To the right of the entrance is a lovely formal room with a spacious sun porch beyond. 

Upstairs, the master bedroom and adjoining sitting room offer a romantic sanctuary for you with an elegant trey ceiling.

As you enter the master bath, you pass by two walk-in closets to find yourself in a private spa.  On the left of the picture below is a third walk-in closet.

On your way back downstairs, you can see the relaxation offered in the two-story family room with warm natural light.

As you enter the custom eat-in kitchen, you find yourself in a workspace that offers plenty of counter space and even more natural light. 

This kitchen has luxurious details in the cabinetry, top of the line appliances along with plentiful recessed lighting.

Enjoy your morning paper and cup of coffee in this spacious and soothing breakfast room.

Venture out on the brand new deck, perfect for entertaining, to spend some time in your private tree-lined backyard.

This backyard offers significant space for your family to enjoy any outdoor activity you can dream of.

What do you think?  Do these pictures make you want to see the house in person?  Better yet, do they make you want to move to Great Falls, Virginia so you can buy it?  All of these pictures are right out of the camera (except one which I lightened).  This venture made me add a wide angle lens to my ever-growing wish list.

Thank you so much to Alan and Cindy for inviting me into your home.  I hope that this experience was beneficial to you in some way.  I know I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you and my time photographing your exquisite home. 

I have a friend who is the Director of Operations for a local auction house that is less than a year old.  She invited me to come to the auction yesterday to get a picture of the lead auctioneer in action for their website.  They are in the growth stages and couldn’t afford to hire an established photographer.  Lucky for them, I’m not an established photographer and I wanted the practice!  Win, win.

Here is my favorite picture of the auctioneer interacting with his audience.

Other than some cropping, it is ROOC.  I found that shooting at 1600 ISO was my best bet even with my Speedlite in action.  That was surprising to me.  Every other setting I tried would have to be retouched afterward to be lightened.  It was a good experience for me to try my camera and Speedlite in a new setting and find out what worked and what didn’t.  Below, you’ll see a little treasure I found for my entry way.  It makes me happy every single time I walk past it.  However, the very best part of the whole day for me was still the experience – especially the shooting.  It was so great to try it and find such enjoyment from a job.  If you’ve never been to a public auction, I encourage you to go.  It is a super fun environment.

Remember this picture?

Well, today I was sitting here drinking my Jones Green Apple soda (luxury in a soda bottle) and I decided I’d submit this photo to them to see if it wins a spot on one of their future labels.  These may very well become my lucky shoes if they work their magic for me yet again!

If you wish to vote for me, visit the gallery and search for sexy shoes.  Wouldn’t that just be a hoot to get my shoes on a bottle of my favorite soda?!

Last week, I took a picture of my favorite shoes. 

Then I sent the image to Anne Ruthmann to be included in her favorite shoes picture contest.  I’m in there!  If you have a moment, could you go vote for me here?

Thanks!

Has anyone read back far enough to recall that in the very beginning I sent a proposal to a magazine?  I have just had it confirmed that they have hired someone to do the very thing I was proposing to do for them.  Given the timing of the situation, I doubt that they took my idea and hired someone else.  I’m sure the deal with this other photographer was in the works before they got my proposal.  However, at least I know they thought it was a good idea.  I’m crossing my fingers that I can learn something from this new source.

I’ve been quiet the last few days because I’ve taken my own advice and started refocusing my efforts toward studying as much about photography as I can.  Coupling that with the fact that it’s warm here and my children require supervision when playing outside, I haven’t had much time to blog.  Still, my efforts will be rewarded, hopefully.  I picked up a book called Designing with Photos by Allison Tyler Jones and Donna Smylie.  In all fairness to the authors, the target audience of this book is scrapbookers who seek to take better pictures.  Given the target audience, I think it was a good book to help someone who knows nothing learn a little something toward taking better shots.  It was a little too basic for my purpose but I did find it to be a beneficial read.  It certainly made me feel better about exactly how far I’ve come and it reinforced some things I thought. 

A couple things the book said that I enjoyed.  First -

The first thing that comes to mind after gazing at a masterpiece painting is probably not, "I bet Van Gogh used really good brushes."  Why then, when you take a really nice photo, do people say, "You must have a really good camera?"  A camera and all its accessories are just tools.  Granted some are nicer than other…  but in the end, these tools do only what we make them do.  The vision is within the photographer alone.

I just had someone say something similar to me this past weekend.  Truth be told, I was offended that she didn’t see that the picture in question was more than just the output of a good camera.  The second thing I liked was their discussion of proofs.

A photographer works with proofs, taking lots of shots per subject and then using the resulting prints (or proofs) to determine which shots are best.

They go on to suggest taking your digital images to a one hour photo lab or a warehouse lab to have them printed on real photographic paper.  They also discuss the cropping "Ls" to create or buy in order to get a better visual on where to crop your prints.  This was a new thought for me and I think I might try it the next time I do a photo shoot.  There is just something about holding the prints in your hands to get a better feel for the final product.   

The third lesson was actually an answer to a question I’ve posted here previously.

We used three rolls of film during this photo shoot.  Out of all those pictures, we really only expect to get one that captures the moment magically.  Most professional photographers average one to three usable shots per roll of 36 exposures.  Doesn’t that make you feel good?

My answer is YES!  The pressure is relieved now.  Not every shoot will produce something portfolio worthy.  Whew!  What a happy moment it was for me to read that!  Then they go on to quote Ansel Adams who said,

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

I liked some of the assignments and I thought some of the pictures were really super.  I particularly enjoyed seeing one photograph before it was cropped and how much better it was after they cropped.  Obviously, I’m familiar with cropping a photograph but with this particular picture the after crop made it a superb picture when the before was just good.  I’m not sure I would have seen the potential in the before shot had they not shown it to me.  I think learning to see the potential of a photograph was the lesson I got out of this book that will be the most value to me.

I did something big today.  Big for me, anyway.  I wrote a proposal to a magazine suggesting that they let me write for them about the things I’m learning.  I’m hoping that they will either let me write a monthly article in their magazine or they’ll let me do video tips on their website.  Having subscribed to the magazine for about eight years now, I think this would be useful to their readers.  I would like to learn different techniques to make my pictures better.  I’d like to learn to make my own backdrops.  I’d like to create ideas for using your camera to make memorable gifts.  As I learn all this, I’d like to share it with their readers.  I’d like it to be something that any person sitting at home could duplicate and they would not be required to spend big bucks to do it.

Here is the thing, it doesn’t even matter if they decide they aren’t interested.  The thing I’m most excited about is that I decided to dream bigger than I did yesterday and I followed it up with action!

Reading through their magazine today, I came across this quote.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."  -Winston Churchill