Saturday afternoon Annie and her mom, who has been a friend of mine for ages, [...]]]> Due to getting no sleep Sunday night, or actually Monday morning, after Nate woke me at 2 a.m., I decided to skip doing a blog post yesterday. I have to be at least slightly in my right mind to do these.

Saturday afternoon Annie and her mom, who has been a friend of mine for ages, came over for a photo session in my great room. I love the light in this room. Seeing that afternoon sun shine in is one reason I wanted to buy this house. It never fails to make me feel happy.

Annie makes me feel happy too. She’s so cute and chubby and snuggly. Three months is such a great age to get baby pictures, while they are still pretty little. They’ve had time to get over the skin problems that sometimes occur in newborns, learn to stay awake for a little while, and can usually tolerate a little “tummy time” in the name of photos.

I took a couple of days last week to put aside album designing and print ordering so I could get ready for my oldest son’s third birthday party. Actually, we’ve been at the birthday thing for more than a week. [...]]]>

Charlie practices with his first cake, the one I made for our small family gathering.

I took a couple of days last week to put aside album designing and print ordering so I could get ready for my oldest son’s third birthday party. Actually, we’ve been at the birthday thing for more than a week. My husband’s parents came down from Kansas the previous weekend, bearing gifts. We had a small family party and a fun weekend doing stuff with the grandparents.

But the big party was this past weekend. A Valentine’s Day baby, Charlie is probably doomed to a life of either not having a party, or having it on a day other than his birthday. Maybe when he grows up he can make his girlfriends buy him dinner on the big V-Day.

Trains were the theme of both parties. Actually, trains are pretty much the theme at my house all the time.

The great thing about being a photographer is having the know-how and resources to get great photos from these little events. It’s the same skill set as photographing a wedding, except it’s a lot easier to follow a bride and groom through their day than it is to try to guess what a toddler is going to think of next.

Nate really gets into the cake.

I love taking pictures of my kids, but one thing you will never see in any bio of me is, “She started out by taking pictures of her kids, and they were so beautiful, she decided to become a professional.” When my sister did a search for photographers in her home town, she complained to me that this was in almost every bio on every website she found online.

In the first place, it’s not true for me. If I had waited as long to become a photographer as I waited to have kids, I would be worthless. I’d still be trying to figure out which side of the camera to point at people.

Charlie and his friend Nicky supervise the lighting of the candles.

A bio that reads like the above says one thing to your potential clients: I have no training. It might even go further and say: And I don’t want any.

Training can take many forms, but it requires a willingness to grow, to hear criticism about your work, and to make changes based on what you hear.

Professional photographers who want to get really good at what they do may get some kind of degree, participate in on the job training with more experienced photographers, or join organizations such as the Professional Photographers of America.

Actually, I’ve done all three.

It took all the effort Charlie could muster to blow out the candles.

I realized early on that photographers, like kids, are always curious, and always growing. Something new is always around the corner and good photographers are always trying on new things and reaching milestones they may not have even known were there.

So, to bring this post full circle back to kids and birthday, I want to link to a post that Brian Lindsey wrote at Pro Photo Business Forum. Brian wrote about the transition from shooting in fully automatic mode to shooting manual. Many photographers who suddenly decide to turn pro lean heavily on the crutch of their cameras, and getting rid of that dependence can be a very freeing experience.

Which brings me back to Charlie. He had worked himself up into a real dependence on his pacifier (or his “bee” as he called it.) We warned him that he would have to give up the “bee” on his third birthday. It took some determination on our parts, and a few nights of sleeping with mommy and daddy, but we finally did it. It’s a triumph for us and a sign that he’s really and truly growing up.

Charlie takes his first nap without his "bee."

- Groucho Marx

I haven’t posted on this yet because I’m still kind of lost in disbelief.

I’m always pretty hard on myself when it comes to my own work. So, it was with much trepidation that I submitted my name to [...]]]>

“I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.”

- Groucho Marx

I haven’t posted on this yet because I’m still kind of lost in disbelief.

I’m always pretty hard on myself when it comes to my own work. So, it was with much trepidation that I submitted my name to become a member of Photographik, “The Elite Photographers Network.” I knew my online portfolio had to be reviewed and approved before I would be accepted.

Surprisingly, at least to me, I was accepted. Photographik looks for photographers who have an “eye.” Only two other Arkansas photographers are members, and they are photographers whose work I have admired for a long time. I’m proud to be among their number.

Certainly I strive to bring something to the field. I seek to continually improve my work and my own vision by looking at the work of great photographers. I don’t hesitate to break the rules when I think it will make a great photo (such as the photo above.) I follow my own eye for beauty, not someone’s set of photo rules.

I’m thrilled that there are photographers out there who appreciate and honor those who seek to create art instead of trying to make photography a product that can be mass-produced. I’m honored to be numbered among them.