# One year of Pictures  *Long multiple posts, many pictures*



## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

Hey TPF!

I've been away for a while..popping in mostly to lurk here and there.  Are there still others around? I'd say I'm an "oldie" but having joined a year or so ago doesn't make me nearly as old as some of you reallyyyy old people

It's been a little over one year now since starting photography with my first DSLR...and it seemed like a good time to jump back in and try out TPF again. 
I've been going through old pictures, putting together sort of an "anniversary" post.
I thought maybe in some way, sharing my story, might inspire  somebody else. =)  I know I still have so far to go with photography,  and I love the saying that you never will  "arrive."  I understand now that it isn't about arriving at all..it's  about learning and enjoying every step along the way.

     I'll  preface my story by mentioning that I never intended to fall in love  with photography.  I was very conetent with our little cannon powershot  until the day we dropped it in a puddle, on the concrete driveway just  before Christmas.   After its death, I just snapped pictures on my  little cell phone camera.  Finally,  after the birth of our fourth baby,  Maria...I decided the cell phone wasn't filling my deep desire to have  multiple millions of pictures of every waking moment of her newborn  cuteness.  The pictures were tiny, blurry, and "staticy" as I called it  lol.  So, DH and I decided to invest in a good camera.  We studied and  researched all we could..he was convinced all we needed was another  point and shoot, but I wanted a DSLR because I had heard they could take  the best pictures indoors with low light.  (Because the camera does it  all for you, right? hehe). 
       I remember opening that black and  gold  Nikon box with soooo much excitement!  After half a year of blurry  cell phone pictures, I'd suddenly have amazing pictures of my children,  hooray!
    The first week with my camera I snapped these beauties. 

This  one made my desktop wall paper for a while, because unnaturally colored  nuclear babies on wrinkled blankets are just sooo artsy, right?








I still love this one though..not for technical reasons hehe:




I thought it was sooo cool (pun intended) that I could get something BLURRY behind Marcus on this one woohoo!






I  started editing my pictures with "Windows Live Viewer."  It would boost  contrast, add warmth or saturation..brighten etc...  And of course I  thought the more the better!




Another  one I loved at the time...nuclear grass is awesome!  And the back/side  of my daughters head running out of the frame..more artistic composition  of course.  I watched the little Nikon DvD my camera came with about 10  times...And one thing they talked about was the rule of thirds.  So I  of course took that to the extreme, just like my editing 




Maria's  3 month pictures.  I picked up some black velvet and fuzzy fabric from  Jo-anne's.  I didn't understand much about lighting, except that natural  light was better than lamp light for some reason, and still editing in  Live View. After this little photo shoot I was starting to feel like  maybe I wanted to do more than just snap family pictures...






Close  friends of ours were expecting they're fifth baby soon, and I asked if I  could practice some maternity pictures with her. I had really started  believing that if you like taking pictures, your goal should be to do  things like maternity/engagement/wedding/newborn/portrait sessions for  other people.  Otherwise you weren't really "doing" anything with your  photography/talent.  This is a mindset that has taken me the full  duration of this year to understand and step outside of for myself.
Here  were a few from her awesome maternity shoot.  She of course loved them  all, and I edited them right there in her living room in 15 minutes with  live view haha.





This  was the beginning of me "squeeze people into the frame with terrible in  camera cropping" phase started. I thought this was "artsy." The blown  out grass is blurry, that means it's artistic!







Oh  man..and I also got this idea that the lens filters at Best Buy were  just the coolest thing ever.  I found one that would MAKE my pictures  blurry just by putting it on! Because out of focus blurry, glowing  people are coooool.
My son Aaron riding horses at his friend's house.  The horse really does have a head...I just didn't think he needed it 






*continued*


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

I grew more and more obsessed with taking pictures as often as I  possibly could.  My mother in law thought I was crazy when she came over  with my niece/nephew for lunch..and I pulled out a ladder to stand  above them while they ate some mac'n cheese.  This was a good phase,  though..I learned to understand focal lengths and how they effect  distance, distortion, viewing range etc... Started to play with the wide  range on my kit lens.













I  joined The Photo Forum at this point..and just wanted to absorb as  much information as I possibly could!   I started posting my awesome pictures for CC, and thankfully  people were very honest. I started thinking about lighting, and realized  that my kit lens was holding me back. (among other things..but I  totally thought it was just the lens at the time LOL.)  Purchased my  50mm 1.4. The day it arrived I snapped these...BLURRY STUFF YESSSSSS!

















Then  my friend had her baby....and I had my first newborn shoot! I watched  hundreds of you-tube videos about newborn posing, lighting, you name it!  I only retained about 5% of it all..but I felt really prepared for  this.   I even hand knit a little wool cocoon for the baby for this  shot:






I  still love the mood of this one so much, even though I understand the  technical flaws better.  This was also when my crop sensor started  bothering me, turning my 50mm into more of a 75mm. The hands in this  look bigger proportionately than the would with a true 50mm focal  length, but I still loved it.










Oh  man I'm embarassed for this one... I was trying to get "the pose"  allllll the baby photographers on youtube had. I actually have an edit  saved somewhere, where I tried to clone the polka dot pattern back all  over the baby's blown hat, but it was seriously terrible lol.  I had  downloaded Gimp to help my editing at this point.. But I had no idea how  to use layers or anything. Just blur, clone, and heal.
Skin tones....well suffice to say they were nowhere close to being on my mind yet LOL.








A  family from church was celebrating their daughter's Quincenera (spanish  sweet 16), and asked if I could take some pictures for them to remember  the event.  I learned that I LOVED photographing events as they unfold,  and on the spot.  I put on my nifty 50, and set the camera to "vivid"  mode JPEG...because we all love over saturated vivid pictures, they're  artsy! 
This was also where I learned that focussing wide open on  my 50 1.4 was reallyyy tricky.  But so what if a picture is out of  focus, just saturate it to death and put some BLURRY stuff in haha






I  started thinking about getting light in the eyes...An icky yellow  tungsten lamp outside with indoor flourescent light white balance works,  right? 






Then  I practiced on another friend's little boy.  This was the beginning of  my alien eye phase...Learning how to sharpen/brighten brush in Gimp.    Lighting was still my enemy.








Blurry orange glowing baby eating a guitar! Totally cute, right?








Ok  now this one... I am SOOO embarassed to post, but since this post is to  share my growth I'm going to put it out there. I had started thinking  the "key" to getting creamy, nice skin, was just to overexpose.  And as  long as you had strong light somewhere, you were golden!  I am sooooo  sorry to this little boy for creating this scary picture. I actually  thought at the time, that it was amazing ><


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

Practiced some more on my brother and his wife, as an anniversary gift  for them.  We set up a shoot during sunset in the park where they had  been married.  I didn't understand back lighting or lighting at all  really, but according to my handy dandy Nikon DvD, "Golden hour" was the  BEST time to take pictures.













And then these arrived.  Yes..I actually photographed the occasion LOL












At  this point, I was convinced that I needed to think about going into  buisiness.  I had a list a mile long of photograph equipment I *had* to  save money for, and I was inspired by all the amazing photographers  online. I could do that...I was determined to do what they did.   I  loved the feeling of creating pictures for people and seeing their faces  light up at them.  As a naturally introverted person, the camera gave  me a sense of liberation.  I was more comfortable being with people when  I was doing something I love for them.
So I started a basic website.  It was really bad...like really really bad lol.  There was a blogspot  blog, and a flash website that was confusing to navigate, slow to load  etc.. I called our insurance company to begin setting up insurance for a  buisiness.  Contacted an accountant, researched about taxes, liscensing  etc... And had everything in place.  
And I started portfolio building.  This was with a family I met through the friend I did the baby pictures for.
The theme of the shoot could be titled: 

        "What do you mean there's a weed in my face???"












I  joined another photography forum that was closed to only a handful of  members.  The criticism there was honest and brutal, but  wonderful.  Unfortunately, being such a small forum, people were unable  to post very often, and eventually life caught up with us all and the  posting became pretty non existant. But man I made an "impression"  introducing myself with these beauties


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

I didn't understand why people didn't instantly LOVE them!  But I trudged along with PB'ing..





































Something started to click on this session:


















I  realized I needed to start working on CONNECTING with my  subjects.  This was a shot from a random family get together...I call  this the ULTIMATE "don't look at the camera!!!" shot LOL







Joined another large photo forum, with harsh criticism..went back and forth between it and TPF.  And my sister in law (the other one)  was expecting her third baby =)   I posted these here, and was super  happy that other people really seemed to like them!







Then  I took the plunge. I had everything in place and my portfolio was  coming along nicely. I took on my very first paid senior session.  This  girl was SO much fun to work with, and I learned more from this shoot  than any other up to that point.  

















Her  friends and family LOVED these so much that I book my second paid  session the same night I posted her preview on facebook! I was on  cloud  nine! =)


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

Those two session back to back were a wake up point for me.  I did not  like shooting for strangers.  I loved the initial excitement of meeting  new people and sharing the final pictures with them..But I hated taking  their money. And I hated that after they ordered prints, that was it.  I  might never hear from them again.  I put something very personal into  every image I take, and I disliked not sharing anything personal with my  subjects.  I was starting to feel like maybe business wasn't right for  me now, but I still didn't understand how else I could use my new love  for photography in a meaningful way unless I was offering it to anyone  who wanted it, professionally. I also struggled with very strong self criticism...No matter how much people "liked" my pictures..I was never  happy with them, and wondered if I really was any good, or just another  MWAC.

During this period, I took on a few more sessions.
























































Took a few here and there of my kids as I found time...
















My sister in law had her baby!

















And  then she had a small, intimate, candle light wedding. She asked  if I'd  bring my camera...So I brought the family and took these:
















Finally  I made a difficult decision. I stopped taking pictures for strangers,  or friends of friends of friends etc... I stopped scheduling shoots for  every weekend and sometimes twice a week.  I decided to make my  photography personal again.  Somewhere in the middle of everything, I  had lost the original reason I got into it.  The pictures of other  people's children on my computer were far outweighing the pictures of my  own children.  And when I did find time to photograph my own kids,  the  results were nowhere near what I could accomplish during my "me" time  away from the family, concentrating on others.


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

I made it my goal..to capture beautiful memories of my OWN children, or  for close friends/family...in a way that I could be proud to share, and  in a way that allowed me to continue growing as a photographer and  mother.  In a way that didn't take away from the limited, precious time  I've been given to share with my family, but added to it.

This is still one of my favorite shots ever.







And I fell in love with black and white photography.































My in-laws from Easter:



























Did  a few pictures last month for a close friend's baby...and after this I  knew for sure I had made the right decision to step away from  buisiness.  Taking pictures here and there for friends and family while I  focus on my own children is such a better fit, and so much more  fulfilling right now.  I was able to take these without any pressure,  while my kids played with the baby's mom a few feet away.  












And that pretty much brings us to the present! =)  Here are three from this week:






















  If you actually made it through all of that, thank you! 

 I'm so honored to be a part of this group! My goal for my second year  and beyond is to make a serious effort to post more often for CC!  I  don't ever want to reach the point where I feel like my photography is  "good enough.."  I hope that maybe one day I'll be able to take pictures  that inspire others the way so many have inspired me.  This post has  helped me, personally..because I can see the progression I've actually  made, and it's a humbling feeling! I often feel like I'm "stuck" or that  I haven't made any progress...but looking back I really do feel like  I've learned so much this year.  
Still shooting with my D5000 and  50mm 1.4... But maybe one day I'll move up to that full frame I dream  about with pretty lenses like the 135 2.0 or 70-200....or something fun  like a nice wide angle.  But I've really learned as far as camera  equipment goes that you *CAN* push what you have to do amazing things no  matter what your gear.  

Have fun shooting! 
~*Ashley


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## subscuck (Jun 8, 2011)

Very nice, but long, post! Being able to see your progression like this should serve as inspiration for newbies. Glad to see you're back.


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## thebutler4 (Jun 8, 2011)

Its funny .. as I read your post, I though about 3 days ago when I went threw my old stuff that I too thought was just out of this world ... and like you I see great progression in my photography skills as well .. its great that we went threw so many similar times .. lol I think that most newbies do .. 

Awesome Thank you for sharing


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## Aayria (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks, both! It's a huge help for me..just going back and seeing all of these posted together...I can see exactly which areas I've grown in, and which areas I have struggled with/still struggle with from the beginning.  But I have loved every step of the way. =)


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## Eventer (Jun 8, 2011)

Wow i really enjoyed that! you canr eally see how much you imporved throughout! thanks for this post - Found it pretty imspirational


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## mybelle (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks for sharing! I'm a noob--just figuring out the "Wow! I can blur the background!?" sort of thing--and am so inspired by this post!


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## Derrel (Jun 8, 2011)

That's quite a progression. As the post goes on, more and more creativity and compositional nuance shows. You're hitting on all cylinders now! Thanks for showing us so much of your work.


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## Dao (Jun 8, 2011)

2 THUMBS UP


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## Butter Jeweler (Jun 8, 2011)

I like whole thing with the horse, nice picture and your caption is very funny too ;D


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## Aayria (Jun 9, 2011)

Eventer said:


> Wow i really enjoyed that! you canr eally see how much you imporved throughout! thanks for this post - Found it pretty imspirational



Thank you!



mybelle said:


> Thanks for sharing! I'm a noob--just figuring out the "Wow! I can blur the background!?" sort of thing--and am so inspired by this post!



   Thank you, I'm so happy to hear it has helped people! =)  It's a bit embarassing to put some of my earlier shots out there for the world to see....but I am proud of what I've learned so far, even though I still have so far to go!  Starting out on TPF was a great choice, I met so many great photographers who were more than willing to offer solid advice =)




Derrel said:


> That's quite a progression. As the post goes on, more and more creativity and compositional nuance shows. You're hitting on all cylinders now! Thanks for showing us so much of your work.



   Thanks, Derrel!! Great to hear from you again =)





Dao said:


> 2 THUMBS UP



 Haha thanks, watch for the movie in 2012 



Butter Jeweler said:


> I like whole thing with the horse, nice picture and your caption is very funny too ;D



  Well thank you "butter" jeweler ROFL


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## Hardrock (Jun 9, 2011)

Fantastic post! I truly enjoyed reading through your progression and seeing the results.  Thanks for taking the time and sharing!


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## Aayria (Jun 9, 2011)

Hardrock said:


> Fantastic post! I truly enjoyed reading through your progression and seeing the results.  Thanks for taking the time and sharing!


 

    Thank you! =)


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## SecondShot (Jun 9, 2011)

Dudette! That's amazing progress!


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## Photo Lady (Jun 9, 2011)

Gorgeous pictures.. i loved every minute of it... that must have been forever to post and upload.. but well worth it to me..thanks.


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## Vtec44 (Jun 9, 2011)

Wow, great progress!


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## AJRacca (Jun 9, 2011)

Great post!!! Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing


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## lafaphotography (Jun 9, 2011)

gorgeous picture and great progress.. I enjoyed reading all of it


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## JWellman (Jun 9, 2011)

Thank you for sharing this! I really enjoyed seeing your progression!


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jun 9, 2011)

I remember a great debate of images that "just screamed" reverse vignetting, with Aayria. The little flower girl and ring bearer. That was you, right?

You've come a long way, baby!


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## Ryan L (Jun 9, 2011)

I enjoyed seeing the progression, well thought out post as well. Good work.


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## vtf (Jun 9, 2011)

Aayria, I'm glad you're back. You've been away too long but I do understand your reasoning. You are inspiring.


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## burdock87 (Jun 9, 2011)

I thought it was a very nice post. It's nice to see that there's hope for me to improve! Lighting is terrible for me, and though I don't really shoot other people's children (or other people), I do shoot a ton of pics of other people's animals...horses, mostly. That's all I have around me.

But anyway; great post, and it's great to see your improvement!


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## anthonymichael (Jun 10, 2011)

These are great, I really like the picture of the couple's reflection in the water.


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## Aayria (Jun 10, 2011)

SecondShot said:


> Dudette! That's amazing progress!



Dude! Thank you! =P



Photo Lady said:


> Gorgeous pictures.. i loved every minute of it... that must have been forever to post and upload.. but well worth it to me..thanks.



   Thanks!! I just cleared about 200G of pictures from my external... WOW those add up quickly haha..And it seemed like a good chance to revisit old shots and work on a post. Spent a couple days putting it together in a word doc. before copying here =)



Vtec44 said:


> Wow, great progress!



 Thank you!



AJRacca said:


> Great post!!! Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing



  Thanks =)



lafaphotography said:


> gorgeous picture and great progress.. I enjoyed reading all of it



  Thank you thank you!  It's been a lot of work, but I love seeing little things work out as I go =)



JWellman said:


> Thank you for sharing this! I really enjoyed seeing your progression!



  Thanks!


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## Aayria (Jun 10, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> I remember a great debate of images that "just screamed" reverse vignetting, with Aayria. The little flower girl and ring bearer. That was you, right?
> 
> You've come a long way, baby!



  LOL you're never going to let me live that one down are you??? I can't believe I ever typed those words with a straight face.   It was a sweet picture PerfectlyFlawed poster of her first wedding....and I had ALL the best advice for editing LOL



Ryan L said:


> I enjoyed seeing the progression, well thought out post as well. Good work.



   Thank you! =)



vtf said:


> Aayria, I'm glad you're back. You've been away too long but I do understand your reasoning. You are inspiring.



  Hey vtf! Good to see familiar faces around here! I've tried coming back a couple of times but have just been so busy I couldn't keep it up...Hope to stay around though =)  Thanks for your kind words!



burdock87 said:


> I thought it was a very nice post. It's nice to see that there's hope for me to improve! Lighting is terrible for me, and though I don't really shoot other people's children (or other people), I do shoot a ton of pics of other people's animals...horses, mostly. That's all I have around me.
> 
> But anyway; great post, and it's great to see your improvement!



   Thank you!  I LOVE horses, so post away!  Learning to see light is the hardest and best thing you can do to help your pictures....look forward to seeing you post!



anthonymichael said:


> These are great, I really like the picture of the couple's reflection in the water.



  Thanks! I loved that picture too, but I couldn't get the guy to take off that crazy looking bandana arghhh lol.  He insisted having it on looked better than his actual hair did, so he wore it the entire shoot ><


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## hayleyfraser24 (Jun 10, 2011)

I am new to photography and new to this site and your work is inspirational... to see how you have grown as a photographer has given me hope, that I too can get better and achieve amazing results! I love your photos!


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## hayleyfraser24 (Jun 10, 2011)

I am new to photoraphy and new to this site and your pictures are inspirational... to see how you have grown as a photographer has given me hope that I too can improve and achieve some amazing results.  I love your photos!


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jun 10, 2011)

Aayria said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
> 
> 
> > I remember a great debate of images that "just screamed" reverse vignetting, with Aayria. The little flower girl and ring bearer. That was you, right?
> ...


Nope, never. I have one of the images, but couldn't remember who started the thread. 
Just shows how far you've come. I think we all go through that stage anyhow.

Things like that I remember because they stand out. Which is why I went looking for you, to see what you've been up too. 
I am glad to see you come back, and hopefully continue to participate. :thumbup:


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jun 10, 2011)

Ah...there it is.


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## Aayria (Jun 10, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Ah...there it is.




AHHHH it's returned to haunt me LOL!!!! So sorry, perfectly flawed...And the craptastic cloning job bottom right just makes it totally hahahaha


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## Ryan L (Jun 10, 2011)

lmao, I remember that discussion!


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## misstwinklytoes (Jun 11, 2011)

Wonderful post and welcome back!!


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