Friends Forever and the Big 15

This past week, I had the privilege and opportunity to practice my photography skills on my friend's daughter. I had been looking forward to this day for the two weeks since we planned it! Since I am on summer vacation, I know that it is a perfect time to practice, but there are only so many times and way I can take pictures of my kid around the house. It gets boring....does that make sense?

The birthday girl had the STUPENDOUS idea to incorporate her best friend into our photo shoot. I am so glad she suggested it because it made the shoot so much more dynamic! I mean, what teen doesn't want to play dress up and pose for real pictures....not selfies in the mirror?

What did I learn from my first "big" photo shoot?

1. If you are going to take pictures in the morning, you should start as early as you can because in Florida it gets hot fast. We got started @9:30 am and worked for about 2 hours. By the end of the day, we were parched and sweaty.
2. Make a list of the shots you want to take (I am a newbie and this really helped me stay organized).
3. Ask your models/clients, if they have any ideas for pictures.
4. Sneak peeks are important and so much fun to publish! I adored the reaction I got from the girls' mothers. 
5. Editing takes time. Don't try and cram it all in a once because you will go cross eyed looking at the computer. LOL--I am sure when I learn more about editing, this process might increase more. My goal is to have editing done in a two week time frame, but for this shoot I will be done this weekend. 
6. Set up your props in advance if you can. It will save on time and energy. I was pooped by the end of the day between the heat and multiple locations. I didn't even get a chance to use the burlap birthday banner I made. Ooops. 
7. Get down and dirty if you have to and wear comfy clothes.
8. Talk to your models. I tried to encourage them to be comfortable and silly....I LOVE candid moments, don't you?

Here are a couple of the sneak peek pictures from this shoot. You can see more on my Facebook page!

What do you think? Overall, I am very happy with how all of my pictures turned out. Yes, there were some stinkers on my SD card, but I know as I get better there will be less of them.