{photographer for a day}

You know how there are people who are really, really amazing at one particular thing?

Like, that thing is "their thing." 

They paint.  Or they write.  Or they sew beautiful things.

Or they are good with numbers.

I don't have 'a thing.'

I have a lot of things that I love to do...

even a few that I am halfway good at.

My writing skills are decent.

I adore cooking.

I am a pretty fast long-distance runner.

I have decent style when it comes to home decor.
I genuinely enjoy these things and will continue to try to hone my skills.

Then there is photography.

You could say I am just one of those women who took up blogging and then had photo envy and joined the DSLR bandwagon and got one and had no clue how to use it and still really doesn't so I still shoot on auto.

That would be sort of true.

But also not.

My love for taking photographs began when I was twelve and got my first crappy plastic red Kodak 35mm camera for Christmas.

I was kind of obsessed with photos.  Some kids were playing soccer or in dance class, but because my family had no money for all of that by the time I got to that age, I had to do things that were free.

Being an introvert it was easy to find things to do on my own.

I would pore over family photographs.

I looked at my mama's photo albums so much that I felt that I knew all of the relatives personally, despite never having met most of them.

When my sister went to high school (she is five years older) I became equally obsessed with her yearbooks.  I could have told you everyone's name and what extra-curricular activity they were in.

(Clearly I had no life.)

Whenever I could scrape up some dollars to buy a roll of film I would,

and then took lots of really horrific photos.

This was back before digital cameras.  

No filters and editing programs.

You took 24 photos to a typical roll of film,

dropped it off at KMart, 

and waited.

Two whole days.

(I couldn't afford the one-hour photo)

Sometimes longer since we lived out in the country and it wasn't like I could just hop on my bike to get there.

The waiting felt like an eternity.

When I finally picked up my photos I would always find a quiet aisle in our hometown Kmart and rip open that envelope.  I had to see them immediately.

Honestly, most of them were really bad.

Fingers blocking the frame.

Red eyes.

Someone always blinked.  Always.

But it didn't matter - opening that envelope was still exciting.

The same way uploading photos to my computer is exciting.

I believe photographs are important.

I believe in taking lots and lots and lots of photographs and showing them to my kiddos.

They will grow up with a camera in their face.

They will have a mama who doesn't mind having her photo taken, either.

Photos helps us remember.

They are art.

They are an emotion or a moment captured.

In truth I know basically nothing about shooting in manual with my DSLR.

Well, not nothing, but very little.

I try.

I dabble.

Mostly, I understand composition and the value of editing utilizing the digital darkroom.

:)

I am not a photographer - I just enjoy taking photographs.

Therefore when my friend Alicia asked me to take some of her sweet little family, 

I readily obliged, longing for the practice and a way to re-pay Alicia for the many, many times she has let me and the babies invade her house for hours to escape renovation chaos,
feeding us and just being an amazing friend.

Since she has two little kiddos we spent about an hour in the morning sunshine one recent Saturday and I did the best I could...and had so much fun doing it.

Here are some of my favorites...

Anyway, I may never be a 'real photographer' but I will continue to get to know my camera and take lots of photos...because I love it.

Thanks to my friend Alicia for letting me take pics of your fam!  It was a joy!

g