First Paid Session!

I just did a photo session with a family we know - the mom is a Spanish teacher at Grandville HS, where Ron works. She's talked for a while about me taking photos of her kids / family, and Wednesday I e-mailed her with a last-minute proposition to do it, since it was going to be such a nice day Thursday. She wrote back and said yes, so we met at Spring Grove Park (which as it turns out is quite the mecca for photographers). We were only there for a little over an hour and I got plenty of great photos of her kids, and couple decent ones of the whole family (much more challenging). I learned a lot in that hour, too! They have a 2 and a half year old son, and a 9 month old daughter. The kids were great about playing, smiling, and being themselves! I have started going through some of their photos, and I am really happy with how many of them turned out.

The other cool thing - this is the first time I got paid for a photo session. I got a nice little session fee when we were done, and they will also be paying me for prints. In case you didn't already know, I am trying to get a little photography "business" off the ground, although I definitely do not want to rush into it. I would rather build up my confidence, and continue accumulating better and better equipment, before I get in over my head. In the meantime though, I can do some sessions for relatively cheap and still make a bit of money while I get practice. So... right now I am in the portfolio and skills building stage, and I still have much to learn. I do feel that this is something I have a bit of natural talent for, and think that over time I could become a very good photographer. At least, I love it so much that I am willing to work hard toward that goal. It feels good to have a goal, as well as the artistic outlet.

I will probably post a photo or two on this blog next week, but in the near future I will have a separate blog for photography stuff, as well as a Flash site. Ron has a graphic design student creating a logo for me, and I checked out her first drafts and love it! I also want to show the photos (after I edit them) to the family before anyone else. For now, I was just excited that I took this first step, and I think it went fairly well!