Post #9 Food For Thought

Just recently I learned something very important that could have possibly wiped out my entire career and past projects. Earlier this week my boss’ computer crashed and her had all of his photos that he had ever taken and when he took it to best buy to see if they could save any of his work but it was all lost. I don’t even have half of the amount of work that he has but still, it would be devastating to lose it all. So that day I went out and get a 1 terabyte external hard drive. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a little box that I can plug up to my laptop and copy everything on my desktop to the box. This way if my computer crashes I still have all of my photos backed up. Just a little food for thought J

Post #8 Just a little tip

As a just starting out photographer many people think that its common sense to shoot when the sun is shinning at its peak but what you’ll grow to learn is that some of the best times to shoot are overcast and at sunset and rise. The easiest way to explain it is just by example. Say that you take a model out in a wheat field at 12 pm, the sun is right over her head so there are very harsh shadows under her eyes nose and probably even her lips. Obviously this is not what you wanted, so in order for that not to occur the best times is overcast, where the clouds soften the light ray and sunset and sunrise when the light is the softest. Hope this is a little helpful! 

Post #7 Softball Turns Out To Be Hard

Whenever anyone asks me what sport I love to shoot the most I quickly respond, FOOTBALL! But when I think about it I haven’t really shot every sport there is. This week I shot my first softball game and let me tall ya, I truly under estimated the challenge this would give me. Between the clunky fence and the restricted shooting spaces I probably came out with only 10-15 good pictures. But on the bright side everything is a learning experience! Here are some of my favorites! J

Post #6 NYC Wake Up Call

Overall my entire career as a photographer has been extremely positive and encouraging….until I got to New York City. Just last week I got the chance to take a trip to the big apple for a media conference with other colleges all around the country. Needless to say I was extremely excited to have such an amazing opportunity opened up to me but all of this excitement was crushed on the first day. I was invited to attend a critique of my best photos by a big wig new Yorker. I didn’t really know what to expect but what I got was definitely not even close. After an hour of waiting outside this guys office he finally calls me in and we begin to look at my pictures. He asked me what I am the most interested in and I replied with sports mostly. As a result he only focused on my few sports photos and he pretty much told me that I was getting what every other photographer could get and he was not impressed at all. Long story short, he wants me to follow around one specific sport and shoot everything that the other photographers aren’t getting (anything besides the games and action shots) and write a book on it with pictures. I’m not sure what ill do with this advice but stay tuned for updates!

Post #5 My First Family Portraits

In the past I have shot seniors, sports, concerts, and other various random events but one huge part of free lance photography that I haven’t touched down in is family portraits! But lately I was asked by some family friends to shoot a few family pictures for her son’s 2nd birthday. Just like every other new experience I was extremely nervous that they wouldn’t be happy with the outcome. Although the little boy that I was supposed to be focusing on was not happy at all about having his picture taken I think I came out with some pretty positive pictures, CHECK THEM OUT! ☺

 

Post #4 Shooting Seniors

As a just beginning photographer one of my favorite things to shoot were of course my friends but getting to shoot their senior pictures was on a whole new level! I loved shooting them especially when they were my close friends because they were by far the most comfortable and there-for easier to shoot. I took these pictures as a junior and senior in high school. Here are some of my favorites, hope you like them!

Post #3 My First Concert

February 28^th, 2013 I had the amazing opportunity to get a media pass to shoot the Rascal Flatts concert at The Expo Center. Since this was my first concert it would be an understatement to say I was nervous! I got the pass from my boss Mike at the newspaper, he has a couple connections around town just with his past experiences so I sometimes benefit from that. J When Mike and I arrived roughly an hour early my stomach felt like it was at a trampoline park. We finally found someone to talk to about what my restrictions were about five minutes before show time. As the lights went out I scooted my way to the edge of the stage and my butterflies were instantly gone. As soon as I started shooting it all became so natural and I am extremely happy with the results. Below is a slide show of some of my favorite pictures, ENJOY! 

Washburn University; where it all happens

Washburn University is where I have taken all of my sports photos and where I continue to pursue my photography career.
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Post #2 This year's experience

As I continue to grow as a young photographer my experiences expand also. With in my first year in college I have had the opportunity to shoot countless sporting events and I loved every minute of it. Along the way I have met some really great people that are so supportive of my dreams and I hope I don’t disappoint them.

            My first assignments were the university football games. Overall I am extremely happy with how my work turned out. I got several pictures printed in the weekly newspaper a week and quite a few photo galleries on the website.

While shooting football I also covered women’s soccer. This is where I did some of my most surprising work and came out with some of my all time favorite photos. I had never shot soccer before but its most definitely one of my favorites lately.

I am now working on men and women’s basketball. I’m glad I started off the year with football and soccer (outdoor sports) where the lighting is a lot easier to manage. Although it was tough I am still in love with a lot of the shots I took away from it!

Coming up very soon I will be starting to shoot my first baseball and softball games so stay posted for those!