I was reading an article at SLR Lounge about writing an end of the year “Best of” post, written by local wedding photographer Diana Elizabeth.  As I have mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I have taken three classes from Diana in the past and I have always found her advice on good business practices very helpful.  So here I go with my version of  Poole Photography’s “best of” post.

2012 was officially the first year of my entry into the business of wedding and event photography.  And much like anything in its infancy, the business has been doing a lot of crawling on the floor mixed in with a few baby steps attempted while hanging on to the furniture for dear life.  In the course of 2012 I learned much about the business, improved my camera and editing skills, took to writing this blog and setting up a website to showcase my work, met several outstanding photographers through the Photographer”s Adventure Club, and best of all, I was privileged to be able to shoot some great sessions and events during the course of the year, which I have written about and posted pictures of on this blog.

Let’s begin the 2012 review.

All photographers eventually develop a style of shooting.  As my style develops it will be greatly influenced by the way my instructors taught me and they way I taught my students taking my photography class.  I prefer candid shots over the “say cheese” shots. Photographs should tell a story or evoke an emotion, should make the view wonder “what are they thinking, what are they doing? ”  I also believe that the story can go beyond the border of the photograph, engage the viewer so they a thinking and coming up with their own solution to what is occurring beyond the border.

Of course when shooting events and weddings, the group shots and portraits and posed shots are a necessity, but I find as I go through my digital negatives I find my favorites are the ones that tell a story and evoke the emotions of capturing a picture of those precious unguarded moments.

Please be sure and check on the links to get all the pictures and the related post.

POOLE PHOTOGRAPHY 2012 REVIEW

I first discovered that I was drawn to take those types of pictures at my first shoot of 2012, described in this June 28th blog.  The bride had graciously invited me to the wedding and allowed me take pictures.  I was able to focus most of my effort on the fun candid shots.

The next session I had was the very next day, a 9 year old’s birthday party.  The good thing is that 9 year olds run around and make for great candid shots.  The bad news is that every time they see the camera pointed at them, they stop and say cheese.  But it was great fun.  And as this photo shows, there is a purpose for posed, or semi posed pictures.

It has to be a cool thing to combine photography with a bit of a literary reference as I did in “Quoth the Raven”  My first Senior Portrait gig.  This type of session lends itself more to the posed portrait types of shots, but when I start my Senior Portrait sessions in the spring, I will be looking to add candid pictures as well to the portfolio.

Overcoming my fear of “all things baby shower”. I bucked up and photographed Denise’s baby shower, as I chronicled here.  The photograph below was taken at the very end and shows, I think, the love and happiness, and thankfulness that the party is over.

I got a chance to photography one of my former student’s birthdays.  The blog post is here.  Lita is now exploring her own photographic skills by taking college photography classes.  I am very proud of her.

Although I didn’t blog about this shoot, I do consider it one of my best shoots of 2012.  It was in preparation for my August wedding shoot and it allowed me to work with Cheryl Denise again.  We went out very early in the morning to take advantage of the so called  “Golden Hour”.  I got lots of practice shooting in various lighting situations, concentrating on backlighting.

And the big event came.  Mallory and John’s wedding.  The ironic part is that I never was able to use my well practiced back lighting skills as the day of the wedding was rainy and cloudy.  Which meant I did get to practice “monitoring and adjusting” the photographs I shot.  This picture I am showing is my personal favorite.  It is not the best by far, but my favorite.  The semi-blurred motion enhances the excitement of the moment as the vows were being read.

In December I volunteered for Help Portrait Saturday.  I explain the purpose and display some photographs of this event here.  I did probably the easiest job of the day, photographing the behind the scenes happenings.  The hardest working people were the organizers, the main shooters and their assistants, the people who printed the photos, the make up artists and hair stylists.  I took some of the best pictures I have ever taken that day.  I am really glad I got involved with this project.

My final photo session of the year was a portrait session with my friends John and Freda.  I posted about the friendship John and I forged during the downs and ups of coaching football together here, and talked about John and Freda’s relationship here.  Another example of where the shot of the unguarded moment tells us as much about the subjects as does the artfully posed photograph.

I hope the reader liked my little reflection on my work in 2012.  I hope the people I photographed enjoyed their pictures as much as enjoyed  the time I had photographing them.

May you all have a happy and prosperous New Year.

My blog “What is That Song Stuck in My Head?” introduced the reader to my friend John.  Recently John and his wife Freda asked me to do a family portrait of them (two is a family I think, three if one includes Rufus, the Wonder Pup).  Obviously, I did say yes.

I remember the positive changes in John’s life when he and Freda started dating.  It was evident to me and his other friends that John had finally found his one true mate.

As time passed and their love and bond with each other grew stronger, John and Freda decided to get married.  I was honored when John asked me to be one of the witness for their ceremony.  The other person they asked to be a witness was our friend Dave.  I introduced Dave in my “Try Getting Outside” blog and have mentioned him in other posts as well.

The ceremony was to be a simple one performed by a Peoria judge. On the appointed day we met at the City Courthouse.  My first surprise was needing to go through a metal detector and needing to take my belt off.  I know, I know… but I haven’t flown in years, much less gone to a court house recently, so it was a new experience for me.

 John and Freda checked in at the front desk and were told there was a slight delay because the judge was busy due to a hearing he was conducting.  So we waited in the lobby and had a pleasant conversation to pass the time.  After about an hour, we were told to proceed to the courtroom.

We went into the courtroom, and it was full of people in the audience, with the plaintiffs and defendants and their respective lawyers still at their tables.  Whatever the case was, it was still going on, so the judge took a quick recess so he could marry John and Freda.

Let me take a moment to acquaint the reader further with Dave.  Dave thinks he is funny.  And he actually is 99.9% of the time.  Dave just at times doesn’t dial it down when he should.   Such was the case at the ceremony.

The judge greeted us with a smile on his face and proceeded to apologize for the delay because the case was taking much longer than was anticipated.  Dave pipes up with “and whose fault is that?”

The smile immediately was replaced by a look I am sure the judge reserves for the most heinous criminals that appear before him, fixed  his cold heated eyes on Dave and proceeded to tell us that he and the City were doing the ceremony as a courtesy and a service to it’s citizens AND that the City did this for free AND… at that point I stopped listening because I was to busy inching myself as far away from Dave as I could without being too obvious while trying to decide if I was going to bail Dave out or let him stew in lock up overnight.  I truly expected to hear the phrase “contempt of court”.

Miraculously, and thankfully,  those words never were spoken.  Dave straitened up and flew right and things proceeded without further incident.  Dave actually got back on friendly terms with the judge who started telling Dave and us that his ceremony book had several ceremonies in it depending on beliefs and such, and that he had used them all except the ceremony written for an Apache couple.

Finally, as no one had left the courtroom, the judge had John and Freda turn around and he presented them to the courtroom.  The audience applauded.  Even the young lady at the defendant’s table was wiping away the tears she had shed during the brief ceremony.

Later, to complete the ceremony, we gathered at John and Freda’s home with friends and family and the lovely couple “jumped the broom.”  It was a beautiful thing.  Sometimes simple is the best.

The photo session with John and Freda was a treat to shoot.  They fit well with my shooting style.  Traditional poses have their uses, but I like shooting pictures that tell stories.  Freda and John made that so easy.  All through the shoot there was a playfulness about them that I feel is evident in these shots, from the Freda ambush of John with a handful of leaves to the romp on the couch with Rufus the dog.

George Bernard Shaw penned the statement “Youth is wasted on the young.”  Love can be wasted on the young as well.  It is evident that John and Freda are not wasting a single second of their love for each other.