Random Winter Day and Thoughts About Photography

Pixel 3a XL/Snapseed

I’ve tried my hand at lots of different types of photography over the years and landscape is by far my favorite. I like surveying what to shoot, composing the shot, and editing it later.

I ran a natural light portrait business for two years recently and that was a challenge and I feel like I became fairly proficient at it but not above average.

I’ve been dabbling on and off in composite photography for years now and wow does that take some patience and more talent than I ever would have thought. I can’t seem to advance very far in the realm of Photoshop compositing no matter how hard I try.

Last month I ventured into off camera flash photography for the first time and omg what a whirlwind. Talk about a whole world in itself! I am lacking in some key equipment to really get involved in it, but I don’t see myself using it all that often so I’m not investing any more in it right now. I didn’t do that great working with what I had and became discouraged rather quickly.

I’ve also tried a few macro photo shoots and that is challenging as well. I haven’t delved that much into the detailed techniques of it and may someday if my interest ever peaks more towards it.

Wildlife photography is another challenge for me because I am not quite patient enough to wait for optimal opportunities to capture subjects and honestly I don’t think I have the proper telephoto lens to do so and can’t quite afford one either.

I have on a few occasions shot some street photography and that was interesting at the time, but to tell you the truth it feels kind of creepy to take pictures of people without them knowing it. Lol.

Next to landscape photography, sports photography is one of my favorite things. I have been photographing my kids’ and niece’s and nephew’s indoor and outdoor sports for years now. I’ve shot volleyball, basketball, football, baseball, and softball.

Kind of along these lines I also shot my daughter’s theater production photos (the theater group was run through the local community college) including their rehearsals and the performance itself during dress rehearsal to be used on the college’s website and social media pages and for their printed material.

Lifestyle photography is something I did recently for a friend of mine when her mom came to visit and bake Christmas cookies with her and her two young daughters. Documenting three generations in the kitchen carrying out such a special tradition was amazing and definitely the type of photography I hope to do again.

I have done one real estate photo shoot and it was for hire and they turned out really well. I was super nervous with it being the first time but I got great feedback from the client and would have continued with this type of photography had I not closed my business last year.

What type of photography have you tried? What’s your favorite?