Teen Girls | Warner Robins photographer

A lot of my early photoshoot practice was through giving volunteer service at church.  This is a photoshoot I did for the "Young Women" group at church--teenage girls ages 12-18.  It was during their weekday activity night and so I had to work against the clock in a race to beat the fading light that evening.  I was mostly successful.  You can tell which ones are grainy as the light got dimmer.  And for the girls that weren't there on the original night, I took their photos after church one Sunday, and you can tell comparatively how much the lighting was improved.  Regardless of lighting issues, it was so much fun to work with this girls!  They really worked their magic in front of the camera and I enjoyed being able to work one on one to pull out each of their personalities when it was their turn.  It was also fun trying to get creative with the limited location of the church grounds and any fun prop we could find there.  Like this velvet chair we carried outside to use.  And the frame borrowed from a friend was pretty cool.  But some of my favorite photos are just head shots of these girls' beautiful faces and the glow of goodness shining through their eyes.  I'm so proud of these young ladies and their courage to find and be the good in the world!  I will gladly take their pictures anytime!

Rex Boland Family | my first photoshoot

That moment when you know you enjoy photography, you have the camera, you've been practicing but you are still learning--and then someone approaches you and wants you to take their pictures--Excitement, insecurity, confidence, and doubt all rolled up into one!!

Fortunately it was just my brother that was asking and I felt more comfortable stepping into the world of family portraits with slightly more forgiving subjects.  And of course, it's much easier to capture the beauty in a family when you also LOVE that family very much.

So the Rex Boland family of 6 was my first official photoshoot in the fall of 2011.  2 parents + 4 young children.  Where to take them?  How to get them to pose?  What to tell them to wear?  How do I get them to smile a genuine smile?  How do I keep the kids interested?  These are all questions that I asked myself and I jumped right in to do the research and the preparation.

The day of, I was definitely nervous, even though it was my own family.  You just want it to go well and for the photos to turn out SO GOOD!!  We met up at a local train depot with lots of rustic charm.  I act the total pro despite my nervous insecurities knowing that confidence was the key to keep their attention.  I used more auto settings than manual since my mind almost drew a blank with too many things to think about at once.  But I had my pose ideas ready in my head.  I immediately begin directing and snapping and encouraging and snapping and directing again and then snapping some more.  I found that the ideas that I had studied flowed well and I was pretty sure I was getting the things that I wanted to get.  This was going GREAT!

We part ways and I head home with my camera and partially-filled SD card.  I plug it in with excitement to look at the freshly captured photos.  With each photo I am unsure whether to be happy or frustrated as I realize that there are many cute ones but hardly any where every single one of them are looking at the camera or has a decent expression or the focus was wrong.  I had a hard time learning how to sift the good out of the muck.  I also did not own Photoshop or any real editing software, so I had to really dig hard online to figure out where to go and how to at least makeshift a few family photos by combining the good parts of a few of them together.  I think I remember using Windows Live Photo Gallery to replace unwanted facial expressions with good ones, and then using online editors like PicMonkey to add filters and such.

To say the least, this ended up being a HUGE learning experience for me, both on the photshoot end and the editing end.  I look back at these pictures now and realize the things that I was unkowingly doing wrong or could have done better.  I wish I had been able to watch ALL of their faces a little more carefully.  I wish I had given clearer direction and promoted just a little more interaction.  I wish I hadn't edited so heavily.  And I wish I had the proper software so that I could have edited the right ways in general.

But with all that being said, I am still very proud of my very first photoshoot.  I'm proud that I had the courage to say YES when my brother asked me.  I am proud that I put in the hard work to prepare and do the best that I could with the knowledge that I had at the time.  I'm proud that I put myself out there and just DID IT.  It was a huge catalyst that has eventually led to the confidence and skill that I feel I have now.  Which will always and forever be "under construction."

So without further adieu, here are a few of the photos from Amy Bonner's very first family portrait session...

Sweet Lauren with her tough and yet girly sense of humor.

Ashley, with her spunk and sweet spice.

Thomas, with his tough guy, sweet, go and do attitude.

I wish these photos could speak.  They would definitely have a southern accent. ;)

And throw in some Little Joe to round it out.

The whole family!

And of course, some hilarious outtakes.

So much fun!  This last one especially shows their personality and was my most favorite of them all!  Thanks, Rex & Allycia, for asking me and trusting me to take these photos!!  I have the best family ever!