Best Friends: One of life's biggest perks.

This evening I had the pleasure of shooting Danielle and Olivia. The two have been best friends for quite some time now. Since middle school actually. We met at Kennesaw State University, where both girls are currently attending school to start off the shoot. We met around 5, and on the way over I was freaking out a bit inside as the sun was still waaaay up in the sky. Not the ideal position to be shooting in, however, I was able to find some open shade to start with, and then the sun began to lower in the sky and the shots that followed were just amazing.

I tweeted earlier today that while I love photography, sometimes I feel as if it doesn't love me back. And I say that, because there are days where I absolutely love photography. And today, after this shoot, is one of those days. But there are other days, that I absolutely hate it. (Not literally). But there are days when I get so frustrated when my artistic vision isn't coming out in the photos I'm taking. Today however. Today, I LOVE photography. I am incredibly happy with the photos from tonight's shoot. In the past I have relied very heavily on post-processing in order to get a "cool" photograph. However, after burying my head in books, I mean, the internet, I have once again got re-inspired to go out and shoot photographs that are amazing straight out of my camera. In fact, I recently painted a wall in my room with chalkboard paint, and written in HUGE capital letters is "STOP RELYING ON POST-PROCESSING TO MAKE A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH!!!". (The three exclamation points aren't an exaggeration) I am happy to say that today I am content with the photos I took. As when it comes to photography, I'm never happy/satisfied.

The light was a bit of a challenge today, not so much the location of the sun in the sky, but instead, the location on my subjects and the sun. I was shooting straight INTO the sun for the majority of the shoot, and while it does produce that beautiful highlight in the girls' hair, it is quite a challenge to not blow out the image. I had to hold the camera in one hand, and block the light with either my hand, or my westcott 42inch 4-in-1 reflector. While this doesn't sound so difficult, autofocusing while doing so hindered me to get some of the compositions I really wanted. But, overall I am very happy with the outcome. Anywho, on to the photos, most of these photos are un-edited and straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC).

As always, leave your comments at the bottom, I always love reading them!

P.S. I am incredibly behind on editing. I have been really pushing myself to learn more from a post-processing perspective so I am quite behind, but I will be updating the blog quite frequently over the next few days. Be sure to check back in!