{my life at this moment}

With Caroline keeping my hands full all day, my photography business has kept me busy at night. I can't believe I have been blessed with this opportunity. I have loved every minute. Aside from becoming a parent, I don't know anything else I have done where I have learned so much in such a short time. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

If you haven't checked out my other blog, feel free to peruse here. I feel so blessed that God has given me the heart for photography, and I only hope I can serve and glorify him in all I do.

I also want to thank those who have been my support system. You know who you are. I don't know if I could have done this without you!

All my love--

kate

{august photography challenge: yipes}

I have always had awesome timing. And by awesome, I mean terrible.

Way to schedule the photography challenge when you're super duper busy and out of town all the time! Fail, Kate.

Oh, well. I do what I can with what I have when I am able to...

I am trying to catch up, but here are days 7-12. Hopefully I can catch up by Friday because I go out of town again :) Haha!

{I.Did.It!}

I found a chair on the side of the road. I decided to re-do it to be a photo prop. After weeks of cleaning, pinspiration, painting, and re-upholstering, I am SO happy it's done. Zach just might be even happier. I will do another post in the near future going through the how-to, but I couldn't wait to share the before and after! Hope you like it! Anyone want to take it for a spin??

{challenge: day six}

I got out of the house and went to downtown Beaumont. I love scouting locations for shots. I found some really cool places I could do portrait sessions, so if you know anyone in Beaumont (or that wants to come here), contact me! I took the theme for today pretty literal as you can tell. Trying to push myself out of my comfort zone to be more creative...

{challenge: day four}

I had fun with this one. I made a rule for myself that I couldn't use grass or any other plants as my something green... I wanted to force myself to get creative. This is one of my favorite things in the whole world... a coke or dr. pepper in a glass bottle. I'd drink one of these over dessert or even alcohol any day! I was out there less than 10 minutes and the mosquitos were eating me alive! Beaumont is the mosquito-breeding capital of the world.

I am loving friends that have started to join in. It is so much fun to see what people come up with! It's not too late. Join in whenever you want!

{challenge: day three}

We didn't get out of the house today, except once to go fill a prescription. Caroline is a bit under the weather. By the time I got out of the house to go pick up some dinner, I realized I didn't have my camera with me, and I didn't see a lot of clouds in the sky. So, I stopped in a church parking lot that has a field next to it, and took a picture with my iPhone of the one cloud in Beaumont's sky for the day!

I'm not super impressed with the picture, but I did improve the composition and color quite a bit in Lightroom. Not toooo horrible for a phone camera. I also took a few pictures with the hipstamatic camera app, but Zach liked my edit of the raw picture better. So, here is day 3! Tomorrow will be fun- I am trying to think of something really creative for something green...

And just for fun, here is the original straight-out-of-camera shot:

{challenge: day two}

I wanted to think outside the box for this one...

I like clothes and fashion, but I don't live it right now chasing after a 15 month old.

One thing I do really love are sunglasses. You won't find me without them. Ever.

I would love to see some others participating! I have had soooo many people ask me about how I get good pictures, what camera do I have, what lenses do I use... C'mon friends! Join in!

{challenge: day one}

this one was a hard one to start. i felt like a total goob taking pictures of myself. i really wanted to do a shot where i set the timer and the camera was further away, but zach convinced me to use this one. it isn't my favorite picture of myself, but i hope by day 30's self-portrait, i can come up with some better ideas. hopefully, this will also pull me out of my comfort zone and get the creative juices flowing so my clients will get even better pictures out of me! :)

***side note: i can't get the settings right to upload to the picasa gallery... so, leave a comment with a link, or make a facebook album and tag me or let me know you are doing it. i want to see everyone's pictures!

{challenge!}

Please join me on a 30 day Photography challenge! Starting August 1st...

You don't even have to have a fancy camera--use your cell phone if you don't! I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be a great way for me to get my creative juices flowing and inspire future photo sessions.

Here is the challenge: (All credit goes to here)

Upload your pictures to my picasa album here.

(**UPDATE: don't upload to picasa. I can't get it to allow outside people to upload)

Feel free to upload on your blog or facebook too! Just comment with a link so I can see everyone's pictures!

{what's in my bag}

A lot of people ask me what kind of camera I have, and how I get such great pictures. So, I thought I would share my not-so-secret answers... Everyone deserves to have great pictures, so feel free to email me any time you have questions.

In order of importance...

(1) First and foremost, I think the reason why I have great pictures is because I took my camera off auto-exposure. I learned how to shoot in the different manual modes, including full-manual. This is absolutely the number one reason-- even over the camera I use.

(2) I use a digital SLR camera by Canon called the 5D Mark II. It's a pretty fancy (and pricey) model, but I upgraded to go into professional photography (long-long-story short). I used to have a Canon digital Rebel XT. It is one of the most basic models you can have, but it takes great pictures. If you liked any pictures I have taken pre-2011, it was with that camera. And I can pretty much guarantee it was not shot in auto. :) Unless you are a professional photographer needing a full-frame sensor (sorry to get technical), you don't need anything higher than the most basic digital SLR. Save yourself the money if you are looking into getting a digital SLR, and get the most basic camera body. (This was advice given to me by a dear photographer friend pre-photography business). You don't have to have a digital SLR to take great pictures, but I would definitely invest in one where you can adjust exposure manually. This brings me to my next thought...

(3) Put money into your lenses. And in all actuality, if you are just wanting to take great pictures of your family, all you need is one special lens. And it is super inexpensive. Great, huh? You want to buy a 50mm (fixed focal length meaning it doesn't zoom in or out) with a maximum aperture of 1.8. Here is a link to the one I have. 99.999% of my pictures are taken with this lens. It is so great because it allows a lot of light in.

(4) Because I am a natural-light-only photographer, I have to adjust and work with what the sun gives me. Most photographers (at least at the level that I am) go back and adjust the light/white balance, and tweak any color issues. I took some pictures of Caroline in the shade in the backyard yesterday on a blue blanket. Guess what the camera picked up? The blue. (I should have done custom white balance but I didn't) So, I had to go back in and fix the white balance of the picture, so that what is supposed to be white, is white. And not blue.

All of this said, this is my best advice. If you want to take great everyday pictures of your family, take some time to read the manual for your camera and learn how to shoot on any of the manual modes. However, using a photographer is really a priceless way to get pictures you will cherish forever. Even though I am in business for myself, I have (and will continue to) hire a photographer to take family pictures of us.

Feel free to email me at kategavosphoto@gmail.com if you have any questions, or want to set up a session!