My Photography Journey

I’ve always loved photo’s.  The day I was 12, I got a bright red Kodak camera for my birthday, and that was pretty exciting!  The pictures were taken sparingly because they were expensive to develop, but I loved getting back a roll of film and I’d be giddy-excited for the one or two pictures out of twenty four that were ‘really good’.

I had numerous point and shoot cameras over the years, and in 2003, Kent and I were embarking on an amazing adventure.  We were going to canoe the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories of Canada.  It was a 3 week wilderness trip, where the only way in was by float plane, and the only way out was to paddle 560km to the nearest signs of civilization.  The scenery would be amazing, so we decided to buy an SLR camera to document this trip-of-a-lifetime.  It was right at the cusp of digital becoming popular, but we didn’t want to ‘risk’ digital.  There could, in no way, be a possibility of us not getting the photo’s we wanted.  We happily clicked away on auto mode, and loved what we captured of our expedition.

Less than a year after we bought the SLR, we welcomed our first daughter into the world, and that Christmas we were given a digital point and shoot, so we sold our SLR.  In the years that followed we upgraded to a better and beefier point and shoot, but I was always frustrated with blurry indoor photos.  It was a problem to me, because with a young and growing family, we were inside a lot, and that is where photo’s often got taken.  I never knew that I could be more in control of the quality – I was just constantly frustrated with the camera!!!

I am a hobby kind of gal.  I really like having an interest to pursue.  For a lot of years, it was the outdoors and in many ways it was a harsh reality for me not to be able to go on adventures quite the same, when I had a baby.  I started to look for more ‘at-home’ hobbies.  I quilted, sewed my own nappies/diapers, got into cake & cookie decorating, cooked creatively and from scratch, scrapbooked, tried to be organized, knitted, gardened and all sorts of other things.  Though I enjoyed these things, they weren’t what truly made my heart sing.

People around me talked about surfing the net.  I never did.  We had a dial-up connection and it was painfully slow! When we got broadband I wanted to surf the net too.  But what did people look at?  What was the appeal?  I tried a few google searches but I didn’t really know what I was doing and never came up with anything very interesting.  I am a person that tends to file tidbit’s of info in my brain, particularly of things that I would like to do in the future.  A couple of friends had mentioned, in conversation, things that they followed on the net, so by looking at those pages I somehow stumbled upon photography stuff.  It dawned on me that I, little old me, could LEARN to take awesome photo’s.  It was not some out-of-reach thing, for professionals only.  It was a defining moment for me.  It wasn’t about a camera, but about knowledge.  I was excited.  I started google searching for photography tips.  I found Click it up a Notch and Clickin Mom’s and they have been my main source of photography education.  I started using my point & shoot in manual mode.  I then bought my Dad’s Canon 450D.  There was no green auto box for me.  It was Manual from day one, trying to learn on-line for free.  It was a frustrating process.  I had 4 small kids, I worked a lot, and there were some particularly difficult challenges for me that year.  I didn’t have much time, but I tried hard.

During that year, 2011, we decided to make some life changes.  We resigned from BMAC and 2012 would be a sabbatical year for us.  We were going to travel with the kids, and find a new life in Canada.  And there were going to be many photographic opportunities!  I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a good photographer before we left.  After all, this was going to be a grand experience that needed to be captured in-camera!

I produced variable results during our 2012 sabbatical, though I shot to the best of my ability.  At the end of that year, I took a Lightroom course from Clickin Moms, and it really opened my eyes to how important it was for me to improve my SOOC shots.  In 2013 I decided to take on the challenge of a 365 project, still trying hard, but not having much time to experiment.  I did feel like I had a good grasp on how to operate my camera (because I read the instruction manual several times!), and that was a huge benefit to me.

In 2014 I made a couple more goals.  First, I was going to focus on learning about light.  I felt like my understanding of it was very weak.  Second, I was going to get correct white balance in camera. Third, I would nail my focus.

I am still very far from where I would like to be in terms of my ability as a photographer, but I feel like I have quite a bit of knowledge now, and can take the occasional photo that I love, that is sharp, has correct white balance/exposure and tells the story that I want it to.  Photography has given me a creative outlet.  It has stretched my brain to learn something that is pretty technical.  And it is something that works perfect with family life.

My kids are my main {over used} subjects, and I especially love to take pictures of them while we are on holiday and/or adventuring in new places.  I love seeing them placed in the frame of my camera in awe-inspiring environments.  I hope my images will help us preserve memories long after our brains have forgotten, and tangibly record God’s goodness in our lives.  It feels like such a privilege to document my kid’s childhoods.

I have regrets that I didn’t learn sooner, that I don’t have awesome pictures of when our older four were younger…..But I am so grateful that I have photography NOW.  I really love it 🙂