3 months.

Hello again. It has been three months, a quarter of a year, since I posted last. SO much as happened!

I've had lots of shoots, and for the first time in a really, really long time, I am the most confident in my shooting, the most comfortable. That may be because...

I GRADUATED!!!

Ok, so not anything formal like university status, but the Professional Photography course I enrolled in last year. The one I hadn't even looked at in 6+ months, and was pretty certain I would never finish. Then one day, I realized that I had nothing to lose, and that I had learned a lot over the past year, so I jumped in. Ok, more liked LEAPED! I finished 8 assignments, which usually takes 4-8 months, in less than THREE weeks! I've never been this proud of myself. I was sure I had wasted my money once again, but proved myself wrong!

In March, I did Maddie's First birthday pictures. Here are a few that from that shoot, which were also on display at her party!




Not long after Maddie's pictures, I did a shoot in Shell Beach with the Gonzalez family, along with an asthma attack! Luckily they are friends, so it wasn't TOO embarassing, but still, not fun. Not to be cocky, but THESE pictures, I knew would be gorgeous, not because of me, but because they are a gorgeous family, AND since I was still a student, I was able to purchase Photoshop CS5 (the big one) and Photoshop Lightroom 3, two amazing, and very needed programs. Purchasing them as a student allowed be to get them at 80+% off! I'm so lucky. And I was so lucky to get THESE shots...







...Told you, GORGEOUS! :)

A few weeks later, I did Amanda & Henry's engagement shoot! Their wedding is this weekend! :)









I also went to Texas again, and finally got to meet Rylan! Of course I took pictures of him :)







Oh! And before I went to Texas, I did a surprise 4 month shoot with Miss Poppy M...here are a few of her too! :)








So I have a shoot with kids at the beach this Friday. Amanda & Henry's wedding on Saturday. I also have a wedding in July, and TWO in August! :)

So. Blessed.

***UPDATE***I've had this blog saved because it wouldn't post!

So...it has been almost two weeks since the beach shoot and Amanda & Henry's wedding. I was so super stoked on the pictures I got from both shoots, I'm feeling pretty confident in my skills...FINALLY.Here are a few from my beach shoot with Angel and Sammy:







And of course, a "few" from Amanda & Henry's wedding! I just love LOVE! :)







So that's it, that's been my last few months...and I still have 3 more weddings to go! :)

-NS

Babies.

I love them. They are so tiny and adorable. Taking newborn pictures is very special. When babies are born, there is usually lots of chaos. Mom is sore, Dad is scared, and there are people coming in and out bringing gifts, food, etc. While all that is very nice, I would think things must get pretty annoying at some point. With all of the new adjustments and changes, taking out your camera during that first week may seem like a pretty daunting task. Before you know it, the baby is a month old and in different size clothes already. That's where I come in. Schedule me BEFORE the birth, and all you have to do if give me a call when you get home. Easy peasy. Spread the word.

My birthday was this past weekend (thank you), and the say after, as a little gift, I had the priviledge of taking Baby Kaydence's very first professional pictures. Kaydence was a stubborn little girl who refused to really sleep, and was only happy with her paci in her mouth, so that made things a little complicated. I'm still really happy with the pictures that I got, and hopefully mom & dad love them, because that's all that really matters. Here are a few of Baby Kaydence :)

Happy New Year.

So I'm a little behind. Typical. Most people have me as a friend on Facebook, but in case you don't or have some spare time to waste, I will continue to blog.

My last post was at the end of October. The beginning of November brought a baby shower and a trip to Texas. While in Texas, I had the awesome chance to take my aunt's family's pictures. They are so fun, and I'm so lucky to be a part of their lives, from 1500 miles away. I also got to co-shoot with my aunt while doing my cousin, who is like my little sister, Danielle's maternity shoot. SO fun. Love them. Below you will find some of the Texas trip pictures.









Right before I went to Texas, I also shot one of my besties, Amanda, her maternity and family pictures, in case baby Poppy arrived before I came home. Here are some from that shoot.








When I got home from Texas, I did a mini shoot with Caleb and Penny for Christmas presents. Too adorable.




December was a very busy month at The Hitching Post! Our gift cards were welcomed into Costco just days before Christmas! Such excellent timing, and an even better blessing. I didn't do much shooting in December. HOWEVER, this little angel arrived very early on December 30th, and I was very honored to be there!



10ish days later, I shot the "official" shoot of Poppy and her family!







Just before Christmas, my uncle proposed to his girlfriend Angie, and guess who was hired as the photographer? ME! :) A week after doing Poppy's shoot, I did my first engagement session. Here are a few of my favs...







With my last two sessions, I've noticed my external flash has not been working properly. If you know anything about photography, you may know that the actual flash on your camera is like a flash light, not a very good one. So I had a lot of lighting issues becaus of that. I was going to put off getting a new one for a few weeks, but then I was offered an excellent opprotunity by a local childrens clothing store. Beach Babies in Grover Beach wants me to be one of their "in house" photographers! I would actually be the one to do outdoor shoots of the kids since I prefer non statue like pictures! All in all, SO awesome. So then I determined that to proceed, waiting to get a flash was non realistic. So I got one, a Canon Speedlite 430. And it is AMAZING. I'm also looking at a phenominal new lens, but that little puppy has to wait!

So that is my update! I'm hoping I get to go back to Texas soon to meet Baby Rylan who was born on my Grandma's birthday :), and do a shoot with him!

Goodnight!

Reflecting.

So I had a little down time, so I decided to review all of my past blogs, starting with the first one, in February.

Even though it was only 8 months ago, I've changed so much. I was so silly! Seeing my first pics that I "edited" were hilarious. I thought I was a hotshot because I could change the lighting. LOL. Too funny. Kinda lame too. Ha!

Really though, that is one of the reasons I even created this blog, was to track my progress as I make my way through professional photography. Never did I think it would be this hard. All the things I've had to learn, all the things I STILL need to learn...shoot, the list goes on. All the technicallities to taking a single picture, which are easy to do now, but 8 months ago...ha!

And school is a whole other issue. Don't know if I've mentioned it on here, but in April I enrolled into the Photography Institute digital photography program, and it's sooooooo hard! I'm the kind of person who buys on impulse, bad, I know, but I'm working on it. Anyway, I suppose I should have shopped around for my education a little more than I did because there are a lot of things that I'm having to learn that I will never use. Sounds like high school right? It's just frustrating because there are so many other things I would rather be doing than learning about 100 year old film cameras!

Now I feel better. :)

I also created this blog as free therapy to myself, lol!

I've also made the decision, which is making me be financially smart as well, lol, I've decided to put off buying the big Photoshop CS5 (it's like $700) until I am a freakin pro with Photoshop Elements. Make sense? Unless someone wants to buy it for me, then by all means :) Kidding.

And I've done two weddings! That still blows me away! I would have never thought 8 months ago, that I would have shot two weddings. That's a big, scary deal! Go me!

So I'm done feeling all nostalgic. I'm proud of myself, of the progress I've made in essentially teaching myself a new trade that is WAY different than I thought it would ever be. More importantly, I still LOVE it! :)

I've got lots of shoots lined up within the next few weeks, which I am SO excited about! LOTS and LOTS of pictures to come soon!

-NSP

Busy.

Well, well, well. Another month long gap in between blogs. As lame as that is, I do have a legitimate excuse. I shot TWO weddings!

Wedding number one, the Gauna wedding, was on Saturday, October 2nd. Talk about nervous.

The ladies were getting ready at the Santa Maria Inn, and I was to be there at noon. On the way there, I was a wreck. No, seriously. I was a hot mess. I was so completely nervous. I was shaking, nauseous. I was even CRYING. Yes, crying. I was positive that I was not cut out for this, that I was not good enough, etc. After my little breakdown, I turned on my iPod to some Black Eyed Peas, cranked it up, and sang along. I calmed down, still nervous, but now a was actually functional.

The day before the wedding, I spoke with the other photographer, that the grooms sister was bringing to the wedding. She had about 8 years of wedding photography experience, so I whole-heatedly agreed to second shoot and let her take the lead.

On the wedding day, I walked into the lobby of the hotel, saw a lady with the same camera bag as myself. I assumed it was "Kat" and introduced myself. She took me upstairs to the room where the ladies were getting ready. I really calmed down here, especially when I took out my camera and got down to business.

I really did enjoy myself. There were a lot of things I learned from Kat. I mean a lot. However, the only thing that really bothered be was the way she spoke to the bridal party, the groom in particular. They were HILARIOUS and fun, and just having a good time. Kat really didn't seem into their humor, but that's probably because she was there for one thing only, and that was to get the job done. I still thought some of her comments were inappropriate, regardless of the timeline or other things that were to be done.

Christina and Paul (the bride and groom) were awesome. They were so fun and in love and open to so many things. Such fun and they were great people to have for my first wedding.

Here are some pics from their big day.











Wedding number 2, was the very next day. I had met with this bride a few weeks prior, so I wasn't nervous AT ALL! What a relief. And kinda funny considering this was my first wedding with ME leading. It was weird and fun all at the same time. My second shooter was my bestie, so there were no issues there. Such an easy, fun wedding. I also learned a lot that day too. This wedding was much shorter than the first, so all in all, it just seemed easier. Here are some pics:












So that's it for now. Lots coming soon...holiday pictures, maternity pictures, and NEWBORN pics! Can't wait! :)