March is Exciting

March is shaping up to be a pretty good month. I have a bunch of new shoots coming up, two engagement shoots that should turn out to be a lot of fun. I also have a shower to shoot for a friend at the end of the month.

Planning for Frankie and Jessica's engagement and wedding has been under way and they seem to have all of their things in order. That makes things real easy for me. Now that I know what they are looking for in the shoots I can begin to do my part. I try not to get too tech crazy when it comes to equipment when I do any kind of shoot. I know my strengths and weaknesses so I try to just do what I do best. I can just relax and concentrate on taking good pictures and focus on composition. If all of my equipment is in good working order and I have back-ups just in case of an emergency I can be relaxed. I do not want to have to worry about whether or not my equipment is good enough or if I look professional enough. At the end of the day my work speaks for itself. My images book jobs not my equipment!

That being said....I do try to upgrade equipment every chance I can. Higher end equipment just flat out performs better. It does not make anyone a better photographer though. You still have to have that sense. You have to know when to anticipate that great shot. You also have to trust yourself and know what you are doing. If you are over thinking everything you are also sort of missing everything. I have a pretty good routine and I know when I can sneak away for a second if I need to swap batteries or just stop for a drink of water. I will admit that I hate flash units and wish I could shoot everything with natural light but let's face it, if you are going to shoot weddings you have to use a flash now and then, some times multiple flash units. I don't get lost in it though. If a shot looks good without it I will shoot it again with a little fill flash just to be sure. The one thing I have learned early on is that you can never take too many pictures. The more the better! Sometimes that perfect shot was the split second after you took your initial shot. Burst is your friend! I don't want to miss anything so I shoot like crazy, mostly during the reception, overall I load up cards.

Ok I'm sort of rambling now. The point of this blog was to say how excited I am for all the shoots that I have coming up! There it has now been said. Time for lunch!

Cheers,
Mark