365 Project Month 1

I decided this year to take on a 365 Project... 

I plan on taking a photo a day for the entire year.

Lucky for me, I have teamed up with a talented group of women who are also doing this project and we can support and cheer each other along the way.

I can't believe I've made it through the first month.

It's not easy deciding what to photograph and not being able to edit every single image.

I'm just shooting and learning as I go.

I plan to compile all 365 photos into a coffee table book at the end of 2015.

Here is my favorite photo taken this month and the collage is the rest of the photos.

I'm excited to keep going and see what I can capture next month. 

My Top 12 of 2014

I have started to pull my favorite photos to put into a portfolio.

I am slowly starting to build my website. 

I was told by a photographer friend to go through my favorite photos and see what the commonalities are and what are some things I can improve on.

This is not an easy task... 

I have enlisted the help of a local photographer who used to work for the Discovery Channel to look over my work and give me feedback.

These are the 12 I'm submitting to him for review.  

Here's my favs for 2014 in no particular order. 

My vision in the fog..

As many of you know by now I have been working really hard at photography for the past 3+ years.

I have taken countless classes and I have pushed myself hard to find a definitive style and to slowly start my own business.  

I have tried to be more methodical in my photography.. to slow down and have a vision of how I want a photo to look, how I want a photo to feel.  

I love photos that show some sort of emotion or movement, some sort of connection.

Just before Christmas I was at a local thrift store looking for some sort of "colonial days" outfit for Lucy and her upcoming Colonial Days program at school.

I came across a wedding dress, a simple white wedding dress for $8.

I immediately saw Olivia wearing this wedding dress and running down our street into the fog.

The vision was clear and I was excited.. now, I just needed the dress to fit and a foggy day.

I brought the dress home and had Olivia try it on.

It fit her like it was custom made for her.

It's only slightly too big where the fabric comes over the shoulders, but I felt this could work in my favor.  :)

So, on Christmas day the fog rolled in and it was thick.. I joked that it was somewhat of a "white" Christmas.

I asked Olivia if she would mind braving the cold and do a "quick" photoshoot.

She agreed (after some bribing) and out we went.

I had Olivia run (barefoot) down the main street of our sub-division into the wall of fog.

And here is the result...

I edited these different ways because I couldn't decide on which one I liked best. 

I realize this may not be everyones "cup of tea" I know most people like posed, smiling photos.. and that's just not me, just not what I want to do. 

I'm just happy I'm finally able to make my "visions" come to life. 

I have many goals set for myself in 2015 and can't wait to get started! 

Snow Love

We finally got some snow and Lucy and I headed out to the backyard to take some fun photos.

The flakes were big and fluffy, just the way we like them.    :)