These pictures were taken back in 2018, when I was still figuring out this whole photography thing. I remember getting the photos on my computer and being so surprised and pleased with how they turned out. Remembering that feeling while thinking of this blog post allowed me to pinpoint the difference between feeling like a hobbyist and feeling like a professional:
The hobbiest hopes they have good photos. The professional knows they have good photos.
It’s no longer a guessing game. It’s no longer, “I think the light looks good here.” I now know when it is good and I know how to control it if it isn’t.
Maternity shoots go a little differently for me now than back in 2018 with Kara, but I still love these pictures and am so grateful that Kara has allowed me to document her journey through life.
If you want to see some improvement, check out my first set of maternity photos with Kara when she was pregnant with little Eli in 2016. Kara, Tiffany, and I went over to Fox Run Park and just played around for an hour. This is still when I had my camera on the auto setting and didn’t quite know what I was doing. The focus is off in some of these and I didn’t know anything about aperture and how to get the depth of field I wanted. They are still super cute, fun, and playful pictures and a good reminder of how photography is about constantly learning and growing.
Kara has been my best friend since high school and is really the first photography subject I ever had. If you want a real throwback, check out these pictures we took way back in senior year of high school. This was probably the first time I held a DSLR, and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with it. I also think all of these are in sepia because I had no idea what to do with the color temperature of the light. Plus, I probably thought it was cool. Kara has always been so beautiful and such a good friend. She appeared in loads of my college video projects and has always been up for whatever I asked. There is some seriously hilarious stuff we made together. I always thank God that Tik Tok and all of these video apps weren’t around when we were teenagers. I cringe to think of what we might have put on the internet!
But, you know what, these memories are so precious because we were just having so much fun together. I am so lucky that I have Kara in my life! Maybe I will get to keep updating this post with even more portraits of Kara as we get older! It’s great to have lifetime best friends!
