Before a shoot, I spend some time reviewing images from previous shoots to get some ideas and narrow my focus for my next task.  What shots really worked? Which ones didn’t? Which poses were spot on? Which ones need some tweaking?

I also spend quality time with my camera, more so than usual.  In all of the workshops I’ve attended, in the majority of the books that I’ve read and from the advice I’ve received, the one nugget that is repeated more often than not is to be able to know every button and function on your camera at a moments notice.  That’s a daunting task to say the least.  There are a lot of buttons. There are a lot of multi-function buttons.  And while the perpetual brown-nosing student in me was like, “Oooh! Ooh! I am so going to nail this!”, the thirty-plus mother of two, realistic me was like, “On/Off switch, here. I’m good.”

When other people learn that I’m a photographer (yes, I’m owning that flat out. No more prefacing it with “aspiring”), they often have questions about how to use their cameras.  I get a little thrill when I am able to correctly and succinctly answer those questions.  While I can say that I did read my owner’s manual (and there are penciled in notes and highlighted passages to prove it), I’m not saying I’ve got the manual memorized.  It amazes me how some people purchase these expensive pieces of equipment and in their haste to starting snapping away, don’t even bother to learn some simple functions.

Case in point. Last October, we were at a birthday party for one of the kids in the girls social circle.  I didn’t really know anyone there, but gravitated toward a gaggle of Lululemon uniformed suburban hausfraus. Several of them had Canon SLRs slung around their necks, a few had Nikons, and so I waited for a good break in the conversation to talk cameras and introduce myself.  After the usual, “Hi, how are you? How do you know So-and-So?”, I asked one of the moms how she was enjoying her camera.


Me: How are you enjoying your camera? 


Hausfrau: Oh, it’s really cool, but I wish that it had a playback feature? I mean, what’s the point of spending $1200 on a camera if you can’t even see the pictures right away? 

She snaps off a couple of rounds as some kids go scampering by and then turns the camera body for our inspection.  The LCD screen on the camera is as blank as the look of disbelief I’m giving her.

Me: Did you check to see that the playback feature was enabled? 

Her turn to give me the blank look.


Hausfrau: The what? 


Right.  I spend a few minutes talking with her about the playback feature on the camera, how to get there, how to customize it to 2 seconds or 10 seconds or whatever, and that the longer the LCD was on, the more her battery would get sucked dry.  All of this, I learned from the quickstart guide for my own Nikon.  Spitting it out with an air of authority made me a freakin’ Ansel Adams in this crowd.

Several weeks ago, I was at an event with some other moms, most of whom were toting some serious cameras and glass (shop talk for lenses).  This one mom had a lens that I had never seen before, so I asked her, what kind of lens it was.

Me:  What kind of lens is that you’re shooting with?


Camera Mom: Huh? Oh! This? Oh, I don’t know, my husband gave it to me for Christmas. 


Me:  Do you mind if I take a peek? 

And she hands me her very expensive Canon with her equally expensive lens which I determine to be a 17-300 f/2.8.  What that means is. . .  Well, let’s just say this is a serious piece of glass that, with some study and know how, will give you phenomenal pictures.  So I told her that.

She just smiled and kept taking pictures.  At least she had her playback feature enabled.

I know, I must sound like a huge douche-canoe, getting all snarky with people over something that in the grand scheme of things is no big deal.  As a matter of fact, the less they know, the better it is for me. I’m the professional! Hire me!  I guess, as with most things of value, I like to see them treated with respect and knowledge.  I mean, if that were the Hope Diamond around your neck, I’d rather you tuck it into a velvet pouch when you take it off at the end of the day, rather than just drop on your dress next to your smart phone and car keys.  Oh, who am I kidding? If you had the Hope Diamond around your neck, it’s highly doubtful you’d be taking it off any time soon.  Am I right?

Anyway,  I’ve got a shoot coming up, so my camera and I have been spending some time together. I’ve been thumbing though some books, looking for ideas and tricks. I’ve been working quite a bit with black and white.  There is something so magnetic and striking about the absence of color.   I’ve found some poses I’d like to try and am learning how to get what’s in my head out onto the LCD screen.  I need some new models, though; the girls see me coming with the camera and they head off in the other direction.

Thankfully, I got a few good shots before they decided they’d had enough.  And they know all about the playback feature, too.  The sound of the shutter click mixed in with “Can I see it? Can I see it?” became the soundtrack to our shoot.

Shooting into the light

Close-up

I told her to make her neck like a swan

Plotting their global take-over, no doubt

Sisters

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