If a picture really was worth a thousand words, I wouldn't have to type all this.

Last night I finished up editing some engagement photos I did for my brother-in-law, Neil, and his lovely Susanne.  It has been nearly a year and a half since the last time I did a session of that nature.  In fact, except for one family this summer, I haven't done any paid portraits and that suits me just fine.

I kind of dived into *professional* photography haphazardly.  I had no experience, no technical knowledge at all.  All I knew is that I liked taking photos and that some people liked what they saw.  I thought some day I'd like to shoot weddings, and maybe, if I was brave enough, magazine spreads.

My first paying gig came my way right after I was married.  My cousin's husband, Damien, was shooting a kind of documentary about this woman who entered a body building contest at the age of about 40.  He asked me to come along and shoot still photos to help document the day of the competition.  Terrified and unconfident as I was, I borrowed my dad's Minolta 35mm film camera, bought a bunch of film, took a huge breath and snapped away.  I spent the entire day with this lady and her family and trainer.  I attended my first (and probably last) body building competition.  The result was... mediocre.  Lots and lots and lots of my shots were blurry or out of focus as I was shooting, except for the stage lights, in near darkness.  A lot of the key moments I captured were unusable because of it.  However, some were pretty good and we had enough that were decent to compile a presentable album for her.  (I tried to find the rejects for you, but I can't remember where I put them.  There were a few really good ones that the lady wasn't in so they were rejected, but I thought you'd get a kick out of them.)

That was my first and I was so relieved when it was over.  After that there was a band shoot, then a family shoot and then my first wedding.  Ha.  That first wedding was...  well, really pathetic.  I had no business being there, really.  I still knew nothing about photography.  I didn't know about aperture, f/stops, white balance; all of which are pretty essential in knowing at least a little about when trying to take decent professional photos.  My camera was set on Automatic the entire time!  Aaah!  I shudder to think about that now.

Anyway, about five weddings and a handful of family and newborn portraits later, I decided to go on sabbatical.  I wasn't having fun.  I still felt like I didn't know what I was doing, even after taking a class.  And taking people's money and then having to manage that money with taxes and whatnot...  Beyond stressful.  So now I just do it for fun.  Every once in awhile a friend will ask for some photos and I'm happy to oblige.  I get to practice (because I still love taking portraits) and they get something better than average.  It's a win-win.

That brings me back to Neil and Susanne.  I've been thinking about their photos for a really long time.  They were engaged in July and from the moment I knew they were to be engaged, I hoped they'd ask me for engagements.  (They actually asked for the wedding, too, but I declined.  I'm still not ready to jump back into that arena.)  I wanted to go beyond what I had done before, which wasn't all that impressive, really.  I wanted to see if I could pull off something like the photographers I have so admired.

And guess what?  I did.  One photo in particular elicited a wowed "I can't believe I took that!"  It is amazing.  And now you're expecting to see it, aren't you?  Well, I wish I could, but they haven't even seen them yet, and as most of you know them and will probably be receiving a wedding announcement from them, I must wait for permission from them.

It was really fun.  And they were really fun.  And then they bought me lunch and that was really yummy.  :)  It was fun to get back into the saddle and experiment with ideas I had.  Maybe someday I'll have a desire to "go professional" again, but that will probably be a long way down the road, after I know for myself that my photos are worth the money people will give me.  Until then, count yourself lucky if you're my friend or relation, because free photos may be in your future.