Objective: stop chasing perfect images and just shoot your heart out.

We all know it...that image that stops you cold when you're downloading them or staring at the back of your camera.  It's perfect!  Problem is, it isn't easy to get and it doesn't reliably happen and you can't always predict it.  My friend, Danny, always says "It's a camera, not a magic wand".  Repeat this to yourself over and over...

So what do you do when you abandon the notion of making perfect images?  You can absolutely practice, study, read and focus on making your images better every day.  That is what I am trying to do.  When you let go of perfect, you will be happier shooting, you'll shoot more and you will get better every day.  When I first learned about photography it was all film based.  My teacher used to say, "film is cheap, shoot as much as you can".  Now with digital cameras shooting more is even less than cheap, it's FREE!

If you get stuck on what to shoot, give yourself assignments.  I've run across a lot of blogs where people are doing just that.  I've seen a picture a day experiments or 30 days of pictures and so on.  I knew someone back in art school who took a self portrait each day.   How about this for inspiration- Here's a Flickr gallery of self portraits called 365 days.

I need time lines, deadlines and projects.  If I just have a loose idea of what I want to do it gets pushed aside or procrastinated to a "better" day or time.  Don't procrastinate, start today.

When you photograph kids like I do, perfection is nearly impossible to achieve.  It does happen though.  Everything lines up and all the kids look the right way and the light is perfect and it's magical.  Often, in the search for perfect you get something better, something imperfect, honest and real.  In many ways that is much more perfect than the perfect pose or smile.

Your mission from today forward is to let go of preconceived pictures and ideas of the perfect shot.  Grab your camera and go take great, imperfect shots.  Here's one for inspiration.

Last week I talked about getting creative and inspiring your creativity.  I wanted to follow up this week with some ideas for where you can go do just that.

Getting creative doesn't mean that you have to write a masterpiece novel or paint the next Mona Lisa.  If you have never really done anything artistic you need to think about how your kids learn to do it.  They scribble, finger paint and cut things out.  Be realistic to your skill set and let's start where you are not where you want to be.

Here are some of my favorite things to do with my kids that are fun and creative:

Family programs at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts:  Sayer loves this!  One of the ones that we went to was all about Chinese art.  They had drummers and a Chinese dragon and craft stations for things like origami, kite making and mask making.  It was so much fun!

The Mad Potter: both of the kids love doing this.  Finn loves it for significantly less time than Sayer does but that is a function of age.  Sayer will sit and paint multiple statues and has a blast.  I always pull up a chair and paint alongside him.

Texas Art Supply: I love taking the kids to Texas Art and letting them pick out their favorite 2 or 3 items and then we go home and have fun.

Here are some other places that I have heard about (for kids) that are on my list to try out:

Art Mix Learning Center

Young at Art
The Contemporary Art Museum- it's always free!

Okay, now where do you to get some personal creative time without your kids?  Here is a short list of some places that you should go try out.

Sew Crafty Houston- go check out their website!  They have classes for adults (and kids too actually) in sewing, paper crafts, knitting and more!  Next thing you know you'll be needing an account on ETSY to sell all your fab wares.

Mary Charles Yarn Co.- a yarn shop on sunset that has classes in crocheting and knitting.

Make a cake!

Drawing classes at The Art League

Photography at HCP, Houston Center for Photography

The Cy Twombly Gallery and the Menil

Beginning Photography class at my studio!  Set for September 13th, call us for details (713) 255-2880.

These are just a few things here in houston.  There are so many cool places to go and get inspired.  I like just browsing the art at the Menil Collection, MFAH, HCP or CAM (links above for all).  The CAM is free too!  Why not drop the kids off and head over for a quick, quiet walk through?  Got a long lunch hour?

Do you have any other great ideas??  I'd love to hear them, please leave your comments.

If I had to isolate one thing that I love the most about myself or the one thing that I think is the best part of me, it would be my art.  Making things has been a part of my life since I was little.  I was lucky enough to attend a visual arts high school here in Houston that really helped me develop that side of myself.  From high school on, making things has become an exercise that I cannot live without.  I've tried mind you.  There have been periods in my life without art.  It never lasted long and I'd find myself crafting or gardening or doing something creative.  My hands cannot be idle for too long.  I get a little crazy, depressed and confused.  Now I know these signs but for years I'd just get all bent out of shape and unhappy and not really know why.

My husband is an attorney and from the outside his work may not look real creative but in reality he is.  He is a wonderful writer.  He crafts contracts like a novelist crafts his novels.  He geeks out on words and the nuances of the sentences.  Other lawyers read his writing and compliment him on how perfect it is.  He also writes nice stories and the best love letters ever.

With my photography I am given the chance to be creative almost every day.  It's not easy though.  Recently I am finding out that my creativity (and I think everyones) is not a never ending stream.  It has to be tended to and nurtured.

If I just shoot, shoot and keep shooting and do nothing to fill the creative gas tank it eventually starts to run dry.  I find myself stuck, frustrated, bored and anxious about the work that I am doing.  I start making mistakes and I lose my focus.  This is true of everyone whether you are making photographs, being a stay-at-home parent, writing novels, being a lawyer or whatever you may do every day.

We all need to find a way to fill up the creative gas tank.  For me, it means stepping out of what I do every day and doing something a little different.  It means taking pictures that I may not normally take.  France did that for me.  You do not need to travel to Europe to get new creative energy though.  There are a lot of ways to get inspired.  My good friend, Brene, wrote a great post about the importance of restoring your creative energy and how vital it is to the hard job of parenting.  My partner-in-crime Danny Clark has started a new project (look here and here) that is helping him nurture his creative spirit. 

So, the question that I have for you is what are you doing to take care of your delicate creative energy?  Do you feel like it is waning?  I'm sure some people feel like they may have lost it entirely.  I assure you though, it never goes away completely.  It is just buried and it really wants to come out.

What does this have to do with The Monday Lesson?  If you are going to take photographs that you love, you have to get creative.  How are you going to do that?  This is the question that I am posing to you today.  Here are some ideas:

- Journal- keep a little "idea book".  Maybe it is ideas for stories that you are writing?  Maybe it is doodles, ramblings, musings, collages?  When your kids sit down to draw maybe you could too?  No one has to see these things.  They can be your secret.  Sometimes we need privacy as we start getting creative again after a time out.

 

- If you are teaching yourself photography, try taking pictures of things that you wouldn't normally photograph.

 

- Move- No not houses or anything, move your body.  Try a Nia class at Nia Moves or a dance class or martial arts.

 

- Craft

 

- Don't just watch your kids play with the moon sand or the playdough, get in on the action too.

Now that I am back at work I have been asking myself the same question.  What can I do to keep my work vibrant, personal and unique?  What do I need to do to keep myself excited and keep the energy going?  Read on and I think you guys can help.

Saturday I had a great session with the Rahimis.  While I was taking the pictures I felt myself getting excited and I was loving the images.  It's a wonderful feeling.  I wanted to share some of them with you.

Newborn photography is a favorite of mine.  No matter how many newborn sessions I do, I am always struck by how amazing babies are.  If the session goes well, the baby is relaxed and I am able to really watch them and be with them and make some great images in the process.  That is how it was on Saturday and it filled up my creative gas tank.

I love it when babies smile in their sleep. My grandmother used to say it was the angels talking to them.  I love that idea and whenever a baby smiles in their sleep while I am shooting I imagine an angel whispering in their ear right there next to me.

So, my answer to keeping my creative energy flowing is to follow the work that I love and try and push myself in new directions.  I am going to try some new techniques too.  I am hoping that you guys can help.

Hear ye, hear ye!  This is an official model call!  I am looking for the following:

Newborn twins: 2-4 weeks depending on birth weight and age.  Know anyone having twins? 

Pass this along.

Newborn single babies: 2 weeks old

What's the catch?  What do you get?  You get a free session and a free 8x10.  What are the rules?  I will likely only photograph the baby and I get to have creative control over the session.  You will have to sign a model release.  I am using these images for my portfolio and a book that I am working on.  I will likely have an idea of what I want to do and will focus on one pose.  It won't be anything weird and you will likely love it as well!  Questions, give me a call at the studio.  (713) 255-2882.

OK, now go and get busy being creative.  I will too.  I'd love to hear how you get creative.  Share your ideas with us and comment!

Silhouettes are striking and dramatic.  They are also fairly easy to create.   Make sure and review the lesson on metering from earlier and this will be much easier.  Once you have read through that previous lesson, you will need to seek out the right conditions.  A good first try would be around dusk like the image below or by a window.  In the following image, the sky is brighter than the foreground tree.  So, if you meter for the background, it will make the tree go dark and create your silhouette.  That is the trick.  The background and foreground have to be dramatically different light values for you to easily create a silhouette. 

This is the sunset sky that I see each night from my front porch in France.  Le coucher du soleil est beau, n'est-ce pas?  Le coucher du soleil means sunset.  The literal translation is the sun going to bed.  Isn't that so sweet?  French has so many beautiful little phrases and expressions like that.

In the earlier lesson there was this example of my son standing in front of a window.

This image is not a full silhouette but it could have been depending on how my camera controls were set.  If I had wanted him to be darker and the background to be even darker, I would have had to let less light into the camera by speeding up my shutter or opening up my aperture.  You can always take the exposure that your meter gives you and switch to manual mode and then adjust from there.  I will do that if the camera's pre-set mode is getting me close to what I want but not exactly what I want.

So, go play with your controls and see what you can come up with!  Remember to post your examples on the Monday lesson Flickr Group page.

I started a Flickr group for The Monday Lesson.  Please post all of your images and then we can all discuss and critique!

The Monday Lesson Flickr Group