Q + A

what type of equipment do you use?

i've got to admit. i'm a canon girl. always have been & always will be. whether its the powershot, the rebel, or my latest investment (60D), canon has always produced bright and popping photos that fit my style.

when did you start photography?

the summer of 2008, my mom's best friend lent me her canon 20D. i never wanted to get it back. i shot everything. since then, i've learned a lot, but that summer was the beginning of a passion that wasn't going to die down!

what are your normal shooting settings?

all my work on here has been done in manual. i'm can have OCD tendencies, so i wanted to have control over how my pictures were going to turn out. i'm always at the smallest f-stop (usually right around 5.6); when i'm outside, i use mainly 100/200 iso and 1/100 aperture.

parents -- do they tag along for senior pictures or do you request them not to be there?

whatever makes them feel the most comfortable, honestly. i haven't had any "hover" parents because they understand that i'm the photographer - and i know what i'm doing. if parents start to hover, i will, of course, listen to their comments & try to incorporate their concerns. however, if the client will loosen up or be more "real" without a parent hovering, i'll suggest they go get a cup of coffee while the client & i just shoot together. but remember, patience is needed in all career fields!

what is the best advice you've ever been given?

j*, my favorite lifestyle photographer once said, "I dove head first into my business when I realized fear shouldn't dictate how I live my life...because the life I wanted to live was trapped in a Canon camera, a unknown blog, and 250 black business cards. That's all I had, but fear couldn't rob me of following my dreams. It shouldn't rob anyone of them."

fear has stopped me from accomplishing a lot of things in the past, but this - this business i have right here - is my dream. and like j* said, fear shouldn't rob anyone of following their dreams.

+ since every post is better with a picture...