Lucky

I was inspired when I saw this quick video by Chase Jarvis. His tagline is "the best camera is the one that's with you". He's a professional photographer but he takes pictures for fun with his iPhone. If you have a minute, check it out. I love that he's talking about seizing the moment and capturing the pictures that get his attention. I got his book and admire his images.

In his book, he writes "the dirtiest secret in photography: shoot a hell of a lot of pictures to get the ones you want".

I've had many ups and downs this year with my 365 photo commitment. Yet day after day, I pick up the camera and fire off some shots. Some days, it's 5 pictures or less. Other days, I get carried away and take more than 50.

So I was pleased to read that quote from Jarivs because I believe the only way I'm going to get better at photography is to keep studying and to keep taking a hell of a lot of pictures.

It helps that I have such a lovely subject.

Sometimes I like to keep a picture just as I shot it instead of cropping it to the rule of thirds.

This was my favorite shot of the day. I knew when I clicked that I had something I would like. Check out that cool shadow made by the leaf she's holding.

I never ask Kylie to look my way or smile or pose. I try to stay unobtrusive when I photograph her. Yet when I nabbed this lucky shot, I breathed a big ole "Yes". Kylie looked up at me and smiled.

I also try to catch little bits of Kylie's personality and moods with my camera. Here, Kylie's been playing for over an hour at Burke Lake Park. She's resting against this lovely dolphin statue and watching the kids play on the playground. She's doing that suck-in-her-bottom-lip thing that she does when she's tired or overwhelmed.


Break time is over. She's ready to rejoin the others. She stops and gives the dolphin a kiss good-bye. That's my darlin' girl.