Happy Summer!

Summer is when I get a bit of downtime. If you have ever wondered what photographers do during their downtime, I’m happy to share!

1. Clean my office. I’m not talking about running a vacuum over the carpet (that’s needed tho!). It is more of me tidying up, sorting paperwork, and looking over gear and seeing what I use and what is no longer useful. This includes cords. So. Many. Cords. I have to let go of all those extra printer cables. I will never need them… 

2. Boxes. We photographers hold on to our gear boxes. Why? Because they add to the value of gear if you decide to sell it. I will need to start with the boxes for gear I no longer own. Then I decide on the boxes for gear that I do own, but are ‘well loved’. AKA: works great, looks like I threw it off a cliff.

3. Go on a fun photo safari! I love urban decay and I have signed up for one from Abandoned America. Not only do I find beauty in decay, this is a me project. I let the project lead me and take me wherever it wants me to go. I’m along for the ride. This is hugely important to me. It refreshes my creativity! Here’s a photo from one of Abandoned America’s workshop’s I went on prior to the pandemic. Sadly the church burnt down before it was saved.

4. Review what I have done since last summer. What did I like? What needs improvement? What were some of my favorite images? Where did I feel I could have done better? 

5. Make art. Not for clients. Only me. I did photo collages years ago. They were well received and then life got busy. I will carve out time to restart them. They were incredibly fun. Stay tuned

Lastly, how could I go without giving you a few photo tips for your vacation photos with your cell phone- here are 5:

1. Clean your cell phone lens. Get a microfiber cloth from your last eyeglass purchase and gently clean off the dust on oils. Frequently.
2. Look where the light is coming from. And look at your subject. Does the light flatter them? Yes? Great! Take the photo. No? Move around until you find something better – if possible.
3. Taking a landscape photo? Vary it a bit and put someone or something in the foreground to show a sense of scale. 
4. If you are presented with a backlit situation – the background is far brighter than the foreground and your subject is in silhouette – tap the subject’s face. In iPhones, a yellow box with a sun to one side will appear. Put your finger on the screen and drag it up to increase/lighten your subject so you can see them. For Androids, it’s similar, but different makers do it differently.
5. Finally, capture the unguarded moments. The posed pix are great as a record of where you were. But the crazy, not perfect candid images are the ones that will make you remember what it felt like to be there.