Way too social?

A friend and I exchanged these text messages earlier this week:

Her: Look under social. What do you see??!!??

Me: Haha! That’s meee! Does that mean I’m way too social? 😉

Her: Lol!!! Means I keep your blog in my apps. 1^st page!!

Oh. My blog.

Perhaps that means I should update it!

Lots and lots has been going on in Lindsay-land during the last few months.

 I survived my first full wedding season

I learned a lot about myself and how I approach photography. I either put too much thought into pictures I take – or I snap away carelessly without paying attention to the important things (background, light, etc.). Sometimes I get lucky and walk away with a good picture, but most of the time I end up frustrated with the results. In the off-season I’m really going to try and find a happy medium.

 I spent 10 days traveling the East Coast

Amberlee and I had a wedding in Delaware in September, so we made a workcation out of it. We visited NYC which was my first time in the Big Apple. They always say you remember your first – and I definitely will! I squealed when we drove past the NY Times and Madison Square Garden. We survived riding the subway. We happened upon a HUGE Castle billboard just off Times Square. We saw the Naked Cowboy. We stayed out until 2 a.m. and I could’ve gone all night. The energy was AMAZING. I can’t wait to visit again! Afterward, we had an engagement session on the campus of Yale. Then we drove to Maine … and I had the most amazing lobster mac and cheese. Gah! Then we drove back down the coast to Virginia for our final wedding. While there we stayed with Amberlee’s dad and I got to snuggle some doggies!

I started branching out

You may remember when I took photos of my friend’s daughter in August. Well, I have since done two other senior session with a third next week. I have a family sessions scheduled for this Sunday and next. I have another session schedule for later in the month and one in November. I still have a difficult time make heads or tails of this. It’s crazy!

 I bought a domain

I can be an impulse buyer under the right (wrong?) circumstances. I follow Adam Carolla on Twitter and he recently purchased a domain through GoDaddy and offered a code for a discount. So I used it. Purchased lindsayfotografie.com right from my phone. Ha! I thought I was SO cool. That was until I realized how frickin expensive it is to own/run your own website. At least I know no one else can have the domain. 😉

That’s about it! Posts are useless without pictures, so here are a few of my favorites from the two senior sessions:

Soul searching

Many of you who read this are my awesome friends on Facebook (and in real life, of course), so this post won’t come as a surprise to you.

For those of you who may stumble upon this and need some background information, here’s the jist of it.

I have a camera. I love to take pictures. I’ve never asked anyone to pay me for taking their pictures. I am, however, starting to wonder if I should.

There ya go! That’s the dilemma in a nutshell.

If you read my wedding planning journey, you know I like finality. I like dotting I’s and crossing t’s. I like having beginning and ending points with a clearly defined path along the way. While I don’t mind detours and, actually, can adapt fairly well, I don’t prefer them.

That’s me. It’s how I work. Old habits die hard, you know.

The problem is – There isn’t one answer for the “When should I start charging people for my services” question. It’s different for everyone and, no matter how much I Google, there isn’t a website or professional photographer who can answer the question for me.

And that bugs the hell out of me. Probably because I want to take the easy way out instead of doing the necessary soul searching. Soul searching … those are scary, scary words. Eeeek!!

I did a bit of it over the weekend and came to several realizations:

While some of my hang up with charging is lack of faith in my own abilities, the real crutch is the business aspect.

Amberlee and I had a lot of frank conversations when I started working with her. I told her up front that I had no intention of opening my own business – that I was committed to helping build her brand in whatever way I could. And that is still 100% accurate today. It may seem cut and dry then. If you don’t want to open your own business, don’t charge people. If only. The problem is, while I LOVE photography and I LOVE that so many see the talent inside of me, I’m getting to the point where I feel like not charging for my services could begin to negatively impact how people view what I capture. The old adage, “You get what you pay for.” But, the thought of the time, money and headaches of opening a small business makes me want to hurl. Yes, I wrote hurl. Which leads me to …

There are A LOT of “professional” photographers charging for utter crap.

It may sound like I’m being harsh (and maybe I am), but I saw some professional photographs this weekend that made my blood boil. While I may still be learning, I know some of my pictures are better than what I saw this weekend. Someone, somewhere paid for those, but no one paid for mine. Why? See above. See what I mean about there not being a simple answer?

I need an outside party to guide me in this decision-making process

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting advice from family and friends, I know this is one of those times where I need an outside opinion. I’ve decided not to make any decisions until after my 31-minute coaching session with Rachel Maddox on Aug. 16 (thanks for the tip, Heidi!). Check out the awesome deal she has for the month of August!

Since posts are useless without pictures, here are two of my favorites of Allison:

I’m a photographer? Who knew?

I’m dusting off the old blog today!

It’s only been, what, six months? Haha!

The one-year anniversary of my first DSLR purchase is rapidly approaching. And, I have to be honest, I’ve improved SO much since I first clicked the shutter. It’s actually overwhelming.

My pictures have gone from this:

To this:

(Amberlee Christey Photography)

Even though I KNEW that picture was kick-ass when I took it, I still stare at it and think, “That’s mine?”

Amberlee tells me all the time, usually via text, “U Rock!”

And I tell her she’s full of it. 😉

She and everyone else around me obviously saw something I didn’t.

Until this week, I couldn’t get past the hundreds of terrible pictures I had to take to get ones I kinda, sorta liked.

Until this week, I would have never, ever labeled myself a photographer; I was just a girl learning photography.

But all of that changed when I obliterated two items on the list of “Goals for My First Wedding Season,” and stepped out of my comfort zone to take pictures for a family I’d never met.

I have a top-secret list of goals for this wedding season. I know it’s weird to keep it a secret, but in my warped mind I think if I tell anyone it will somehow diminish accomplishing any of the items. I know it’s crazy talk. I’m working on it, promise! Haha! 😉

Anywho! Back to those two items I knocked out of the park – Take a picture I love more than any other (see above), and have at least one photo make the 2012 Weddings folder on the Facebook page for Amberlee Christey Photography.

We’re only four weddings in and I already have three in the folder! Woot!

Last night, I took pictures of two adorable kids at Dorsey’s Knob. I’d never met them or their parents before, but a friend of mine referred them to me. It was the first time I’d ever taken pictures (on my own) for someone other than friends.

I was scared shitless. Seriously. I even made poor Randy go with me to help calm my nerves.

But then I saw pictures like these on my LCD screen and I knew I worried for nothing …

Who the heck took these?? Oh, wait, I did! It’s been a week of revelations for sure. What’s one more?

Hello! My name is Lindsay and I’m a photographer.