Practice may not make you perfect (is there such a thing anyway) but it will make you better! Photography is a practice and not a finish line. You continue to get better, more comfortable and more in touch with your own style. When you set out to practice (especially when you are new) find something simple and readily available to practice on. You don't need anything complicated or too frustrating (your 18 month old baby would qualify and complicated and frustrating by the way). What you need is something peaceful that gives you time to think.

My suggestion is this, grab your camera and explore your own backyard or house. All you need is about an hour, some daylight and a willing spirit. To illustrate this idea, I took my camera around my house and yard yesterday for an hour. I played with my settings, moved the ISO around, played with focus...

Your very own backyard is full of tiny moments just waiting to be seen...little treasures, interesting lines, colors...

Look for shadows, textures...

Can you see something in a new way? Something that you've seen a hundred times?

The littlest things?

7 years ago my oldest son, Sayer, was born. My business was born shortly after he was. It was very humble beginnings and it makes me smile when I think about it now. The only pieces of equipment that I owned were my medium format film camera and the 35 mm film camera that I got when I graduated from high school. I didn't own any lights and it had been about 10 years since I took a class in lighting. To be honest, I was ill prepared. I took one marketing class in college and still have to carry my 1's when doing simple math. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I did have heart, determination and a magnificent little baby boy to photograph. And so it began, slowly and surely in my living room. I scheduled sessions while Sayer napped (crossing my fingers that he would go down on time and stay down). I rented lights from a local equipment place until I could afford my own set. Every time I had a session I had to clear out all of Sayer's toys and make our house look clean and perfect. It was stressful but it was also really exciting. I think my excitement was contagious and I started to get busy.

By the time Finnian was born I had my first studio and my business was doubling each year. I still remember shooting a session two weeks after Finn was born with him strapped to me asleep in a sling. I started to get better at the business side too. Then in a blur it was a bigger studio, employees, better equipment, numbers to analyze and financial goals.

Fast forward to now...

I have begin to realize that the bigger my business gets the less I like it. It's not the work itself that is an issue. The problems arise when I get detached from the details (and it's all about the details by the way). Things fall through the cracks and the relationships suffer.  What I love most about my work is the relationships that I have with the people that I photograph. That's where the magic is. So where does that leave me?

I have decided to go back to the basics and run my show on my own. I am not going to have an assistant in between me and my clients.  I'll find some help here and there but nothing that jeopardizes the relationships. I will have to shoot less but the people that I photograph and I will enjoy it more. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous but I'm also excited (again). This is definitely turning out to be the year of new beginnings and change. I started to write "wish me luck!" but, no, I don't need that. I have everything that I really need to make this work. All I need is my honest, true, present self and people who will let me photograph them. It's a new day. I feel better already and it's only just begun.