Learn Like a Beginner
When I'm scared of something, I find that the best way to combat that fear is to learn more about it. If I don't know how to do something, I find someone who does. This year, I have found myself yearning to know even more about photography. Like any art, there is a constant desire to improve in order to produce the most beauty. And like any art, it takes a certain willingness and humility to go into something and learn as if you are just beginning everything, using the knowledge you already have but being willing to change what you think you know if needed. Luckily, I've got friends like Allison Harp (Check her out. She'll take your breath away. www.allisonharp.com) who will sit in a coffee shop with me for hours answering my questions with honesty, authority, and humility. And that's what we did. And boy did I learn.
I spent the day soaking in everything her experience could lend me, taking pictures of this sweet couple (Emilie and Tim, thanks for letting me tag along on this one!), and forming a plan for how to move forward with photography.
Sometimes change is a really good thing. For these two, change was marriage - and yall, that's the best change ever. For me, change is expanding from photographing mainly families and portraits, to photographing couples and [dare I say it] my first few weddings in the coming months. Scary? 100% let-me-hide-under-my-covers-and-never-come-out terrifying. But good? 100% YES.
I still love photographing families. I love the energy that children bring - even though I know some of you parents are gritting your teeth and wishing you hadn't let your kid eat that last candy bar. Really, I adore the kids crazy or not. I'm just opening the doors a bit and I'm oh so excited about it. How could I not be when I get to see people who look at each other the same way that I've been lucky enough to see my parents look at each other, my siblings and their spouses look at each other, and now the way that I see my husband look at me and how I KNOW I look at him? It's that shared humanity that makes photography so fun. But I'll say more on that another time. I promise.
This change is a good thing. So thank you Auntie A Photography for being my beginning and my springboard into this next adventure. It's time to open up and show the world some more colors. Abi Poe Photography. Here we go.