I started sharing my photography journey here in 2017. I began this amateur journey with hopes to develop better skills as I progressed. I never knew what would become of it but one thing I did know was I was having fun with every event I shot.
The last event I did was in 2019 and as you can imagine large gatherings have tremendously slowed down since then. It seems most people are keeping things as small as possible and just having their close relatives record or shoot the events. My cousin did have a few more events lined up in 2020 for me to photograph but one by one they were canceled.
For awhile I took my mind off of doing events and just focused on photographing things around my home for the Stock Images Community which btw I ended up using in most of my posts. 😁
Recently my niece and sister-in-law reached out to me and asked if I would do the honors of shooting her Sweet 16 Photoshoot. I was so excited and thrilled but at the same time in denial that my beautiful little niece was turning 16 😳. Once I got through my emotional meltdown of how fast my baby (she will always be my baby niece, even when she’s 50 😌) was growing it was an automatic YES!
Preparations
This event was different from any others I have ever done.
Why?
Well it was the first time my main subject was a person. All the other events have been capturing the setup and decor and not the actual attendees of the event. I’ve been comfortable with photographing objects so this round would definitely be a challenge…one I was willing and ready to take on. 💪🏽
I spent some time online getting ideas of different settings and poses. I wanted to find ones that fit my niece’s personality as well as to what her tastes were. Her outfits were already picked out but the rest was up to me.
I wanted to be prepared and ready so everything would go smoothly and I wasn’t standing there trying to figure out what we were going to do. I am soooo glad I did that part.
I’m going to share some of the photos we did along with the photos that gave me the inspiration for some of the looks and poses.
Each online photo is sourced. You can go directly to the website by clicking on the word inspiration above each photo.
Here we go…
The Shoot
These last five shots I’m sharing were not derived from online inspirations but came from ideas that arose amidst the photo session. I thank my niece, mother-in-law and sister-in-law because they all pitched in with their creative ideas.
I may have had all of the poses planned and mapped out but time wasn’t on our side. We were losing daylight so quickly so I had to change up a few things. I am thankful for their suggestions because everything worked out even with lost time.
This shot happened as my niece was on her way to change into her second outfit. She saw the small light pole and started posing around it and asked “how about this?” I said sure why not? I learned that day that some of your best photos might come from the ones that are unplanned. 😃
Everyone was giving my niece ideas on what she could do while holding her numbers. While she was listening and responding I kept snapping photos to try to get some good natural looking ones vs. posing ones.
This is one of my favorites. During this time we had lost total daylight. I normally only shoot during the day with natural sunlight. With the help of a street light and my sister-in-law’s car lights we were able to pull off some pretty nice night looks.
My mother-in-law wanted her to do a headlight look. I have never done a photo like this before so what you see is my interpretation of what it should look like. I have a lot more growing and developing to do when it comes to editing. I had a lot of fun with this one. 😊
Finally, for the cover photo I wanted it to look like she was hanging out with 16. This was a first for me making it look like the numbers were floating. My husband and sister-in-law really loved this one and thought it was a clever idea.
I want to explore more looks like this to see what I can come up with for the ending result. Thanks to my eight year old son for holding the balloons up behind her. This photo was the most fun to pull off!
It’s exciting to be able to continue building my portfolio (slowly but at least it’s growing). I still want to work towards upgrading our camera but that will take a little longer due to current financial commitments we have. We’ll most likely stick with the Cannon since I’m so acquainted with it already.
Guess what? I already have another gig lined up for November. Someone asked us to shoot a Quinceañera celebration! He seen these photos and wanted me to photograph this event which is for his daughter. 😆
In case you are unfamiliar with what a
quinceañera is, it is a Hispanic tradition that marks an important milestone in a girl's life. Part birthday party, part rite of passage, it symbolizes a girl's entrance into womanhood when turning 15, traditionally showcasing her purity and readiness for marriage.
These celebrations are very fancy and are accompanied with plenty of food, music and dancing. I’m elated to have been asked to do this but at the same time quite nervous. I won’t just be taking photos of decor or of a single person but will be responsible for capturing the entire event. 😳😬🥴
What if I miss something? What if I have one opportunity to photograph a certain moment and the photo turns out blurry? 🤭😵💫
Any comforting words and advice out there for a panicking amateur photographer? I’ll take it please! 😅
Here is a list of my previous events:
Event 2 - Elegant Evening Birthday Celebration
Event 3 - Classy Vowel Renewal Ceremony
Event 4 - A Young Gentleman Party
Event 5 - A Pastor’s Anniversary Celebration
Event 6 - L.O.L. Surprise! Birthday Party