A Walk Around the Yard

As I begin experimenting with other types of photography I feel like I'm a newbie again who has no clue what I am doing! I see these gorgeous macro shots or stunning landscapes that other photographers create, and then I see how blah and boring mine are in comparison and realize I have a long way to go to get good at something other than portraits. That's the crazy thing about photography, in my opinion. Someone can be amazing at one type of photography and completely suck at another.

I recently looked back through the first set of portraits I ever took. At the time I thought they were pretty good, but now I realize how awful they really were in comparison to what I can do now. I just keep reminding myself with tons (and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons) of reading, learning, and practicing I eventually got decent at portraits. The same thing will happen with other types of photography if I stick with it.

While my first attempts at portraits are buried in my archives, where no one will ever them but me, I've decided to share my early attempts at other types of photography with my readers. (Aren't you lucky?!)  So, here are some macro shots I recently took of the bushes, trees, and flowers in my yard:

I have no ideas for what to photograph next, which seems to be a common problem for me.  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions send them my way! Otherwise, I think it's time to start researching some photo prompts to inspire me.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Daisy & Gatsby: An Overdue Blog Appearance!

Poor Daisy & Gatsby have been sorely neglected on the blog!  The last time I posted any photos of them was in September 2014, shortly after the one year anniversary of when we adopted them.  I stopped blogging just before their second birthday so there are only a handful of posts including photos of them.  Many of those are ones that I added to posts of the dogs' birthdays, since the cats love to get in on the present opening fun, too!

Just like our dogs, our cats have very different personalities.  Daisy is a bit wild and rambunctious, and she loves to play with her toys.  She will run around the house carrying them, or spend hours tossing and batting them around.  She's a bit of a daredevil and can often be found climbing high up where she doesn't belong. Gatsby is much calmer and can usually be found watching the world out the window.  Gatsby is more likely to wander off by herself to take a nap, but she's more likely to jump in my lap when she is in the same room with us.  Daisy loves to be around the rest of us, but she's less likely to sit on our laps.  However, she's the one who is more skittish around strangers, so it often takes her a while to make an appearance when new people are at our house.  Daisy actually does better with photos, so I ended up with a lot more images of her that show off her spunky personality.  Gatsby doesn't like the sound of the camera shutter so she tends to look irritated or scared in many of the images, so I have to work pretty hard to get good photos of her.  

Without further ado, here are some portraits of our sweet kitty fur babies:

Meet our crazy little Daisy...

And our sweet Gatsby...

Oh hello there...

Just hanging on the stairs...

I think I was interrupting nap hour...

When we first moved into our house one of Daisy's favorite places to be was IN the fireplace, so we had to search out fireplace door to keep her out.  We were lucky to find some that fit considering our house was built in the 90's.  So now she has to settle for laying in front of it...

That little tongue!...

Daisy & Gatsby are biological sisters that we rescued as small kittens.  They were born in a shelter on May 6, 2013 and just recently turned 4 years old, which seems impossible!  I love how they both have the lighter area on the one side of their noses, even though their coloring is completely different overall...

What a goofball...

Gatsby sits with her front paws crossed all. the. time.  It cracks me up...

She also likes to sit with her paws folded up under her.  Kevin says she looks like a chicken sitting on her eggs when she's like this...

For some reason hanging out by the towering basket of dog toys was a popular place while I was taking their photos...

Gatsby is amazing at catching flies or other bugs straight out of the air.  She seems to be great at spotting things far off and quick to get them.  Something's definitely got her attention here...

Silliness...

What do you see?...

Since is has been so long since I posted any photos of them, I went a bit overboard!  So, if you made it all the way through, thanks for stopping by!

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes. 
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Messing Around with Macro

Several years ago I rented a macro lens just for kicks and had a lot of fun experimenting with it.  However at the time I saw no reason to own one, not to mention that I didn't love the one I rented, so I wasn't tempted to rush out and purchase it.  Fast forward a few years and I found myself dipping my toes into the waters of wedding photography and I was in need of a macro lens to do ring shots.

Several wedding photographers I know swear by the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM.  They said that it was amazing for ring shots, but it also doubled as a good portrait lens, so I decided to trust their judgement and purchase it.  I did a little practicing with it on our wedding rings, and then used it for the few weddings that I photographed.  However, I quickly decided that wedding photography wasn't my thing, and I just never fell in love with it as a portrait lens.  So, I've intermittently considered selling it.  Now that I've decided to begin exploring some other areas of photography, I'm happy that I held on to it because I can see myself getting into taking macro shots.

I decided to make a date with the lens last week to try my hand at taking some night shots of scorpions. Ever since I learned that I could use a blacklight to see scorpions at night, I've wanted to take some photos of them - but of course I never took the time to actually do it. Until now that is - I went out a few nights last week to see if I could find any scorpions to photograph. Sadly, we do have a lot of scorpions where we live, so it wasn't too hard to find some hanging out in our yard.

I'm not sure there's much to say about these images, so I'll let them speak for themselves...

I have to admit that while I'm not necessary afraid of scorpions, they do kind of creep me out!  I was ok taking the photos since my concentration was on holding the blacklight and working my camera settings.  However it was giving me chills when I was editing these images, especially these last two of the scorpion crawling around...

I apologize to anyone who is creeped out by these.  I promise there won't be very many images like this on the blog!  However, I do think there will be more macro shots making an appearance soon.  We recently had new landscaping put in our front yard and I've been tossing around the idea of taking some macro shots of the flowers that are blooming, so stay tuned for those.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

I'm Back ~ Sort Of

There are a ton of reasons why I decided to close my photography business and perhaps one day I'll write about all of them.  For now, let me just say that I still believe it was the right decision and I have no regrets.  So, in response to everyone who has recently asked - No, I will not be re-opening my business or returning to shooting client sessions, but I do appreciate the inquiries.

I'm quite certain that I still wouldn't be shooting if Amanda hadn't asked me to take maternity photos for her a few weeks ago.  However, I've been having a lot of fun getting back behind the camera the past week and I'm so glad she did!  I think the extended break did me a lot of good and is allowing me to view my photography with a new perspective and I'm excited to say that I've decided to start shooting again.

Of course, I have no idea what I will be shooting.  Portraits have always been my thing, so if I'm not taking portraits I'm not exactly sure what I will be photographing.  But that's ok.  In fact it's great!  For the first time since I picked up a DSLR camera, I have absolutely no plans regarding my photography.

I do have a few thoughts percolating in my brain, but nothing I'm willing to commit to quite yet.  I think there is a possibility that I might resurrect my self-portrait project. I'm probably going to start taking more photos of my fur babies. I think I might do some google searches to see if I can find any fun photo prompts to get me thinking outside of the box and experimenting with some new things.  I'm also considering digging out a very long list I have tucked away that contains new photography techniques and photo project ideas, so maybe I'll revisit that blog feature, as well.  I might even do a few portraits here and there, too, but no promises. Then again, maybe I'll pick my camera up for a few months and then take another two year break. My only goal is to have some fun with it, which is something I'd lost sight of when I was always so busy with client photo sessions.

I will be posting the photos I shoot on my blog, as I really do enjoy blogging and I've missed it. I've also created an Instagram for my photography where I'll be sharing some of my images along with links to blog posts. (If you're interested in following, it can be found by searching for @michelewhitacrephotography on IG.)  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do regarding my photography FB page.  I'm not a Facebook fan and I tend to keep my personal profile deactivated most of the time, which I can't do if I want to still have my photography page.  So, the jury is still out on that one.  For now, I'm just going to enjoy getting back to taking some photos.

Stay tuned for some upcoming photos of my sweet kitties, Daisy & Gatsby, and for some fun blacklight scorpion images I'm working on editing.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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  © 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC