Michele Whitacre Photography

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Bye-Bye, Business Page

A large part of the joy of photography is sharing photos with those who want to see them; for what good is a photo buried on a hard drive where no one can enjoy it?

When I was running my business, I thought it was necessary to share my photos on my Facebook business page. However, I always found it quite frustrating trying to jump through Facebook's algorithm hoops in an attempt to get my photos to show up in my followers' news feed. As a result, I never really enjoyed running the page.

(For anyone who has never run a business page, FB shows you how many people have seen each of your posts. Then they give you the opportunity to boost the post by paying them to show it to people. I really don't understand exactly how it works, but I do know that if people don't start interacting with the post moments after it is posted, no one ends up seeing it. That's why businesses are always nagging you to like, comment, tag, and share their posts.)

When I decided that I wanted to start shooting again, I hadn't made a decision regarding my FB business page. I suspected I would end up going back to using it, but I haven't found that to be the case. After posting a few photos and links, I realized that only a handful of people are actually seeing them. So, I decided why waste my time?

Because 12 people out of 696 followers? Seriously?...

Since making the decision, I've been struggling with where the heck to share my photos. I already knew that I was going to continue posting them on my blog, just like I always have. It seems like blogs are dying a slow death these days, but I still really enjoy keeping mine so I'm going to keep doing it. So, if you ever want to see what I've been shooting, pop on over to my home on the internet and check out my photos! I also decided to keep posting to my MWP Instagram Account, as I am a total IG junking and love using it. If you're on Instagram, follow me (@michelewhitacrephotography)! If you're not on Instagram, what. are. you. waiting. for???

Which brings me back to Facebook. As much as I wish it wasn't so, Facebook pretty much runs the internet world and it just makes sense to use it to share photos. If I'm not going to be using my business page, that leaves my personal one.

In the past, I was always hesitant to share photos because I didn't want to drive everyone insane. I said as much to a friend recently and her response was that I was being ridiculous. She said that when you chose to be FB friends with someone, you sign on for whatever they choose to post. Her reasoning made a lot of sense to me and eventually ended up changing my mind about using my personal account to share my photography. So consider this fair warning that I am going to start posting more images and blog links soon!

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

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Quack, Quack!

Summer in Phoenix is not a prime time to take photos due to the crazy heat. Even though this summer has been fairly mild compared to the last few, I still haven't felt like braving the heat to go out shooting. So my photography got put on the back burner, and I'm finally getting back to editing more of the images I took back in May at the nature preserve near my house.

I got a later start than I wanted to on the day I was out shooting, and it was getting pretty warm, so I decided to find myself some shade to hang out in for a while. I settled myself in a shaded little clearing near the water, and just sat there watching the world go by. It was obvious by all the feathers around the area that it was a favorite hangout for the ducks, and slowly, one by one, they started swimming up and gathering themselves all around me.

I was able to hang out and snap quite a few photos of them, and managed to catch a few good ones. Here are my favorites...

As I was taking these photos, I decided that I'm probably not cut out to be much of a nature photographer. It seems like you'd have to have an insane amount of patience to sit quietly and stay still while the wildlife adapted to your presence and resumed it's routine, and I definitely don't have it. My backyard is full of birds every time I look out the window, yet whenever I get it in my head to go out and take photos of them I'm never able to capture any images. They always fly off when I open the door and I'm never able to make myself stay out there long enough for them to come back. I think the only reason I was able to stay still long enough to capture these photos is because I needed to cool off before heading back out into the hot sun!

Friday, July 14, 2017

Take Flight

I wanted to share a few more photos I took recently at the local nature preserve. I enjoyed taking these images, and I was surprised that I managed to capture a few good ones. I really don't have the equipment for this type of photography so I feel like what I capture is a bit hit or miss sometimes.

This one is my favorite!...

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Back So Soon?

I am really struggling with what the heck I'm supposed to be photographing now that I'm back to shooting but no longer taking portraits. I'm used to looking at my surroundings to find good locations as backdrops for portraits. I have no idea what I'm doing as I attempt to actually take photos of those surroundings! I've set out on a few outings recently to take photos of something, only to look at the images later and realize that they are complete and utter crap.

I am learning a lot about what I do and don't like to photograph, though. Or maybe I should say I am being reminded, as the same applied when I was shooting portraits. I love shooting when I have time to create exactly what I want with my photos. I like being able to really consider my shots. I enjoy looking at my subject from different angles and experimenting with different options. I don't enjoy photography as much when I'm in a rush to try to capture a moment before it is gone. It feels too stressful to photograph things when I don't have time to fully study or consider them. I guess to me it feels like the difference between creating and capturing. I like knowing that I created great shots, versus just hoping I managed to capture them while things were whirling past.

I've been spending some time working through a list of exercises to 'improve your photography' that I found online. I keep hoping that eventually I will have some photos that I like well enough to share on the blog. In the mean time, I resorted to an old fall back for when I feel taking some photos, but have no clue what to point my camera at - Zoe & Lexi. So, even thought it hasn't been very long since they were on the blog, I decided to share some new images of them. (It's a good thing they're so darn cute!)

My goal was to capture candid images of them, so I put on my longest zoom lens and sat on the patio waiting for them to wander out into the yard. However, they had other plans! They knew it was time for photos, and they never left my side. So, I finally gave up my plans and opted to take more portraits of them.

They definitely did a lot better than they did last time! I had a hard time narrowing down the photos, so I opted to just share a bunch of them...

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Hummingbirds

A few weeks ago I spent my Sunday morning at the nature preserve near my house. I was sitting on the bank of a pond under the shade of a large tree, photographing birds that were hanging out on the opposite bank. (Stay tuned for those photos soon!)

While I was sitting there I heard a noise behind me and turned around to find another photographer standing behind me looking into the tree I was sitting under. When I turned and looked at her, she began talking to me and said that there was a hummingbird in the tree. I began looking and saw it flying around, but from my position sitting under the tree there's no way I could get any photos. Plus I didn't want to encroach on the other photographer. She continued to take photos until the hummingbird flew off and then she left. I continued sitting there watching the larger birds across the water, but noticed that the hummingbird kept returning overhead. I'm assuming there was a nest in the tree, but I never saw it.

I finally decided to stand up and see if I could capture any photos of the hummingbird since it seemed determined to stay near the tree. It wasn't until I returned home and began looking at the photos that I realized there were actually two hummingbirds there! I never saw them both at the same time and just assumed it was the same one every time I saw one...

I really have no idea if these photos are all of the same one or some of each of them. Regardless, I was excited to capture these photos. I love hummingbirds - something I've acquired from my mom over the years! She loves them, and puts feeders out for them.