Overcoming Challenges to Achieve Your Photography Goals – Student Showcase

I always had an interest in photography but did not have the time to pursue it further until I was 40!

As a parent, I always had a camera in hand documenting my kids’ childhood and enjoyed taking photos of them. I originally started to get into photography and take some classes because I wanted to move away from taking snapshots and take “better” photos of my family and our travel destinations and my interest expanded from there.

It started off as a hobby and has turned into a part-time business for me.  

I enjoy photography for a variety of reasons.

It allows me to express my creative side that I don’t normally get to use in my day job. I travel a lot, and photography has helped me see the beauty and magnificence of the world around me and to share how I see that.

I love working with families and couples and capturing moments and their emotions during our sessions and sharing those with them. I also like to give back to the community. I have volunteered with an organization called Help Portrait in the past, and love seeing families, often for the first time, receive a family portrait of themselves.

Working with people, lighting that flatters the subject (using available light and/or flash), posing, camera settings, using flash.

Working with people, lighting and using flash were the biggest obstacles for me.

To overcome those challenges, I read books, watched YouTube videos and then I signed up for a couple of your classes. I originally started with an HDR class, night photography class, a portrait class, and then finally an online flash course.

The combination of the books, videos, classes and many hours of practice all helped overcome the challenges. I found that hands-on experience in a class was the most beneficial. I think my biggest obstacle was to overcome my lack of self-confidence, something that is always a work in progress.

I had signed up for a class to learn about the fundamentals of a DSLR camera and that is when I realized that there was just so much more to photography than the little face and landscape icons on my camera dial. I was hooked and I started signing up for a variety of classes, mostly to try out different types of photography. The first was on landscape photography.

While I learned a bit, I felt I didn’t succeed as well as I could have in class. I am very quiet, incredibly shy and lack confidence. In a class where you need to be hands-on, I found that I just got lost and essentially left behind. My next two classes I signed up for were an HDR Class and a Night Photography Class that were both taught by Darlene.

My husband had recently gifted me a Canon 5D Mark II, which was completely different than the equipment I had been using, and at the time it was overwhelming. Darlene took her time to help show the basics of the new camera so I understood and could use it and function through the classes. When I completed those classes I felt that I understood the DSLR and could set the settings for different scenes.

The difference in instruction between the previous instructors I had was night and day. While I tried to be my normal self, a wallflower, Darlene’s teaching style would not allow for that to happen. She was always kind and caring and was able to read each student in her class and adapt to each one of us to ensure that we all succeeded.

Then I enrolled in her available light portrait class, which really changed things for me.

I had been practicing with my new DSLR and understood the settings and the basic principles to a point where I didn’t freeze and draw a blank as to what setting should I be using. Darlene was patient and ensured that she spent time with each of us, reviewing settings, techniques, and setup of the various lighting scenarios with the students (who also modeled for each other in class).

Darlene would review the images that I was making and not only provide constructive feedback but demonstrated again until I was confident in what I was doing and answering any questions I had. The interaction with the other students was well out of my comfort zone but with Darlene’s encouragement and direction, I felt that I succeeded in the class.

I became more comfortable directing fellow classmates to achieve the natural light portraits that we were learning to capture.

I think the recurring theme for me at that point was the classes I had taken at the start of my journey, were types of photography that were solitary, I could do them on my own without having to interact with anyone, which at the time I thought was perfect. That was until I signed up for the natural light class and began working with other people in portrait situations.

With Darlene’s classes and mentoring, I gained a solid understanding of my camera, its settings and the situations where each was best suited.

I left the available light classes with more confidence and a desire to learn and do more portrait photography.

One of the things that I admired most about Darlene, was that we were more than just her students, she took an active interest in us and kept in touch with each of us after we had completed her classes.

She genuinely wanted to know how we were progressing and where photography was taking us.

Soon after the available light class was over Darlene had invited me to assist her at a charity photography event that took place every December called Help Portrait. Photos are taken and printed on location and provided to individuals (free of charge) that can’t otherwise afford such a thing. 

This event was emotional for me, to see people so appreciative of the simple task of taking and printing a photo for them. Some people were in tears, overjoyed at their portraits and some could not wait to send their photo to family members.

There was one gentleman that I recognized from Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. He was homeless and living on the streets of Edmonton, his family had not seen or heard from him for many years and he could not wait to share his portrait with his family.

Darlene took her time with the gentleman, started a conversation with him to learn more about him. As she went through this process you could see his demeanor change and how he became comfortable with her through the portrait process. This is the day that I learned to become more engaged with people, to do what I could to make them at ease and to converse about topics that they relate to, to act like a fool to get the kids to laugh and keep them engaged and that often, the person in front of the camera is more awkward than the photographer.

A short time after that I helped Darlene with her own family portrait. Even though this was her family, and she could have easily set up a timer on a tripod, she knew that I had interest in portrait photography and took the time to include me and walk me through each step of the session.

I learned many things from watching Darlene during this session, the importance of arriving early to scout out locations in relation to where the best light was hitting, that when there are children involved not everything goes as planned and you need to be quick, that interaction with clients is essential to making sure the session progresses smoothly.

I learned a great deal about posing, including where to situate everyone so they look best, to make sure you stagger people appropriately and not stack them like totem poles and to let the kids have fun and be kids, to be silly with them and get down on their level. I am certain that at both Help Portrait and the family photos Darlene had a squeaky toy with her, and because of that, I have one in my bag at all times, as well as some candy. Candy bribes work best, even with adults.

All of these things that I learned from her in her classes, at Help Portrait, and at her family photo session helped me with my progression. It also helped me with my shyness and confidence levels and I learned that I did love portrait work and wanted to do more of it.

I loved watching people look at the portraits we were taking and fall in love with those images. I started asking people if they would be interested in modeling for me so I could practice, I once even approached someone in Costco. I made a ton of terrible images, but thanks to Darlene and her mentoring and encouragement, I made some good photographs and now have a regular clientele for my part-time business.

I have even taken a model to Lake Louise, put her in a wedding dress and set up my shot in front of thousands of tourists, it was an exhilarating moment for me. I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness when I am out photographing, and am gaining self-confidence every day and trying new things and concepts out all the time. Some work, some do not, but I keep on practicing.

I do a variety of photography, I photographed the RAH Class of 65 Reunion, volunteered my time to capture events for the Ice On Whyte Festival (a winter event in Edmonton). I have tried some newborn sessions and photographed some weddings but I focus mainly on families, couples and children portraits.

I have a part-time professional business, which I do mostly on evenings and weekends.

I also enjoy landscape, night and astro photography and sometimes wildlife. I love to learn and do not feel I am limited any longer.

It took a good five years after my first class to get to the point I felt comfortable charging for my work and work away from being the “free” photographer. It is hard to break into the market and be price competitive.

It was a hard transition for me, I lost some clients once I stopped offering free sessions and that was a little depressing, but some stayed. I have one particular family that I see every September.