Being born with a camera in your face can cause one of two things to happen; you are either repulsed by photographs or you become obsessed with them. From second 1 of my life, until now, I've had every minor detail and every major detail of my life photographed or video taped.
My grandfather the photographer.
My Grandaddy and Nana owned a wedding shop in San Antonio called 'Julio Vera' back in the day. Nana would do the invitations, dresses and wedding planning while my Grandaddy was back in the darkroom developing photos. I don't know too much about him, but I do know he was an incredible photographer. My dad tells stories of helping out in the dark room, stories of how difficult it was to transfer the prints over to canvas, stories about the chemicals and stories about how intrigued he was by all of it. I've seen a few pictures developed by my grandfather and besides the fact that they are beautiful photos, they were taken by the man who inspired my father, who inspired me to love photography.
My father the photographer.
I swear my father prefers to see things through the lens of a camera than with his own two eyes. Every single event my siblings and I have ever been too or taken part in has been documented. I mean seriously, EVERY SINGLE THING EVER that I have EVER participated in has a photo to go with it. I don't want to say I hated the constant snapping of the camera, but I didn't necessarily enjoy pulling over on the side of the road to take bluebonnet pictures every year, or being embarrassed as my father took a first day of school picture at the flag pole. I would complain because he would take to long to adjust his settings and the sun would be in my face and I didn't understand why every little thing I did had to be accompanied by a photo.
Me, the amateur photographer.
My sophomore year of high school I decided to take photojournalism as an elective class. At this point I was asking my dad more about the photos he was taking rather than being annoyed by them and I was excited about using his old film camera because all I had ever shot with was a point and shoot. The class was a blow off and I still kick myself for not utilizing the information I was being taught, but I did love the class. The dark room was the coolest thing ever and I would have loved to just live in there, seriously LIVE in their. After the class was over I had officially caught the photography bug. Only 2 or 3 of my friends had an SLR camera, so I asked them questions and that's when I asked for a fancy camera. For Christmas the following year my dad handed down his Cannon D20 to me & he invested in something WAY cooler. He spent lots of time teaching me the basics of aperture, F-stops, ISO's and all that other photog lingo. I had learned a lot in photo class, but I enjoyed being taught by father.
For the next few years I would shoot around for fun, taking pictures of friends, animals, nature and anything else I thought was cool. I then got asked to do my very first real photo session and I was thrilled; my dad let me borrow his camera, lens' and flash sending me out the door with some last minute tips. I then got to learn all about photoshop and man was I overwhelmed. I've been absolutely blessed to do sessions for several different families at super cool locations. Every time someone asks me to take pictures for them I am unbelievably humbled. Are you sure you don't want someone more experienced, with a nicer camera and nicer software? Today the Lord spoke to me in a very special way while driving home from a session.
He told me: "Heather I have given you a special eye for photography. This is something that is special to you, so it is special to me. You are blessing these families with pictures they can cherish forever. You are sharing the love you have for Me, with them as you spend time with these people. Allow them to be a blessing to you as well. You are special and your photos are special. I love how excited you get about lighting and facial expressions. Continue forward and never doubt the talents I have blessed you with."
Touche God, touche.
There is nothing in the world that compares to getting the perfect shot. There are always one or two photos that are better than all the rest. Here are my three favorites from today!!
Don't you just want to love this baby forever? Look at those pretty blues!!
