Wednesday, 20 January 2010 18:15

Shut Up And SHOOT!

Written by Adrienne Gray

I hear the annoying cliche' in my head all the time.

Practice makes perfect.

Yeah, but in the undertow of muddy waters between the practice and perfection, here I sit… holding my camera.

I know the right camera settings. I know the right lighting situations. I know how to set everything up.  But right now, I'm having the hardest time making them all come together on a consistent basis.  It could be pregnancy brain - and with it, exhaustion, the patience of a puppy in a milkbone factory, and the temperament of, well, a pregnant woman.  It could be that I have the creative blahs. Or it could be that we've launched a website to help our mommy friends take better pictures and now I have a little stage fright.

Whatever the culprit, I'm not going to get over this hurdle unless I commit to take more pictures. Our lunchboxing section on the message board has forced me to start out the day knowing where my camera is and breaking the ice on something "safe" like lunchmeat and applesauce. 

But, to my surprise this morning, my daughter wanted her picture taken with the leftover roast beef, and mommy found the answer to her dilemma.

To get our guest in the photo, I had to step back and widen the frame to include her.  Immediately the perfectionist in me kicked in. 

"Her hair isn't brushed yet!"
"The kitchen table has crap all over it! - This goes against our clutter rule!"
"I don't even have the lunchbox out of the car from yesterday!"


HEY BUMBLING IDIOT!!!!!!!! They're JUST pictures.  Shut up and shoot.

Before I knew it, we were making happy faces, sad faces, surprised faces, "mommy stop taking pictures" faces, and then

"I wanna give the Goldfish GOODNIGHT MOON!" faces.  Seriously, one freakout aside led to a solid 2minutes of good fun, decent pictures, and excellent memories captured.

 

 



My point is this: We all have room to grow. We all hit ruts. But we're guaranteed to stay exactly where we are if we keep our cameras in their bags and do nothing. 

This morning, my journey was one step back, two steps forward, but not until I finally said to my inner antagonist "Just shut up and shoot!"

 

 

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20 comments

  • Comment Link Ivana K. Wednesday, 20 January 2010 18:51 posted by Ivana K.

    THIS IS SO AWSOME! In fact, I needed to hear this too as a new momtographer in the making. You know what, its so awsome its gonna be my new headline on facebook, just so i can be reminded everyday for the next 7days....
    See, I still havent started on the joy challenge cause i keep overthinking it! And what do you say to that Adrienne? -"Just shut up and shoot!"

    GOT IT!:-)

    Btw. She is just perfect!

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  • Comment Link shannondilly Wednesday, 20 January 2010 21:47 posted by shannondilly

    I LOVE your take on things! You're totally right! I try way too hard sometimes. I think I've already expressed my frustration with you about my 50mm..it only has autofocus with a body that has autofocus (not mine)..I try so damn hard to work my magic and manually focus..but it's sooo hard!! I keep ruining good opportunities. I think I need to put my it away for a bit, break out my kit lens or my zoom lens, wait for better light situations, and just shoot!

    And I LOVE that you had a great couple minutes with your lunchboxing shoot today..she's so wonderful! Oh..and good to know 'm not the only one that occasionally leaves the lunchbox in the car from the night before :)

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  • Comment Link Rachel Wednesday, 20 January 2010 21:51 posted by Rachel

    I love this! They're JUST pictures!! Right you are. I make too big a deal sometimes that I don't even try if I don't think it'll be anywhere close to perfect. I think a photographer's (or even momtographer's) paradigm is one of perfectionism, and that's a hard hump to get over sometimes. So I'm going to quit talking and...well....

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  • Comment Link Adrienne Gray Wednesday, 20 January 2010 22:06 posted by Adrienne Gray

    I'm so very glad you guys can relate - I felt like I just had to come clean after this morning! It's not life or death - just memories, and the more we miss for the sake of perfection.... well, booo!

    I think the balance here is stuffing our head with all the right info, but letting our heart take over. I think somewhere in that mix is where the magic happens!

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  • Comment Link Adrienne Gray Wednesday, 20 January 2010 22:09 posted by Adrienne Gray

    Oh - Shannon, I meant to suggest this to you... practice with the 50 when you guys are just playing in the yard. And until you get the hang of it, bring the kit lens when you don't wanna miss anything.

    Last Christmas Jon got me a 50mm 1.4, but didn't realize it was manual focus. I tried it out for an hour and then returned it, so serious kudos to you for keeping at it! Now to convince Robbie a new camera body is in order ;)

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  • Comment Link Krista Njapa Thursday, 21 January 2010 01:38 posted by Krista Njapa

    Adrienne this is great! I am so in a mode where I am "too busy" all the time, and it's awful! A brand new lens on my camera and everything and I still can't find the time to pick up the camera and just freakin' shoot! Thanks for the reminder maybe I can capture a few quickies on my way out the door! :)

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  • Comment Link Budgets are the New Black Saturday, 23 January 2010 05:23 posted by Budgets are the New Black

    And is that "Goodnight Moon" I spy on the distant edge? ;)
    I hope you tweet when you post on this blog!
    Jolyn

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  • Comment Link Adrienne Gray Saturday, 23 January 2010 15:39 posted by Adrienne Gray

    Jolyn that most certainly is "Goodnight Moon". She wanted the fish to have reading material while she was away at school :)

    We're working on our rss (well, working) but yes, I do tweet when I update! Thanks for stopping by!

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  • Comment Link Vanessa Segars Sunday, 24 January 2010 22:47 posted by Vanessa Segars

    Don't feel bad - I was just thinking about that as I processed a photo from earlier today. There's a doll and notebook in the background, but I had to freeze the moment. I'm going to post it in the 2 and 3 y/o section. You'll see what I mean.

    And by the way, I have a similar phrase I tell myself, "shutter up and click". It's kind of a play on words that Corny Vanessa (you met her plenty of times) came up with.

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