I'm Allison, part-time SAHM, part time middle school math teacher. Editor's Note: SAHM = Stay At Home Mom for you non-internet obsessed.

I started being serious about photography when my 5-year-old was born.  Back then I had a point and shoot, but I still tried my best to use the settings on it to my advantage and ‘harness the light,’ so to speak.  In 2006 I got my first DSLR and have really delved into the manual side of photography since day one.  It took me a while for all of it to “click” and I still feel like I have tons to learn. 

Over the years, I’ve come to love so much about photography – the true emotion you can capture, a moment you can never relive.  One thing I love most is dramatic lighting, but dramatic natural lighting is my favorite.  Once I really started to be serious about photography, I felt like I started to see the world through a lens.  It was an amazing transformation that just sort of “happened” to me.

At first, I read a lot about the rules of photography – no harsh lighting, rule of thirds, etc.  After a while, I realized that you can’t always adhere to those rules, and some of my favorite photographs are where I (or another photographer) threw caution to the wind, so to speak, and just started shooting.  There is always work that can be done in the editing process after you shoot a series of pictures, but sometimes you have to forget being caught up in the rules and just capture the moment.

Advice I’d give fellow momtographers is to take snapshots, too.  Don’t try to make every picture of your child a masterpiece.  You’ll miss out on important events if you’re too concerned about the art form and not concerned enough about preserving the memory.  This is advice that’s easy to dole out, but not so easy to take.  I am really, really bad at that…

One thing I’d try to avoid is over-processing pictures.  I look back at pictures from a few years ago and I wish someone had given me that advice!  Color pops, over sharpening, etc. don’t always do good things for a picture.  Sometimes they ruin the picture altogether!

Some of my favorites:
This is one of my favorites, ever!  Obviously, this one took a lot of work to set up.  We dragged the couch out to a local park at sunset.  We waited until the sun was just behind the trees, while there was still plenty of available light to use.  Then, having a willing subject makes it easy! 


This set up took a while.  A warm room, a fed baby, and patience.  I was literally sweating trying to do this one!  This is one of those examples of ignoring the rules that I still love.  See the window – totally overexposed.  BUT, this is also the dramatic lighting that I love.  No special set up, just a doll bed from Ikea, a well-lit room (sunlight) and a sleeping baby

This is my now 5yo daughter Avery.  The set up here is pretty basic – her bedroom, her bed.  An open 6-foot tall window to the right and behind.  My goal is always to get some light in the eyes.  Try to set up your subject so they’re well-lit and they have some sort of catchlights.  I think catchlights are a personal thing in terms of how big and where to position the person so the catchlight appears in a certain spot in their eye.  I’d say, if it’s not on their pupil, it’s probably just fine!


This is one of my favorites of all time   I don’t know what I did here that was so special.  We were outside under a covered patio.  It was actually morning, about 10:30, so the sun wasn’t exactly overhead, but we had shade.  The house behind me was white, so the light bounced off of that.  I also used a wide f-stop (f/2.5), which helps create interest IMO.  Her hair is blurred, but her eyes are in focus.  I think oftentimes what makes a great portrait is a wide fstop.  I was standing above her, pointing my camera down, calling her name.  It also helps that she’s gorgeous!



This was one of those moments that you can’t pass up.  This is my now 3 ½ year old after her 15 mo shots.  She was totally asleep and wasn’t waking up for anything.  I decided to take the opportunity and put her in this santa type jacket and snap away!  Just laying on a bed, facing the window, totally asleep


This picture took a lot of work.  Matching dresses, dragged a table to the middle of a crazy field, set up the tea set, gave them snacks and juice to get them to stay, you get the picture.  I also did some crazy processing on this one that maybe I wouldn’t do again if I re-edited this picture.  But, this one wasn’t chance, it was preparation.

For more of Allison's work, be sure to visit her blog Blurbs From The Burbs!

And if you want to check out her 365 project on Flickr, send her a request through Flikr!