I recently had a conversation with a friend who is taking her first photography class. She said that her next assignment had to do with people and she was anxious about asking someone to model for her. "I like to take photographs of landscapes and still lifes." That used to be me too.
For those pictures that are taken to remember a moment or a holiday, most are usually off-the-cuff, personal and family oriented. And taken with a point & shoot. It's no big deal, right? But for those of us who want to take it to the next level - to sell our artwork or make a career out of photography, we have to find our niche. Architecture, interiors, portraits, weddings, still life, food... there are so many fields to choose from. But on some level, all photography requires a person to be social. To interact. To talk about ourselves, our art, our methods. And outside of a couple of the above fields, it requires you to interact with your subject. You've got to be confident, you can't be shy. And to get the shot, you've got to be able to get your point across. It took me that first semester to get over that fear of asking people to star in my photoshoots. But once I did, I never looked back. There is something so exciting about catching a person on film as they truly are. Not in some posed portrait studio, but in their own environment, in their own element. Genuine, real, simple.
Back to the subject at hand, though. If you really don't like to take pictures of people, but you want that dynamic of a living being, consider animals. They show all the emotion, enthusiasm, and soul as people, but without being camera-shy. Don't consider this a way out, though. Animals have minds of their own and if they do or don't want to do something, they will let you know! In order to keep their attention, you will be rolling around on the ground, getting slobbered on, getting jumped on, licked, running and wiping nose prints off your camera lens. But don't take my word for it - I'm a people photographer. To see some truly great dog work, check out Erin Vey, Anna Kuperberg, Susan Sabo and Charlotte Reeves. Awesome stuff.
In the spirit of trying new things (and being inspired by the above photographers), I visited a friend a couple of weeks ago who recently added a new French Bulldog to her family and wanted to get some nice family photos with their newest member. I was incredibly lucky because Astro is so stinkin' cute, there is really no way to take a bad shot of the little guy.
Before our mini-session, we started out at the dogpark where I snapped a few shots of some of the other dogs since it was so crowded that I kept losing Astro:
Later on that evening, we headed out on the back patio for a few portraits of the new baby, Astro;
And a few of big sister, Luna: 
Luna had her toes painted for the occasion:
And a couple of the kids together:
To see the rest of the set, head on over here!
Congrats on the newest member of your family, Ci! Thanks for letting me spend time with the family!
