Hailey's 1st Birthday

So, I survived my first professional photography job. I am waiting for some feedback from my friend and client, Kelly. I really hope she is pleased with the images. It will make all of my work and effort worth it!

I learned some important lessons on this shoot that I will have to take into consideration the next time that land a shoot;

1. I need to calculate a better method of charging for my time because a 4 hour party runs more like 6-8 hours. :)

2. Automation for photo-processing will be key to making my experience worthwhile. I had estimated 2-4 hours for post work, but I didn't anticipate tweaking 1100 photos! I spent probably 10-12 hours in post work, including color correction, cropping, sorting and digital composites.

All in all, it was a really rewarding and educational experience. I got to shoot so many kids and work my skills into the party in a non-obtrusive and friendly manner. Your demeanor and skill behind the camera translates to the people around you. If you handle your work with confidence, other people will react in turn and give you the lead to take the shots that you want. It is a balancing game and learning takes a lot of time. :)