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I've been avidly involved in my photography for nearly 3 years now. By avid I mean that I've sought every opportunity to learn new things, have studied the work of photographer's I admire and taken photo after photo in an attempt to get better at what I do. Friends and family have been after me for 18 months to pursue photography as a career and my general response has been "Just because I have a camera... a professional I am not."

Pros take money for the work they do. Now I've seen lots of work out there by so-called pros who charge for their work and I've been apalled at what they've produced. Most of the work that makes me cringe falls into what has been tagged as photojournalistic. It seems that with this candid style everyone who can twist their camera left and right to take photos that are blurry tags themselves as "A photojournalist" and it sickens me.

There are true professionals out there who take total pride in their work. They work extremely hard to present a style that tells a story of the days events. Some of my favorite local photographers are:

Rob-Humbled Eyes Photography: www.humbledeyes.com
Vlad - Something Blue Photography: www.something-blue-photo.com

Vlad is a gaming pal from way back and recently took his photography hobby over the threshold and has been shooting weddings. Though I have a wedding on the books I'm more of the candid portraits/family lifestyles kinda photographer. I work better with infants, toddlers and kids then I do with bridezillas. To each their own right?

This past weekend my nephew and his wife celebrated the arrival of their 3rd child and I was there to photograph her birth. The photos that I gave them were such a hit I got a booking for another infant shoot involving my neice-in-law's sister-in-law who ALSO gave birth to a daughter 2 days after our Devon Kylie was born. The request came from the Grandmother who complitemented my style and said she wanted photos of all the grandkids.

I'm thrilled that they love the work I do. I'm thrilled that I get to work with little ones AND get paid. I actually said I'd do the photos for free in return for allowing me to use their photos in my portfolio but the Grandmother insists on paying me for me time. Cool, works for me.

I think I'll be returning to SmugMug as a source for print sales and viewing galleries for customers. I haven't found another site that offers as much as SmugMug does. I'm hoping that one day they'll incorporate albums as well but for now I think the $149 investment is worth it. I'll keep my main site with SquareSpace and just link over to the SmugMug site for my gallery & client galleries.

I've got a busy week ahead of me. Thursday is Devon's first photo session and on Saturday I have a session with a 6month old. In between I'll be putting the finishing touches on a maternity shoot that I did.

Somewhere in between all of that I want to go to the Pumpkin Festival at Longwood Gardens and schedule a reshoot of an engagement session since we got rained out in August. Hopefully the couple and I will have a mutual day that works for us.

Now I think I'll take some time to enjoy Warhammer Online. I'm so glad I left World of Warcraft. We've all been involved in Beta for WAR (closed Beta, Free Preview Weekend and now Open Beta) and we're thrilled with the game. It goes live on September 18th and we're all counting the days.