Once upon a time I wanted to be a professional photographer. I absolutely love taking pictures, and sadly within the last 4 years, it has fallen by the wayside. I applied to the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco, and was accepted to their bachelors of photography program, but once I saw the price tag, I knew that there was no way that I would be able to afford it. So I sought out a mentor to teach me the tricks of taking great pictures. He showed me all the inner workings of my cameras and we shot some really great pictures together, but the one major thing that I learned from him was that photography is an art that cannot be taught.

I agree wholeheartedly with this thought. I was convinced that by having an amazing camera, nice glass and knowing how to work all the dials and buttons that instantly my pictures would be good. But in all honesty, I have taken some really great pictures with my old Sony digital camera that took diskettes, some disposable cameras, and my cell phone.  My favorite things to shoot are landscapes, nature, macros and still life. I am absolutely terrified of taking pictures of people. I think its because it stems from my own hatred of having my picture taken.

My old roommates asked me to take pictures for their save the date cards earlier this year (pictured above – their info was below the save the date portion, but I removed it as I don’t know how they feel about having their name broadcast all over the Internet). I took quite a few pictures but managed to pare them down to a collection of roughly 25-30. I am really proud of the way their pictures turned out, especially the one used on their save the date. Maybe I should learn to be a little less critical?

Two friends of mine recently got engaged and have asked me to take their engagement photos. I am already stressing hard about it – mostly because I am so afraid of disappointing them. I have been scouring various wedding website blogs, Pinterest, and any other outlet I can find to come up with various pose ideas for them. As most things do, I’m sure it will all come together, and I am stressing for no reason – but I just can’t help myself sometimes.

Any wedding/engagement blogs you can recommend for great photography?