Sometimes you just have to go for it

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I have loved getting to grips with my DSLR over the past 9 months and feel like confidence levels are going in the right direction.  Don't get me wrong, there are still loads of things I think I can improve on and loads of things I'm not even aware I know about, but I've reached the 'itchy feet' stage of wanting to take photos of more than just objects.  

The kind of photography I love is documentary photography that shows people in their surroundings, being themselves, but telling a story.  I think I'll have to spend a lot more time walking about with my camera to achieve a good level of documentary photography and with the onset of winter I'm not sure now is the right time for that!  The label 'fair weather photographer' comes to mind.  Maybe one day I'll have enough of a catalogue to enter something like The Street Photography Awards!  However documentary and street photography is certainly not the only thing I want to get more experience of, I also want to be able to do great portraits and get used to working with people in front of the camera.  The only problem with this is that I need people to be in front of the camera for me!  

With the thought in mind of 'sometimes you just have to go for it' I have now embarked on trying to entice friends and family to let me do a photo shoot with them.  I have a few friends who are engaged, and so with the opportunity of sending them an engagement card to say congratulations, I have also added in a gift voucher for a 'Sonia Irvine Photography Engagement Photo Shoot'! 

  

The lovely Kerry Waugh at 17TWELVE DESIGN designed the beautiful gift card shown above for me (thanks Kerry!), which made it a much nicer way to give my 'offer' of a photo shoot to these friends (the alternative was having me scribble it on the inside of their engagement card)! 

 
I can appreciate however that not everyone wants to while away the hours in front of a camera, especially when it is me on the other side operating it! So given the odds of maybe one person in ten saying yes to working with me, I'm going to have to come up with some other incentives to get people in front of my camera - I think an invitiation to a 'studio style shoot' with a 'party' atmosphere on the side where wine and nibbles are supplied might be on the cards next for friends in Didsbury!  Watch this space - the outputs of my next adventure may be on line soon (hopefully)!

If any friends or family want to put themselves forward for a photo shoot then by all means let yourselves be known!