The Perry Family

Let me tell you about how this photoshoot was one of the best times I've ever had while also being one of the most stressful. First of all Mrs. Renee Perry is one of the sweetest women I know. So when she asked me to take photos for her family I jumped at the opportunity. In the past week I had decided to update my camera gear. I normally shoot from my Cannon Rebel t3i (yes I know it's old but I love it) so I purchased the Canon t7i with the nifty-fifty lens second hand. I was super excited to use my new gear. I also decided bring my old camera with me just to make sure I got some extra shots that I needed.

During the photoshoot the family was laughing and smiling and taking directions super well. The shoot was full of laughs, inside jokes, and although the heat was blaring they were constantly having a good time. After the shoot was over I pulled out my SD card to edit all the photos I captured on my new camera and nothing... NOTHING. I was gutted. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. What happened? Where are they? Excitement turned into sheer panic when I realized this was actually happening.



"No" I said. "I know I took the photos." I looked closer at the file that was on my computer screen. I noticed that it wasn't blank but something.. something was there. When I pulled the file into Adobe Lightroom and what I saw wasn't any better. All the photos I took on the t7i were overexposed to the point where the entire photo was white. How... how did this happen? I doubled, no I tripled check behind myself. "I can't believe I did this." I looked at settings on my camera and that's when I realized. I was playing around with the camera inside my house and I turned up the aperture the day before because I wanted to see how the camera worked in low light and I never changed the settings.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a rookie mistake. A mistake that happens to most photographers but one we learn early in the game. You take a test photo, look at it to make sure the settings are correct and you go from there. Well somewhere between the excitement of the new camera and the ignorance of not checking behind myself I realized that I did not have the family photos. That is until I realized I had my old faithful. I decided that even tough I purchased a new camera I took my old camera with me because I still loved the photos it captured.

When I took out the SD card from my t3i relief instantly filled my body. I had photos! Where they the new crisp photos with the blurry background that the t7i with the nifty-fifty lens was known for? Well, no. They were 'average' photos from my old t3i with the kit lens shot in automatic focus. The basic beginner point and shoot camera settings for beginner photographers. It was at this moment I realized the quote "if it ain't broke don't fix it" came to mind. I pulled the photos into Adobe Lightroom, added my personal photography preset, did a little more fine turning and sent them to Mrs. Renee.



I write this blog post to say there is nothing wrong with change, change can be a beautiful thing, However, there is also beauty in things that stay the same. There is comfort in the known. I will take this lesson with me on my next shoot. That although you have one idea in mind sometimes you end up doing something completely different.