"Drama for your Momma!" or "How I learned to stop worrying and take pictures I love!"

Photographer, know thyself.  Recently, I have really been challenging myself to shoot fewer, higher quality pics.  But I found I had a problem: How do I define higher quality?  I had to decide what I wanted before I could chase after it.  Choosing photography values helped me crystallize my vision so I could focus on only taking pics that meet that vision, and forget the rest....so what are my photography values?


More after the jump

Peace, Love and Leather

Go Cubs
Originally uploaded by Tripp Boren

Product photography! Not the strongest area of my photography, for sure. As you know, I love sports and portrait photography, but as a (part-time) artist, you have to take on the areas you are weak in once in a while. Without challenging yourself and expanding your horizons, you can quickly stagnate and get stuck in a rut! So, take on an assignment where you know you are in over your head. If you are a natural light photog, you better get in the studio, and if you are stuck in the studio, it's time to get out and bend some sunlight!

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Follow the Ball
Originally uploaded by Tripp Boren

One of the rules I always saw in relation to sports photography was....follow the ball. Simple, right? Well, let's expand on this rule. When a quarterback throws the ball to a receiver, he throws to where the receiver will be, not where the receiver is. So in your photos, in addition to following the ball, you need to anticipate the ball, and also make sure you highlight the face of your subject. In tennis, I have noticed I can easily get a million profile shots, but what any subject wants to see is their entire face. Work on anticipating the action and you will see a great improvement in your photos!

Spring Sports

Baby!

Baby!
Originally uploaded by Tripp Boren

We had the honor of taking some pics of our wonderful friends who just had a sweet baby girl 12 days ago! What a great shoot. The older brothers were great and we had a wonderful Saturday morning!

Another Challenge

GoodKidsOnly
Originally uploaded by Tripp Boren

Shooting fourteen people in a house with a low ceiling and a very limited timeframe! Whew. I love breaking out the big lights, and for this shoot, we had one umbrella directly above me as I sat on the ground, two lights in the back going full blast to separate and to provide that trendy, dramatic backlit look! Click on the photo to see the Flickr group.

More Baseball

White Sox
Originally uploaded by Tripp Boren

Well, everything has been commerce, commerce, commerce, which means baseball, baseball, baseball. This is one of Carson's best little friends in the world, playing for the hated White Sox, the team that came in first place (Carson's Angels were second, losing the season series two games to one). I just wanted to throw out another fun baseball pic. Creative on my own time to come soon.