Photos of this life: Young Wild Girls

The weekend is officially over and that usually means a few things. Back to work at day job (for now) and editing photos shot at the weekend. A few Saturdays ago I headed with some family south of Tucson, AZ to Nogales, AZ to attend and work, my cousin Alexa's quinceanera. Upon arriving I was thrust into action relatively quickly snapping photos left and right. After a bit settled I finally got to work with my cousin on her portraits. As we shot photos at a golf course I had to watch out for a few flying golf balls and distracting people trying to sneak into the frame. Not to be outdone by said location I chose a spot with the sun creating a nice rim light and using fill flash to round out the look. Since it was day and obviously plenty of light available. I was also able to take some shots in my earlier "shoot wide open, dreamy, creamy, overexposed" look. It's quite flattering for females and I think it does a good job if you don't have a flash unit. While shooting that session I started to think about what a commercial photographer once told me. We were discussing portraits and he insisted that NO portrait should be shot at an aperture larger than F/5.6 because according to him it wasn't "proper" and didn't follow the "rules." As you can tell in some of my work, I didn't listen. To me I understand why he said such a statement but photography isn't such a cut and dry artistic medium. Just because another photographer tells you something doesn't mean you have to follow exactly as they say. If you're trying to copy and make your work look just like their photos, go right ahead. Growing up I understood rules but in a field like photography you have to stand out to get noticed, and often that involves breaking the rules (and law sometimes). Essentially I'm just preaching do your own thing, be creative, enjoy yourself, and have fun with your photography. If you build it they will come and soon enough you'll be getting phone calls for more hired work. Until next time, au revoir.