Photographing Everyday Moments With Your Children

Recently, we launched a contest over at Ottawa Valley Moms for a $50 gift certificate to any of our public courses.  We are so pleased to see so many moms and grandmas entering the contest and saying hello on our facebook page!  We love MOMS!!  And it is no secret that Gemma and I both love to photograph our children and adventures as "mom".  So today, I have put together a few tips and tricks to share with all you shutter-happy mommies out there!

1.  Let go of the notion that the only perfect picture of your child is the one where they are staring straight into the camera with a big smile.  While these are beautiful, if they are the only images we capture,  we miss all the other quieter or normal moments.  (Did I say quiet?  I meant LOUD!  And yes, photograph the louder moments too.)

2.  Take your camera out on a regular day, not just special days like Kindergarten graduation and hockey championships.  I want to remember how I really spent time with my children.

3.  Get down at a child's level to photograph them.  Although shooting from above can result in a neat image, when you crouch or lie down, you start to see the world as a little one sees it, and trust me, it makes for beautiful images!

4.  Take pictures of your children doing things they love to do.  Their happiness will show through in the images (and they will love to look at them too).

5.  Get in there and get close-ups of the details.  A picture of the details on their favourite toy or dress, the way they hold their hands at their sides, or a page of a favourite book they are reading, are sure to become  treasured memories for both you and them.

I'm sharing some images from one of the last really warm days of Fall.  Together, they capture the spirit of a 15-minute morning bike ride and explore.

Rhonda

Stop! Or these mamas will shoot!!

( C'mon, you knew it was only a matter of time before we used that line!)  But I couldn't resist. Check it out:

  

These four wonderful ladies are armed and dangerous after taking our Magic of Manual Mode course on Sunday afternoon.  That's right - these fancy cameras are being used as we speak to their fullest capabilities (and that makes Rhonda and I ecstatic!!).  They can freeze a running child's expression with ease.  They understand how to blur backgrounds with the simple turn of a dial and were rocking it all out during our practice time!! 

We have already seen a few examples of the improvements they've made in their photographs since we taught the course and are so proud!  

You're going down, Auto Mode! 

~Gemma

Magic is in the crisp air!

And so is fall.  The colours all across the Valley are so vibrant and inspiring!

If you would love to create some of your own autumn artwork and own a dSLR, we have just the course for you! 

Our most advanced class, The Magic of Manual Mode, is running on Sunday, October 14, beginning at 12:30.  This is is going to be another information-packed afternoon of learning, hands-on instruction and a complete booklet of reference notes to take home. 

If you're tired of producing images that are only worthy of the delete button, then we want to encourage you to use your fancy camera to its fullest potential by learning how to use M on your dial to create your masterpiece.   You will spend five hours with two professional photographers who present it all with visual illustrations in and easy-to-understand manner.  We walk you through the exposure triangle, metering, metering modes, white balance and even talk about photographing in various lighting situations plus share basic editing techniques!

We have a couple of seats left in the October class and won't be offering Magic again in a public format until 2013.  If you are interested, please send us a note by e-mail or message us on our Facebook page. 

The photo magicians are standing by...

Gemma

Great Results!

I saw some of Carrie Rayner's images last week and asked her if we could share them here with you. Carrie  took our beginner course and has a passion to practice and learn more about photography. We see so much improvement and skill in Carrie's images! Way to go!

Are you ready to get your photography learning on too?? Our new public Fall course schedule is posted here:  Course Schedule

Advance registration is required for our public courses - so don't hesitate to sign up and start taking photos like Carrie's this fall!!  Please register by sending us an e-mail.

Our Vision! Friends and Fun at Clicks In Your Home!

Back in Fall 2010, when Gemma and I first sat down to hammer out the details of Clicks Gone Wild, the idea of home parties, now called "Clicks In Your Home" was our primary vision.  We asked ourselves, "If we were still shooting in Auto Mode and knew a little about photography - but wanted to learn more - what would be the best way to learn?"  The answers included....with friends, hands-on, in-person, in comfort, with multiple viewpoints, picture examples, with humour, without judgement, with FUN, hanging out, sharing, all while using whatever digital cameras the students currently own.  Clicks In Your Home began in Rhonda's living room with two sold-out courses on a Saturday the following January, and we are pleased that this has been a very popular option ever since!

Last Wednesday, we were thrilled to teach a fantastic group of ladies in Burnstown and enjoy lunch with them as well!  Thank you so much for hosting and for allowing us to share this beautiful image!  Friends, learning, and fun - this was and is our vision.  And when the course is over, you have your friends to support you as you continue to learn and grow on your very own photographic journey!

If you haven't met the Click Chicks yet - a big hello to you!  We're standing in the back row on each end.  :)  (Gemma on the left, Rhonda on the right)

You can read all about Clicks In Your Home here:  http://clicksgonewild.blogspot.ca/p/be-clicks-host.html

Anyone interested in learning more about their camera and better photography skills can also take any of our four Clicks courses at public courses or through one-on-one tutoring sessions.  We have got you covered!

A look inside Focus on the Features – BEGINNER LEVEL

WHO SHOULD TAKE FOCUS ON THE FEATURES?
Anyone with a digital camera - it's perfect for true beginners, new camera owners or anyone who needs a "photography refresher"

THE COST?
$50 (Public Class or Clicks in Your Home); $75 (Clicks One-on-One)


WHAT KIND OF CAMERA DO I NEED?
Any kind of digital camera - a point and shoot or dSLR

HOW LONG IS THE COURSE?
Just 2 hours in length

Our introductory course to digital photography teaches all of the essentials “beginner tips and tricks” along with more in-depth photography concepts.  It is aimed to get anyone with any level of experience behind the camera understanding how to efficiently and properly operate their digital camera and produce better everyday photographs.  Often many lucky new camera owners are intimidated by all of the buttons on their fancy new camera and we designed this class to help true beginners and more experienced camera users alike. 

We ease into ‘what all of the buttons do’ by giving a brief rundown of universal features on all cameras – from deleting pictures to showing the difference between a compact point-and-shoot camera to a more sophisticated digital  SLR (and what SLR stands for!).  Focus on the Features helps you to venture off of “the green box” by covering: explanations of the standard preset shooting modes, how to achieve great focus, controlling your flash, we introduce the concept of ISO, and end with a section on best lighting situations for a beginner photographer. 

Our main goal of this course is to teach our participants that cameras create some incredible photographs when the user takes control and turns the dial away from Auto Mode.  We give you the confidence to try new shooting modes, tweak a few settings and get you to do much of it it as we go through our presentation.  All of our courses are accompanied by a visual illustration of everything we teach to help the learning process.  We’ve also provided many comparison slides (a photo taken in Auto Mode vs. a photo taken in Landscape Mode, for example) to show you exactly why you should be taking control and playing with your camera.

After this two-hour class you will not only have demystified a lot of the buttons and knobs on your camera, you will be inspired to try out a few new techniques and have some great pictures to show for it!