Hey Friends!

Wanted to share with you some of the goodies I’ve used and am currently using on my photography journey.  I am going to share some of the super basics first and hope to make it a series!!! It’s Jen’s Dummy guide to taking pictures take 101.  Today I’m starting with the GEAR.  I’ll cover the cameras I’ve owned and the LENS YOU MUST BUY (and it’s only $125 dollars – fits full frame and crop sensor Canon cameras!).

Some time ago, my husband brought home a Nikon DSLR (similar to this one)  and I really fell in love with figuring out how to use it outside of some people’s beloved auto mode.  With mostly trial and error and not enough Youtube… I was starting to get the hang of all the gizmos and gadgets (really just buttons and dials) attached to the camera.  When my obsession really went insane was when I became pregnant and had my first son, Evan.  Nothing gets you in the mood to take pictures more than an itty bitty still little sleepy baby.  And so my love for photography… Exploded.

Evan’s first trip downtown labor day weekend – BOB pictured with the infant adapter and car seat attached.

BOB is the way to go!! 

After thousands of pictures, an many more blurry pictures after my lens stopped auto focusing… Hector gifted me a new camera.  This camera (Canon 60D, find it used and CHEAP here) changed.my.life.  When I got this camera and THIS lens.  My world got flipped upside down in the best way.  This to me, is the best starter kit.  Nikon I’m sure has a similar set up but do yourself a favor if you are just starting out and get a 50mm 1.8f stop (or lower) and get ready to take some amazing pictures.  Another great starter is the Rebel Series by Canon.

My Canon 60D has taken pictures of couples, babies, families and trips. It’s literally been in a couple countries and has been a tremendous workhorse and been a tremendous teaching camera.

Having the ability to use my passion to make other people happy has also brought me tremendous joy.  Getting pictures of growing families and knowing people will have them for a lifetime, and hang them in their homes is the greatest feeling.  That said, I did want to upgrade my gear game.  So this year I’ve upgraded to the Canon Mark III, 5D.

I haven’t had Mark very long and I’m still getting used to the slightly different interface but I’m looking forward to elevating my pictures a bit with some of my new gear.

The other thing that’s used a TON in my life is: Adobe Lightroom.  This really helps edit pictures to give them an edge, fix under exposure, fix eyesores and stuff like that super easily!  HIGHLY recommend Lightroom.

I’ll be updating the blog with some BASICS and hope you will join me for the ride!

What gear do you have? Do you shoot in Manual?  Do you point and shoot? Or are you like “iPhones have wonderful cameras!” (they do!)

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