Last week I did something quite exciting! My friend Lia and I joined the inspire sessions organised by the talented interior stylist, photographer and blogger Holly Marder of Avenue Lifestyle and visual storyteller and wedding photographer Hanke Arkenbout. Together with a bunch of other creative ladies we spent an afternoon shooting pictures of Holly's beautiful home in Delft and sharing tips and ideas.
Many of the ladies there were professional photographers or at least very experienced Photography aficionado's. So, there I was... holding my DSLR camera in my hands for the first time in two years and feeling a bit out of place. You see, I'd become a bit lazy lately and usually I just grab my iPhone to take pictures. Not much wrong with that, but I was wanting to photograph again with my DSLR. So, this session was just what I needed to spark my enthousiasm and get going again. The pictures I took aren't epic, but that's okay. It's a start. And I recieved valuable tips to help me along the way. My favourite: Edit, edit, edit! Just like with content writing (what I do a lot in my day job), you edit and take away what is not necesary or relevant. Turns out that the same principle applies to photography! Determine what you want to photograph and what you're going to include in your frame, then just take a good look at it all and: edit, edit, edit! Might sound like a big 'duh' to most of you, but it wasn't that obvious for me.
Another thing I learned is that, no matter how crappy you think you are, you can get better. You can even become fantastic, just practice, practice and practice! Another 'duh' there, right? Not when - like me - you think that you need a load of talent or some kind of special 'eye' to take fab pictures. I thought I was lacking talent or that photography 'eye', but what I learned is that all these amazing photographer ladies worked at their craft and practiced, a lot. And read all about how to improve their skills, asking others for feedback, studying images they love and just practiced, for years. And they became fantastic at it.
And that's it for my recap on the inspire session. If you're looking to improve your skills and to get a boost of inspiration, join a session like this. It's always fun to connect with like minded people and it'll get your creative juices flowing. Read more about the inspire sessions on Holly's blog Avenue Lifestyle.
