Candid Camera (Meeting)

Jenna Unruh of Unruh Photography was our guest speaker yesterday (10/12/10) at Mom's Carelink. You can click on the link to go to her website. (She also has a blog you can get to from the website!) She shared some cropping tips and a slide show with us via her laptop. Jenna also brought in a variety of photos, canvases & brag books so we could see that just about anything is possible when using a professional photographer to capture those special family moments.

Linda Lies was the grand prize winner of the free photography session with Jenna! Thanks, Jenna!

Jenna shared a couple philosophical points with us. One, it's our responsibility (usually), as moms, to document our children's lives. Pictures are a great way to do that. And secondly, time goes by and we quickly forget things our kids did & said or even the way they looked...with that missing tooth...crawling in that unique way...sleeping as a baby...Photographs help us remember.
Here are some tips Jenna shared with us:

• Keep the camera with you always! You never know when a great shot is going to pop up!
• Don't strive for perfect photos. Sometimes the ones with flaws turn out to be favorites.
• Don't make your child look at the camera for every photo. Catch them in the moment.
• White space is good! As you plan a shot, allow for some white space in the photo. Zoom out or adjust your view before taking the picture. And don't always crop all the white space out of the photo, either.
• Use a mat and larger frame to make your photo "appear larger". Maybe to sit on the mantle or hang on the wall in a better proportion & size.
• Back-up your photos! Save them online or burn them to cd's. Make sure you don't keep the copies in the same location as the originals.

Other Resources:

Wichita City Arts - City Arts offers photography classes. Click the link and go to "classes".

Shutterfly - free, online resource to store, edit & print photos

Google's Picasa 3 is a free program you download to your computer to store & edit your photos. Check out these links for more details: YouTube tutorial , Windows Download link , Mac Download link.

Old Town Architectural Salvage, 126 N. St. Francis, Wichita, KS 67202; (316) 558-5120. Thanks, Trish, for the tip! Apparently you can find great pieces of .... anything (moldings, window frames, etc.) here. Use pieces in conjunction with photographs to make great decor as we saw in some of Jenna's photos.