Last year I knew that I wanted to put an emphasis on my photography education.  I started attending workshops and mentoring sessions with photographers that I have been following in the hopes of understanding their workflow and shooting styles, but still choosing to focus on how I wanted to run my business and my own style of photography.  I never want to imitate what another photographer does and it’s easy to take what one photographer does and mirror it.  It’s more of a concentrated effort to learn from them and implement what you learned with your own style.  That was one of the topics of conversation when I met with Danielle Finney of D.Finney Photo. I have been following “Danni’s” work for a few years and I love her style and her brand, which is probably one of the more recognizable styles of any D.C. Lifestyle Photographer.  I was able to get to know her while at the Blink! Conference last year in Nashville, TN during our long wait to eat at the Pancake Pantry!  OMG…that place needs it’s own blog post because it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in Nashville, but I digress.  I was excited when she did her presentation on branding and used my website as an example of a cohesive brand! I’ve put a lot of time and effort into my brand, so I was happy to see that it’s paying off and delivering effectively.  While at Blink! I told Danni that I wanted to do one-on-one mentoring with her to help bring my ideas for my business to life. We finally found a date of the calendar and made it happen!

Our day started in Alexandria in the midst of a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Yikes!  Who knew Alexandria celebrated St. Patty’s Day during the first weekend in March?!?!  And boy, do people come out to celebrate!  I was already in the area having my make-up done by Denyelle, but due to the crowd and traffic, Danni and I had to do an impromptu location change in order to get our day started. We had lunch and talked and Danni shared a few pointers based on what I had already told her that I wanted to get out of the session.  She quizzed me on some of the basics of photography to ensure she knew the correct starting place.  I thought this was awesome because so often I have been in conversations with people about photography and I assume they know the basics of exposure only to realize that their frustration comes from a lack of understanding this.  After lunch (and the parade!) we headed out so that she could grab some headshots of me and also discuss what she looks for when shooting in terms of lighting and location.  It was pretty cold that day (read: I was freezing!) and when it’s cold and windy my eyes water up.  I have no idea why, so I tried to figure out ways to keep warm by jumping, moving and softly patting my eyes so that I didn’t smear my make-up!  lol

Later on, we met up with Ash’Leigh and Marcus, so that we could both grab photos of them using some of the in-camera techniques that Danni had showed me earlier in the day.  They were a fun and photogenic couple and they didn’t seem to mind the random strangers that walked up or by to figure out what we were doing.  Marcus is also a budding photographer, so he was able to see and understand what we were doing from behind the camera.

Key Takeaway: When we first met, Danni said that she wasn’t sure what she would be able to teach me because I’ve attended several workshops and conferences, but I always look for an opportunity to learn in any setting and walked away with several pointers that will assist me when shooting.  For example, when I start shooting, I have several things I do to obtain the correct exposure, but I never had a system.  So, for one session I may start with setting my f-stop and one session I may set my ISO.  My way worked but it wasn’t efficient, so now I use the same steps for my exposure triangle.  For most clients they wouldn’t know the difference, but for me it makes sense and allows me to put less thought into that part of the shooting process!

Here are a few photos from the day!