The benefits of RAW are numerous but I feel that it has cause me to be a lazy photographer. I’m not always diligent about nailing exposure or white balance because I can fix it later. Well, I’m tired of spending hours in front of a computer going fixing shots that should have been right when I shot them. To remedy this, unless I’m getting paid or have a project that NEEDS a RAW file I will be shooting in JPG. My goal is 2013 is to nail exposure and white balance in 90% of my shots.

I’m also learning how to use a flash. I bought a used 580EX and I’m going to spending a lot of hours mastering this flash. It came in yesterday and I’ve already spent a few hours using it and I’m starting to get the hang of it. This week I’m going to try and master the wireless capability and play with off-camera flash.

Here’s a photo I shot last night during a local meetup event.

Chris Johnston Photography -

I thought this might be time to share something with you. I’m a Christian, Jesus-follower, Bible reader, or whatever other label you want to put on it. I go to church every Sunday, volunteer at my church (as a photographer), and even attended seminary school as Master of Divinity student for a brief period of time. I don’t say this to impress anyone or offend anyone just to let you know about me. If that is a problem then AWESOME, better you know that now than before we would work together.

If you are interested in finding out more about Jesus, a person I admire and respect, Scott Kelby (yes, the Photoshop Scott Kelby!), has written the book for you. Here is a video from Scott talking about his new book.

If you want find out more about me and my personal interest you can check me out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. Feel free to follow me on any or all of them. Just like everyone else I varying interest besides photography and interest in other forms of photography and those will be evident when you explore my various profiles.

As always if you would like professional photos of your children or family portraits please do not hesitate to call me at 504-208-1766 to book an appointment. It’s probably too late for Christmas cards but it’s a great time to get some photos of the kids for personalized Valentine’s Day cards.

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I urge you to capture those special moments that you will want to remember later. I’ve gone so far as to make sure my camera is charged at all times and has a memory card card with space for at least a few hundred photos!

I took the picture above when Lance was climbing up onto the bathroom counter after brushing his teeth. It seemed really cute at the time but I have a feeling it is going to be really funny in a few years. I know because I don’t have pictures like this of my youngest child.

Make an effort to record those special memories because the time passes too quick. If you want to schedule a professional shoot in your home capturing your children being themselves call us today at 504-208-1766 to schedule an appointment.

Chris Johnston Photography -

I feel kind of bad for my daughter because I have far more pictures of my son than I do of her. There is a reason though, I didn’t purchase my DSLR until late 2010 and by then she was already 7 and in school all day. I was a full-time student and home with my then 2yr old son so he became the focus of my photographic efforts.

I still take more pictures of him because he doesn’t start school until next year and until 2 weeks ago I was a full-time grad student so I was home all day with him. It looks like that will be coming to an end soon but I’m wondering if anybody else has one kid that they tend to photograph more often than the other and why. Leave your response in the comments below.

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The Bible was written during a time when the society was largely agrarian so there are lots of references to farming. In farming the seasons are very important, only certain things can be grown at certain times and in certain conditions. This may seem elementary but I feel a need to explain it because in modern society you can go in any US grocery store and get any produce you want, at any time of the year, despite whether it’s in season or not in your particular area.

Well just like you can’t grow herbs in Minnesota in winter you probably shouldn’t pursue certain things in your life during certain seasons of your life.

When I was 16 I spent a lot of time at the Louisiana Nature and Science Center in New Orleans East. It started a fascination with wildlife that continues today. About that time I started watching Marty Stouffer’s Wild America and become enamored with the idea of wildlife photography.

If I had picked up a camera then it would have been the right season of my life for that. I had the time to spend days or weeks in the woods. I had the energy and stamina to walk for miles through mud or briars to find an owl or deer that someone told me might be in a certain area.

When I finally picked up a camera 17 years later I picked it up with the desire to go do that kind of photography. When I went out and tried to photograph those animals I came to a few realizations very quickly.

1. I was a lot older and getting into and out of the places necessary to photograph wildlife was a lot harder for me.
2. With a wife and 2 children I had a lot less time to make this work.

Coming to terms with number 3 above was hard. I searched in vain for something to attach this photographic pursuit to. Those watching this blog (I thank the 3 or 4 of you) have seen me go from wanting to shoot real estate photography, weddings, headshots, back to weddings and all in an attempt to find out what I supposed to be photographing.

I tried everything from macro photography to nature to landscapes and none of them were fulfilling. All the while my hard drive was filling up with images, and a specific kind of images. The answer to my search was right in my own home.

A casual look through my photo library shows thousands of images of my kids. I also have lots of pics of other people’s kids. I’m often at birthday parties, playgrounds, family church events, and most of our friends are married and have kids. As a father of 2 with another on the way I’m much more comfortable around kids than I was 10 years ago. This season of my life has me around kids.

With the announcement of our 3rd child arriving in July of next year I’m eager to add a new age range to my child photography, newborns. I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at newborn pics on Pinterest and I can’t wait to photograph that new baby during those first 2 weeks (something else I learned on Pinterest).

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I’m human just like everyone else and I’m prone to be attracted to what some in photography call easy money, photographing weddings (it’s not easy by the way, not by a long shot). I put some new content up on the site, shared it on my Facebook page, and a person contacted my wife asking if I shot weddings. My wife said, “yes”.

I don’t want anyone reading this to think I’m throwing my wife under the bus here, I’M NOT!. She was being human too and saw dollar signs, so did I. I quickly reworked the site, edited my portfolio, and changed the site to read that I did Weddings and Family portraits instead of Child and Family portraits. I let that go for a couple of days. I thought I was doing the right thing.

This afternoon I watched interviews with Jasmine Star, Sue Bryce, and Scott Bourne (all very well-known and very successful photographers) and they all said the SAME THING. You need to shoot what you love. You need to shoot what WANT to shoot, not what you think you HAVE to shoot. Shooting what you feel you HAVE to leads to misery, turning your work into a commodity, and turns it into just another job.

Sue Bryce said you can make money shooting what you want to shoot and if you think you can’t it’s just a mental block you have to get past. She went in a few weeks from making zero dollars to $20K/week in her home studio! And she did it in a style of photography people said was dead and no one wanted.

This morning while on a walk I was listening to a message by a pastor at Saddleback Church explaining a time when he did what he thought was the right thing and it turned out terrible. Sometimes the right thing isn’t obvious and doing the right thing hurts. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, and you look like a fool with egg on your face. And sometimes the right thing isn’t what everyone else is doing. In fact, it probably isn’t what everyone else is doing. I’m trying to do what I believe is the right thing for me and my business.

I also know that my photographic skill is gift given to me by God. We are each given gifts and those gifts are meant to be used in certain way. Being allowed into someone’s life to capture an image of them and their children in special way, a way that allows them to relive that scene every time they look at that image is an honor and one I don’t take lightly.

I’m saying right here, right now, I want to shoot children and families. Now there are probably only 4 or 5 people reading this blog right now so it’s not like this revelation is going to change the world but I feel it is something I needed to get off my chest and it’s the right thing.

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When you are photographing kids patience is a MUST! They have their own agenda and they really don’t care about yours. You also can’t make them look happy. If you have ever tried this you know what I mean.

When you are photographing your own kids it’s twice as hard. Your temper gets frayed really easy, they know which buttons to push, and everything can go downhill really fast.

My wife and I took the kids to the park yesterday to enjoy the nice weather and I wanted to get some pics of my daughter. Initially the trip started off really bad: there were too many people in the park, my light was fading, my daughter was giving me that dreaded fake smile, and on, and on, and on…

I decided that if I got some great pictures awesome! If I didn’t, it wasn’t the end of the world and I could try again another day. Obviously, I couldn’t do this with a client but these are my kids and different rules apply.

Once we started, and I slowed down and waited, my daughter started to relax and open up. In the end I got quite a few good shots. Check out a couple of them below.

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1. to share the news
2. to show off my design skills

Obviously, this will necessitate changes in other areas too. I need a lot more work. I’m might get a bit salesy (not a real word but you know what I mean) in some post but it’s because I need to.

I’m also going to be writing here a lot more frequently. I’m going to try to get at least 6 post a week out and give myself one day to rest.

I’m also planning to launch some workshops in January for people who want to get handle on that new DSLR they received for Christmas. I’m still working on the format for that but there will be news about it very soon. Till then enjoy the holiday weekend!

Check out my 5 daily photo links Twitter. Also if you want to hire someone to record those special moments in your life feel free to call Chris Johnston Photography at 504.208.1766 to setup an appointment.

Chris Johnston Photography -

I moved a bunch over to my new computer, well newer, and reprocessed the raw files. I’ve posted a few below. I’d love to show you the before and after but I didn’t export the processed versions. I wanted to start over without a preconceived notion of what I had before.

The 2 images below are from a wedding where I was working as the 2nd shooter for Matthew Foster Photography.

New Orleans Wedding Second Shooting for Matthew Foster Photography

New Orleans Wedding second shooting for Matthew Foster Photography

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Lance and Holly on Mother’s Day

Holly and Cheyenne on Mother’s Day 2012

I’m starting now, because there is no reason to wait, but 2013 will be focused on three things.

#1. Family

I’ve been in school pretty much full-time since May of 2009 and a lot of things have been sacrificed during that time. It’s time that those sacrifices pay off financially for the entire family.

#2. Memories

As a photographer I not only want to record my memories but I want to help other families record the lives of their children as they grow up. They change so much when they are young and it goes by so quickly. I also want to take time to create memories for our family. This may be through trips, a vacation, or just an evening in the park.

#3. Commitment

Photography finally gets the focus it deserves. There is no competition between it and school. I started a self-imposed learning fast. I know a ton of stuff but I need to go from knowing to doing. So now I only learn something if I need it. This isn’t permanent, because I know that I don’t know everything but I also know I need to be committed to actually taking pictures and not learning how to take pictures.

Lance outside Hansen’s Snoballs

Starting TODAY. NOW. THIS VERY MINUTE. You can hire me to photograph your children or family portraits and together we can create spectacular wall art to remember those moments. It’s also not too late for Christmas cards so if you want to get some of those made call me now, 504-208-1766.

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