Guest Post {Amylou and Photography}

Hi there! My name is Amylou and I'm visiting today from my blog AmyLouWho. I'm so excited to be guest posting for Ms. Shannon today! Shannon and I have been doing some blog trading. She shared her pet photo tips on my blog and I was honored when she asked me to share my photo journey here with all of you!

I think I've always had a special love for photography. Did you ever have a toy camera when you were a baby that made a clicking sound? It didn't really take a photo, but you felt big because you said "Cheese", just like mom and dad did. Yep! Those were the best!

My mom has a photo of me somewhere, 1 year old, holding a roll of film. She always joked that I could be a poster child for Fuji film with that photo. And in middle school, even though I didn't have my own camera, I would scour the Internet looking for pretty pictures. I remember being allowed to use my parents 35mm when I was younger and then finally in high school, my mom bought me my own point and shoot. I was on cloud nine! I loved being able to go off to youth camp and take photos of my friends and the scenery to my hearts content!

Even though I've always loved photos, my photography journey really started out with a curious husband and a pawn shop. Strange origins, huh?! My husband understands pawn shops like I understand thrift stores. He knows all the best ones in our little town and is a pro at finding items that are in good condition. A couple of years ago, he found a Nikon Digital SLR camera that had obviously been well loved and taken care of. It was a great deal and he decided to buy it. To be honest, I was kind of against the idea. Why did we need such a fancy camera? Well, he started researching and taught himself how to use it. Didn't even take one photography class! I was pretty proud of him, but didn't really expect that I would be able to learn myself. Steven kept working with me and started to teach me how to use our new camera manually. It's been a long process, but I finally feel confident using our camera in manual mode. I'm so grateful that Steven taught me to shoot in manual first, so that I could truly understand the ins and outs or our little camera.

My photo practice started out light. Visits to the park with my husband standing over my shoulder, giving me pointers the whole time.

Then I took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum with my family. I fell in love with the beauty I saw through my lens and I knew from that point on that I was hooked.

I love to take photos just for fun and extra practice. Photos of our pup are especially fun!

On random outings and road trips, I'm kind of the camera lady, but I'm completely ok with that!

The next major step was to set up some photo sessions with some of my close friends and family members.

My favorite thing is to capture the love between a sweet couple or a loving family. It makes my day to see them relax in front of the camera and just be themselves....especially when they forget I'm there all together. That is when you see what true love is all about. When you can capture a beautiful moment. A moment that they will hopefully love looking back on for years to come.

Right now...I don't have any real plans for a business set in stone. I do hope to start one up, but I'm still in the dreaming phase. I do know that I love photography so much and I think that will always be a part of my future, no matter which way the road leads me.

Thank you again Shannon for letting me be your guest today!

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Thanks for sharing your photographic story with us, Amylou! It was totally rad getting to know you like this!  Your photos are lovely and you have wonderful eye! If you're interested in sharing your photographic story, shoot me an email shannon{at}shannonbear{dot}com. I'd love to share your story too!