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Award Winning Family Photographer | From Maternity & Babies to Seniors & Underwater Space Coast - Brevard County FL Big Camera Basics: DSLR Camera Class | Family & Child Photographer | Space Coast FL
I bought my first DSLR back in 2009, a Nikon D90. It was a great camera and took better pictures than my previous camera (a Fuji DSLR-like camera). I basically just used it in fancy auto modes (portrait mode, etc). I had recently started playing with portrait photography by taking pics for family and friends but I was still teaching and never thought to learn how to do more with my nice expensive camera. Then after leaving my teaching position and getting pregnant with my son, I knew I really wanted to learn how to do more with my camera and take my photography to the next level. Whether that was just so I could take better pictures of my son once he was born or possibly turn my love of photography into a business. I didn't know where to look for classes. I hadn't heard of CreativeLive and knew nothing about the professional photography community. We did have a couple local Ritz Camera stores at the time and it was suggested to me to try taking a class with them. So I looked into their classes and none of them really seemed to be what I was looking for. I knew a lot of the basics they taught and wanted more so I purchased a one-on-one session with them for $100. I had my one-on-one session a week before I had my son. There was no set topic or prepared materials and I didn't know what all there was to know, only that I wanted to learn more about using my camera in a mode other than auto and take my photography to the next level. The manager explained a little about shooting in manual mode but no explanations of why you would choose certain settings. I took a lot of notes but I never really had a chance to practice right away while getting feedback and I still didn't really understand how to get a better image. Needless to say, it wasn't all that helpful in the end. So I continued to shoot in portrait mode most of the time while taking pictures of my son until I discovered John Greengo's Fundamentals of Photography class on CreativeLive just before launching my business. It was exactly what I needed to bring my photography to a professional level. I highly recommend this class if you are looking to go professional with your photography. It's incredibly detailed and very helpful. For the absolute beginner, though, it's a lot of information. And I still ended up shooting in aperture priority for a year while building my portfolio because it was a lot for me to have to think about switching my exposure every time I had to change positions or locations while chasing little ones in that first year. But after lots of practice, it became like second nature.
What does all this have to do with my new camera class? I wanted to offer an in-person, well-planned class for those who have spent the money to buy a DSLR camera and want to learn how to get better pictures of their kids. Something I wish I had access to all those years ago. Let's face it, with the right skills, you can take great pictures of your kids all year long and you don't need to hire me for every little thing. Save for those big milestones and times when you should be in front of the camera too. Of course, if you prefer me to take those special pictures of your kiddos, I'm happy to do so! But I know the reality is that one family session a year is enough for many families. Are you the DIY type who likes to take pictures of your kids yourself with your camera? Do you have a DSLR or mirrorless that you've just been using in auto mode but you're ready to bring your photographs to the next level? Or maybe you have a small business and want to be able to take beautiful pictures of your products (or real estate) to help them sell better? Then this camera class is for you! We'll spend about an hour and a half going through a slide show I've created with plenty of visuals and explanations. No need to bring a notebook as I will be providing you with a workbook and space to take notes. Then we will have time to practice a little and ask more questions. So make sure you bring your camera and the manual! After class, you'll also get access to a private Facebook group where you can ask questions and get feedback after you've gotten home and had time to practice with your kiddos (or products or landscapes).
The cost of this class is only $100. Yep, the same price I paid for my not so great one hour one-on-one with someone at Ritz Camera who wasn't even a professional photographer. But you're getting so much more! Class size is limited. Contact me for registration info for my next class or sign up for my email list to be notified of my next class date, early registration access, and monthly-ish email about other things I have going on and local events you might be interested in checking out. <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
Jacksonville FL Newborn Photographer | In-home Newborn Session | Welcome Mr. GWelcome to the world Mr. G! I was honored to capture this family after they welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world. There's so much love for this new addition to the S family.
We even did a little Star Wars themed shot for Dad... the force is strong with this one!
There's nothing that captures this time with a newborn like a big yawn!
This was the first image I posted from this session and it's still one of my favorite moments and images from this session!
And then the smooshy little face after the smooch.
You can see how happy everyone is that Mr. G is here! He is so loved.
I couldn't choose between these two images of Dad so I had to include them both. The proud and loving expression as he looks down at his son and the sweetness of him giving him a kiss.
And there were so many sweet family shots that I couldn't choose just one of those either. I'm a sucker for the ones of everyone looking at the new baby. You can really see how much this baby is loved by the looks on everyone's face.
Big sister was SO excited about her new baby brother and couldn't wait until it was her turn to hold him. These are two of my favorites of the two of them.
Thank you S family for allowing me to capture this special time in your lives. <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Expecting or just had a baby? Contact me today for more information on scheduling an in home newborn session! Sunset Beach Maternity Photography | Fernandina Beach, FLI think I've officially decided that I LOVE maternity sessions! This session was done at the beach at sunset with this adorable family. The dress Mom is wearing is the first dress I made for clients to use, if desired, for maternity sessions. I'm thrilled to be offering maternity gown options for clients so there's no need to go buy something you'll only wear once just for pictures. I had so many favorites from this session that I had to share! Hope you enjoy!
Mr. K was quite the explorer and wanted to check everything out! I love seeing the spark of curiosity in little ones as they learn about their surroundings.
There's so much love in this little family and you can see it in the way they look at each other. There's a little bit of goofiness too, demonstrated perfectly by this adorable smoochy face Mr. K was giving me. I think he gets it from his Daddy!
Mrs. S was just glowing and beautiful, accented by the beauty of her surroundings.
This is one of my absolute favorites from this session (even though it's not maternity related at all!). Mr. K was leading Dad on his little adventure to explore the beach and the reflection on the wet sand is perfect.
Throughout the session, I loved watching Mom & Dad watching Mr. K explore. You could see the love for their son in the way they watched him and the gentle way they handled those moments when he really wanted nothing to do with being in the picture.
Mr. K was so sweet sharing a seashell with baby brother and kissing Mom's belly.
The sunset was gorgeous and perfect for these silhouettes. I love the little triangle of connection in the family silhouette.
Wishing mom a smooth delivery when baby boy #2 arrives! Can't wait to meet him! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Are you expecting and want to capture this special time? Contact me today for more information on scheduling a maternity and/or newborn session! Project 12: April Video | Family Photography St Marys GAFor my third video in this project, I wanted to capture something my son and I love to do each spring... pick strawberries and plant seeds for our garden. I planned to do it at the end of March, but it ended up not happening until after the first of April. (Hopefully after this month I'll be back on track and caught up with this project.) We had been busy preparing the flower and garden beds to get them ready for new plantings. We planted some seeds straight into the garden but we still needed to start our tomato and pepper plants outside the garden to transplant later. We started out morning picking strawberries in our little strawberry patch. The strawberries are super sweet this year and they are irresistible to a 4 year old strawberry lover so he ate several straight out of the garden. Then we headed out front to plant our seeds in the toilet paper roll starter pots we made the week before. I gave iMovie another try after reinstalling it and everything was going well until export. Once I viewed my video, it looked like several of the images were corrupt even though they weren't in any other program I pulled them up in on my computer and even looked normal in iMovie itself. So I'm on the hunt for better video editing software and in the meantime I will turn off the sound when I record and just use Lightroom since that seems to be the least amount of headache. If you know of a good one, I'd love to hear about it!
<3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Need updated photos of your family? Contact me today for more information on scheduling a custom portrait session! Personal Projects 2016 - April | Saint Marys, GA | Fernandina Beach, FL | Child PhotographerI completed my 100 Days of Action Shots in April and started focusing my Project 52 on cleaner, less distracting backgrounds. I will be posting a separate post on my 100 Day Project and some reflections and things I learned. Thanks for following along with me!
Project 52 13/52 - Baseball - This seems to be my son's favorite sport to play. Next year I will have to remember that sign ups for t-ball are in January/February because I didn't think of it this year until March and it was too late. We do play at home though.
14/52 - Blow Bubbles - My son's attempt at blowing bubbles. He loves bubbles but I usually am the one to blow them and he chases them.
15/52 - Swinging Giggles - My son loves his indoor swing! It's perfect for when the weather isn't the best for swinging outside. It's a wrap swing using a wrap I used to carry him in when he was a baby.
16/52 - Dirt (Happy Earth Day!) - I took this one on Earth Day while my son was creating his own mud puddle and playing in it. I was inspired by fellow NAPCP photographers who shared their dirt photos for a recent blog post.
100 Days of Action Shots - April Favorites Another panning shot.
I originally made this next one into a GIF and was pretty happy that I figured it out but then I couldn't figure out how to upload it anywhere so I made a short video out of it so I could share it instead.
100 Days of Action ShotsCopyright Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
This one was my final shot and I love how the rain water bounced off the umbrella as he opened it.
Did you have a favorite? I'd love to know which one! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
Want help capturing the beauty of your every day life? Contact me for more information on your custom portrait session! Personal Projects 2016 - March | Saint Marys, GA | Fernandina Beach, FL | Child PhotographerI'm wrapping up my 100 Days of Action Shots and am ready to focus a bit more on my Project 52. I am planning to write about what I learned from my 100 Days of Action Shots project so stay tuned for my lessons and reflections! For now, here are my favorites from both projects from March.
Project 52 9/52 - Slide Hugs (unfortunately I couldn't reach him way up at the top of the slide!)
10/52 - Nighttime at the Beach: I wanted to play with night photography and I discovered it's incredibly challenging when you have a child who can't be still, haha!
11/52 - Panning: I started working on getting less distracting backgrounds, which is even harder when your subject is moving!
12/52 - Painting the Solar System: My son has been super interested in the solar system and space lately. ince we homeschool, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to go with his current interests and start a solar system unit by painting and creating a model of the solar system. He had a blast!
100 Days of Action Shots - March Favorites
Did you have a favorite? I'd love to know which one! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography
Want help capturing the beauty of your every day life? Contact me for more information on your custom portrait session! Kingsland Maternity Photographer | In-home Maternity Session in Kingsland GAThis beautiful momma is awaiting her third baby and is keeping baby's gender a surprise. We planned a casual, relaxed in-home session to capture this special time while they are still a family of 4, without needing to worry about the weather. Pregnancy is such a beautiful time when a tiny human being is growing and developing inside his or her momma. My goal is to capture this beauty during a maternity session and help mom see how beautiful she is.
Big sister is excited and has already predicted that baby is a girl. You can see how much she loves her momma too!
I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl and meet the new little one! Thank you B Family for welcoming me into your home and trusting me to capture this special time for you! <3 Kim Owner/Photographer-Artist Kimberly Tank Art & Photography Are you expecting and want to capture this special time? Contact me today for more information on scheduling a maternity and/or newborn session! |
Kimberly Tank is an award-winning professional photographer in Rockledge, FL, servicing Brevard County on the Space Coast in Central Florida (including Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Merritt Island, Viera and surrounding areas). Using natural light and custom on location sessions, Kimberly Tank specializes in photographing families from babies to seniors and commercial clients, both on land and underwater; providing an exceptional customer experience and helping save you time and preserve this chapter in your life's story. Kimberly Tank is a proud member and ambassador of National Association of Professional Child Photographers. Signup for my monthly newsletter and receive a FREE PDF on taking better photos of your kids! Click HERE Contact Me for more info and/or to book a session
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Kimberly Tank is an award winning professional lifestyle photographer in Rockledge, FL, servicing Brevard County in Central Florida (including Melbourne, Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, Viera and surrounding areas). Using natural light and custom on location sessions, Kimberly Tank specializes in photographing families from babies to seniors and underwater photography; providing an exceptional customer experience and helping you capture your story and turn your memories into works of art.