Meet baby Grace who is just twelve days old, but has only been home in Okinawa for four days. Her mommy & sister brought her home from mainland Japan, and I think she was still getting over the jet lag because she was just as sleepy and content as could be! What a blessing!

Karen, you get the Greatest Mom of the Year award for adopting Grace just 3 weeks after finding out about her. My hat’s off to you. What a beautiful family!!

I enjoyed the opportunity to photograph my friend, Kali, and her family at an early sunrise session. It started raining right after we finished. Whew! Oh, and psssst…Kali is a photographer in Okinawa too; check her out!

My Mom sent me this comic a while back; I got a good hearty chuckle out of it, and filed it back. But, recently I was reminded of it when I actually received this comment. My camera takes nice pictures?! What! Sure it does, but only because I know how to use it. So, I was discussing this with another photographer friend, and we got to talking about what actually goes into a photograph…the thought process, the check list, the time spent studying photography and your camera…all of the things that go into each * click * of a picture taken. Which leads us to my own mental, pre-click-the-shutter-thingy checklist.

At each photo session and with each photograph taken there is a major thought process that goes on, and I enjoyed sitting down, actually thinking through it, and recording this mental check list. (hang with me here.) So. Imagine the scenario here — a warm, sunny day in a grassy field with a gentle breeze blowing, and a beautiful, young adult ready to be photographed. This is what’s going through my mind right before clicking the shutter:

look through viewfinder

step back

step forward (no zoom)

focus.

where should I focus?

move a little so both eyes are on same plane.

set AF point

(I wonder what my husband’s doing?)

set aperture

set shutter speed

ISO is set

meter is set

(man, it’s hot.)

give a little instruction to subject.

how’s the light around us?

the direction of the sun?

scan sky

scan landscape

backlit or frontlit?

Hmmmm,

backlit.

move around subject

(good granny, it’s hot!)

wipe sweat.

crack a joke.

have subject turn around.

perfect.

Now, let’s get some sun flare in there, Kerry!

so…reset aperture

reset shutter

bump up exposure a notch

sweating more.

reset AF point

focus

perfect.

anything else?

Oh yeh, don’t cut off elbows

back up.

don’t cut off hands

back up.

back up a little more, you can always crop later.

(why do I sweat more photographing people than I do when I run?!?!)

crouch down

hold gut in

get lower, it adds more drama.

lay down

hold gut in

(this person must think I’m crazy)

refocus

hold focus

cue the wind

aaaaaannd

click!

wipe sweat.

stand up.

covered in prickers.

sheesh.

~

Now in this photo below I’m mentally screaming…don’t get the camera wet!!!! (at least I wasn’t covered in prickers.)

Make note…the url kerrymills.com/blog has changed to

www.kerrymillsblog.com!

I was so excited to go live with this blog that I thought I’d work out all the little details later. =)