Kara May Photography Blog

Most of us have them…another life on Instagram.  We may have a Facebook life, an Instagram life and ‘real’ life.  Instagram is a fun outlet for me to post everyday moments with ease and without lugging my big heavy camera around.  And I can honestly say I don’t know if I’ve ever taken a food photo (shocker I know…)  oh wait….I have taken a picture of what I’m putting in the crock pot since cooking is a struggle for me as well as healthy smoothies I’ve made.  So I guess I lied…I may have a handful of food photos.  I’m just not a foodie. lol  Anyway, when I first started Instagraming I thought it was my own private albums and a place to store pics.  I had no idea they were shared for any user to view if they so choose.  Then my friend Laura & Haleigh informed me one day that they commented on something on Instagram…I was like, ‘What?’  Yeah, I do that a lot.  I had seen comments but thought they were an auto thing from Instagram.  I know….you’re laughing at me.  But now I get it and it’s such a fun way to share pictures with friends near and far with ease.  So what can you do with your Instagram pictures?  That’s what I wondered after taking dozens of pictures.  There are so many places to print your Instagram photos now!  Places are popping up everywhere with the most creative way to display and print them.  I just ordered my first set of images from ‘Origrami‘  http://www.origrami.com  I love them!  They’re printed on heavy 4×5 postcard quality paper and they come in this cute little box!  I love them.  I plan on pinning them up with little clothes pins in my office…either within a large frame or just on the wall. I’ll take a picture when I remodel my office and put it up.  The back of the print shows 12 unique designs if the photo map information is not included on your photo. This makes Instagraming even more fun!  I’ll be sharing more Instagram randomness soon – I may make this a series too.

You can follow my instagram life at karaphotogirl on Instagram if you’d like.

It has been extremely very busy, insanely fun, ridiculously non-stop time for me and my business lately (and it’s not even busy season).   I have so much to post about.  Workshops I’ve had the honor to speak at, ladies I’ve met and now call my friends, shoot after shoot, traveling like a nomad, and yet trying to be ‘in the moment’ as a mom, wife, friend, etc.  So with all of that business – I finally gave into the pressure from friends, clients and peers to get a Facebook business page.  I know…it’s about darn time right?  {shrug}  Here it is!  https://www.facebook.com/karamayphotography  I’ll be posting recent sessions, things that inspire me, everyday things that help with my creative juices, and more.  I try to blog as much as I can, but I have to be honest…it’s much quicker and easier for me to post on FB and interact with you all.  I love hearing from you and of course getting to know those that follow my work.  We have a common passion, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this right now.  So come visit me and say hi.  I’d love to hear from you.  Thanks!

I’m excited to tell you all about a workshop that Stephanie Moore and I are putting on April 8th to the 18th on the Bloom forum.  There are only a few seats remaining since we pre-sold a most of them.  This is a 2-week on-line workshop that will take you through various ‘shooting’ and ‘editing’ styles to help guide you and your business to a more defined style.  We’ll share editing using Photoshop so an understanding of the basics in that program is needed.  Shooting in Manual mode is also going to be beneficial for this class.  Does that mean we’ll be showing you exactly how we edit?  No, we’ll be talking about various ways to edit to enhance your images and/or add drama.  Here’s a little information about the class below. Please contact me at kara@karamayphotography for any questions.  Thanks!!

This week is Spring Break for my kids.  Woo Hoo!  But this is the first year we haven’t gone to Mexico during Spring Break and just stayed home.   We have been busy with to-do’s appts and working around my crazy schedule and the kids have just had to go with the flow.  Well today was no exception.  They were peacefully playing when I announced I really wanted to do a quick indoor  commercial shoot with them.  They were excited at the idea of staying in and shooting at home so we didn’t have to leave the house and completely disrupt what they were doing.  Um, I have a schedule too kiddos, and it doesn’t involve playing all day.  I’ve got deadlines, orders to package, editing, more editing and a couple of workshops to get ready for.  But for some reason this week the kids think it’s ‘their week’.  I get that…but really, I need to get my things done too and it’s hard.   I’m trying to make it fun for them….I really am.  So that means I’ve had to put some of my work aside and just live in the ‘now’.  I’m trying to do that more and more even if that means pushing back deadlines a touch (those that can be pushed).  This week I’m a momma all week with moments of work sprinkled in when they are sleeping and sometimes when they are awake and needed for my ‘commercial jobs’. Thankfully, Tyler was excited today  - he got to help me move furniture!  He felt like the man of the house – cute to see.

So this was a partial attempt at an indoor commercial photo shoot.  They lasted a good minute before the craziness broke out.  I told them we’d try again later and they happily ran off laughing.  Kids.  This is the struggle photographers deal with when working with our own children.  It’s a blessing and a headache all at once.