I am so excited to have the owner of One Sock Pictures as our guest judge this week! Her images are amazing and capture the "every day" perfectly. Let's learn a bit more about her!
Tell us a little about yourself (family, hobbies, etc.)
I'm a SAH, homeschooling mom to three boys (ages 10, almost 12, and 14) and wife for 15 years. It's pretty much always loud at our house! We live in a tiny town in Indiana, where I grew up and have lived basically my entire life. I love books, and daydream about having an entire room that is wall-to-wall shelving full of them. We are really involved in our church, and I work in the counseling ministry there. Getting an opportunity to help people is such a rewarding experience! Other than that, I love herbs and natural health, and I'm blessed to have the most amazing friends who are a big part of our life.
What got you started in taking lifestyle images (or photography in general)?
I bought my first DSLR about three years ago. I had never been interested in photography up to that point. Using the camera in auto quickly became frustrating, so I purchased a book and learned the manual settings. I found helpful resources online and spent a lot of time reading about how to take better photos. That led to photographing not only my own family, but my friends and their families as well. Not long into it, I felt like something was lacking in my photos but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I tried so hard to copy what I was seeing as "popular" on the internet and it left me feeling empty. That's when I discovered documentary style photography and fell in love with the authenticity and raw photos it produced. It was life in a very real form, and I was hooked from that point on. I began to build my business around that. Now, my goal is to produce work that is sincere and true to the people I'm photographing, and to use all things in life - the good, the bad, and the mundane - as inspiration.
Any photographers that you look up to?
Jennifer Tonetti-Spellman has been a huge influence for me! She was the first real lifestyle photographer that I found, and encouraged me to stick with what I was passionate about. She pushes me, and I need that! ;) I also love Molly Flanagan's work. There is something so true about her photos that I keep going back to them. Some of the older photographers have been inspiring, also - Vivian Maier, Irving Penn, Milton Greene. It's not the same style of work I do, but they are amazing.
What is in your camera bag?
I carry a Jo Totes bag that I love! I keep it light and simple. My camera body is a Canon 5D Mark II, and my main lens is a 35mm 2.0. I also carry an 85mm 1.8, but find that the 35mm rarely leaves my camera. Let's see... a lens pen, some contact solution (bc I learned the hard way that I might need it!), a battery charger and extra battery, and a card case. That's about it.
If you could shoot anybody in the world, anywhere, who and where?
If I could shoot anybody, anywhere, I would love to go back in time and capture my family while I was growing up. One of my favorite things to do was to sit with my grandmother and look at old photographs as she would tell me stories about all the people and places. It was never about how perfect the photos were, just the mere fact that life was documented seemed so special. A lot of those people aren't with us anymore. It makes me wish I would have been more interested in photography when my boys were smaller, too. They grow up so fast!
To see more stunning images visit One Sock Pictures on their Facebook page. You can also view her website or Pinterest page!
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