In 2011, I got a new camera. It was my first DSLR, a Nikon D3100.

I knew my camera was capable of much more than my old point and shoot. (And much more than the Blackberry I owned at the time... hey, it was five years ago!)

Challenges abounded. Why were some pictures focused in the right place and some fuzzy? Why were some grainy? The more I learned, the more I was able to capture photos of my daughter that were worthy of hanging on my wall.

I love professional photos. I love having my family photographed. I hope you love it, too. (If you don't, I'm not sure why you're here on my website. Book a session. You'll love it.)

The

only

problem with relying only on a professional photographer is that I'm not following you around your house every single day. Sometimes, you want to grab your camera and capture the everyday.

In the first image below, my daughter was in the NICU. The focus is on her back hand. She's kind of blurry. An everyday moment in that era... chillin' in her NICU crib.

The second image is her last day of preK. She did NOT want a photo session, because she wanted to go to school. Ellie moved a lot faster in the second image than the first. It's an equally unscripted and un-posed moment. (I yelled, "Get out the door, I want a picture!" "No, Mommy, let's go to school! I want to see my friends!") Yet the image is in focus and she's not a blur.

I'll let the difference speak for itself.

To help you through the growing pains I experienced, I'm offering something new starting at the end of this month -

Learn to Use Your Camera Sessions

! These are one-on-one sessions where we work together to help you meet your goals. Want to learn to shoot in manual mode? Or just how to pick an appropriate shooting mode? You only have a point and shoot but you know a few simple tweaks could help you capture great images? Well, we will get you photographing with confidence!

And lest you think the camera makes all the difference... here's a few from my iPhone. Composition and light can make or break a photograph, even on a phone!

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jun 8, 2016 at 3:48pm PDT

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Mar 1, 2016 at 8:33am PST

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Sep 25, 2015 at 5:54am PDT