So I should’ve released this blog post last year during the Christmas season, but I was feeling stressed out and burnt out from all of the work I did. So here’s the post I wanted to share with you on the week of Christmas.
Instead of a usual Christmas filled with family gathering in the living room to open presents and cook breakfast, Christmas of 2019 was quiet, tiring and nearly everyone around me were asleep or occupied with something else.
I decided to make Christmas a slow one and celebrate quietly in the way I wanted to celebrate. This included me busting out my camera gear, packing a tote bag with a small makeup bag and other things, loading both the tote bag and gear into my car, and driving to Alpine Groves in Switzerland, FL for a somewhat spontaneous photo shoot for myself.
That day was windy and a little cold, but I got excited when I noticed that there was hardly anyone at the park. I quickly prepared my camera setup, adjusted the focusing to where I wanted it to be and proceeded to do my makeup outside while sitting on a tree stump.
For the gear nerds, my Nikon D3200 was used and the lens chosen for the photo shoot was my trusty 35mm f 1.8 G lens. Natural light was also the best option since the large trees of the park obscured most of the sunlight streaming in due to the sky being clear on that day.
I took some test shots before setting up the self timer and activating it with my remote shutter release. The results of my first location are below. They actually turned out great!
I then moved my camera over to a large plant near another tree to see if I could do some headshots with the leaves behind me. It was a very tricky spot since there was only so much the 35mm lens could do, but I got some good results from it.
It was wonderful to get back outside and photograph something, even if I was the subject. The rest of Christmas included me resting and not doing much after editing in Lightroom. I’m really starting to enjoy being the subject in many of my photos!
le fleur artsy 