06-19-2013

Finding Your Passion

It’s National Small Business Week. I’d like to raise a toast to all you guys and gals who are building and dreaming and growing and innovating. Cheers to you and your entrepreneurial spirit!

I think when we hear the word “entrepreneur” a lot of us think suits & ties & money. And while that may be for good reason, I prefer to dig deeper in its meaning because let’s just be honest…I do not wear a suit and tie, and money stresses me out.

Let’s think “innovator & freedom & opportunity” instead.

I have to admit something: I like being an entrepreneur more than I like being a photographer. she said whaaaaaaat?

Okay, don’t freak out. I love, love, love what I do. But I love that fact that I carved out this path for myself even more. There is something SO exhilarating about taking the reigns and growing something that you breathed life into.

I read something the other day that ties in with this idea:

“Be useful so that you can find your passion”…as opposed to the more popular idea of finding your passion so you can be useful.

Yes, it’s a different way of thinking, but I think in more cases than not, it’s true. And it was true for me. I did not become a photographer because I was passionate about photography. No, instead, I started to develop different skills and capabilities and by becoming useful, I found my passion.

“Skills trump passion in the quest for work you love.” – Cal Newport

My advice to anyone who feels like they’re missing something (passion), don’t stop working to find it. Continue trying new things and developing useful skills, and one day you’ll try something that you just love and can’t see yourself doing anything but that – then you’ll know that you found it. 

photo cred: Deyla Huss

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allison - love this post! xo.

06-18-2013

Daniel + Katherine | South Carolina Wedding Photographer

This was a much anticipated wedding for Michael and I because it meant photographing and seeing a lot of old friends from when we lived in Anderson, South Carolina. Their wedding took place at the Bleckley Inn, just a few blocks away from our old loft apartment, so that was fun walking around our old stomping grounds.

I was a little worried it was going to dump rain all day…so much so, that early that morning we ran to Target and picked up a bunch of cute umbrellas. But right around the time that we needed to go outside for pictures, the rain and clouds cleared away and it turned out to be a beautiful day…and thankfully Target’s return policy is loosey-goosey.

Anyway, enjoy some of my favorites from Daniel & Katherine’s wedding! Congrats you two  :-)


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06-15-2013

Weekly Round-Up 02

So Friday came and went, and again, I forgot to post my weekly round up. GAH!

If you checked out last week’s post then you already know I’m wanting to curate a list of things that have inspired me all week, and then share them with you guys. I’m a day late, but here’s this week’s short-but-still-worthy list.

1. The “To-Don’t” List - a good reminder that we can’t – and shouldn’t – be good at everything, and we should focus our efforts on our strengths.

2. Chris Ozer’s Photography – Been following this guy for a few years now. I’m always looking for inspiration from other photographers and Chris’ work does not disappoint. Follow him on instagram now. Seriously…like, right now!

3. “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin (via Josh Blankenship’s twitter feed) – I love this quote. It’s so true. Michael and I talk all the time about the importance of continually making our work better. I don’t aspire to be famous by any means, but I am very ambitious, and something I’m constantly saying to myself is, “it’s impossible to ignore good work.”

4. Top Knots - aaaaaand my favorite hairstyle of the year award goes to….TOP KNOTS! Easy, fun, cute & still professional. What’s not to love?

5. Exploring Georgia - not only am I always looking for unique locations for shoots, but I also enjoy exploring in general. I love getting to know the state that I live in (currently GA) and this pinterest board gave me a long list of places to check out! The top two places I’d love to see in Georgia are: (1) Okefenokee Swamp & (2) Cumberland Island.

In the spirit of “exploration” I finally made it up to North Georgia for a shoot this past week. I grabbed a couple of iPhone pics on the way home…

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06-14-2013

Meet Courtney, my Intern

That’s a funny thing to hear me say. My intern.

I had been chatting with Michael a little bit about the possibility of having an intern in the next year or so – mainly because I enjoy teaching and encouraging others – and then out of the blue Courtney emailed me looking for an internship opportunity. Meant to be? I think so.

Courtney is finishing up photography school this summer, and she’ll be joining me for the next few months. We’ve already had so much fun together – I love how passionate she is – and I thought it would be fun to “introduce” her here on the blog with a few fun questions…and photos! So, without further adieu…

1. How long have you been doing photography?

I’ve been into photography since I was around the age of 14, but I didn’t start getting more serious and more professional about it, I’d say, until I was about 17 years old.

2. What do you like most about being a photographer?

Oh, wow. A ton of things. I’d say a few things I love about being a photographer the most is just having the amazing opportunity to document all different kinds of people, life, and life’s happenings in general, whether it’s shooting someone’s portrait (in which I thrive to show to each person I photograph how truly beautiful they are) to shooting one of the most memorable days of a bride and groom’s life. I just all-in-all love to show how truly beautiful people and life are, and I’ve always loved that photography allows me to visually exemplify that.  3. If you could photograph one living person, who would that be & why?

If I could photograph one living person, I would love to photograph a fashion photographer I’ve always looked up to and have admired since I was 15 years old, Lara Jade. She also started out at a young age like I did in photography, and is one heck of an amazing fashion photographer now. She’s a huge photography inspiration of mine.

4. If you could photograph one deceased person, who would that be & why?

If I could photograph one deceased person, I would photograph Richard Avedon. Like Lara Jade, he has also always been a huge photography inspiration of mine.

5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

It’s a tie between visiting New Zealand and the Netherlands. I also would love, love love to visit Alaska one day as well, as one of my bucket list items is to see and experience the Aurora Borealis.  :)

6. Other than photography, what’s your favorite hobby?

Besides photography, I love to go sailing and kayaking.

7. What is your favorite part of the wedding day?

My most favorite part of the wedding day is documenting that intimate and emotional moment that just the bride and groom have with one another, after the ceremony is just over with and they are officially pronounced husband and wife. Those few 2-3 minutes that they have, just to themselves, realizing that they have officially started the beginning of their forever with one another, is such a special and intense moment. I’m not ‘gonna lie though – I also love photographing the dancing part of the reception, as photographing people dancing is always fun and I usually get some pretty  ”interesting” shots from that!  ;)

Her boyfriend, Tyler, joined us for a few so I snapped a couple of pics with the two of them – they’re cute, right?!

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Sara - She is PRECIOUS!

Weekly Round-Up 02 » Paige Jones Photography - [...] the spirit of “exploration” I finally made it up to North Georgia for a shoot this past week. I grabbed a couple of iPhone pics on the way [...]

06-12-2013

What’s In My Bag

“There’s no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership.” – Hugh MacLeod

Truth.

With that said, I’ve been asked “what do you shoot with?” a few times here in the past couple of months and I thought I’d do a quick blog post to answer it. That’s always fun, right?

*everything except for the flahses was bought used off of borrowlenses.com, lensprotogo.com or craigslist.

Camera bodies

Mark III
Mark II
Canon 7d (for backup, and what I’m taking this picture with)

Lenses

Canon 35mm L
Canon 45mm ts-e
Canon 24-105mm L
Canon 100mm Macro
Canon 50mm (what I’m taking the pic with)

2 Canon 600ex-rt flashes (no pocket wizards – yay!)

That’s everything that’s on me (and Michael) when we shoot weddings. We travel with everything in our Pelican Case and we’ll use that baby as our “hub”. I use my Shootsac to tote a few extra lenses around all day, and Michael is no-bag kind of guy. Pretty simple (and lite!).

My one piece of advice for anyone who is still getting their kit together: rent, rent, rent. It took me three years to acquire all of this, and I’m so thankful for that because it took me that long to figure out what I like to shoot with. If I had bought the gear that I thought I wanted when I started (based on what other people told me to get) I would have wasted a lot of money. So rent a bunch of different lenses (it’s SO fun!) and figure out what works for you.

I love that all of my peers have different setups, and prefer different lenses to mine…and still capture fantastic images – it’s just proof that it’s not the tools you have that matters, but it’s how you use them.

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