Photography Gift Ideas | What to buy a Photographer for Christmas | The Ultimate Photography Gift Guide

Can you believe it is already Christmas? Well actually it isn’t yet, but good lord it is only a month away! Holy where does the time go?

So, buying presents can be stressful. Like really stressful especially if you don’t have any clue what to give. Well my friend that is why I am creating this blog post. This one is for you. To make your holiday season easier and way less stressful! Yay!

What are we waiting for? Let’s get right into it!

Photography Gift Ideas |

What to buy a Photographer for Christmas|

The Ultimate Photography Gift Guide

1. A good girl boss book

I actually created an entire blog post on amazing girl boss books that are must reads! Make sure to check out that post if this sounds like your perfect gift idea: Must Read Girl Boss Books

Here are a few books from that list:

2. SD Cards

Ok, so seriously not the funnest thing to buy, but these are so needed! No one likes to buy SD cards, but we all need them. So, with that being said, they make the perfect gift! Why you ask? Well, I hate buying them, so it would be awesome if someone else bought them for me :)

I personally like the SanDisk Extreme Pros

3. Tripod

Tripods can be awesome gifts! They are 100% absolutely necessary for a photographer and they can be quite expensive. If you are choosing to purchase a tripod make sure to get a good one. You will want to get one that is solid, sturdy, and has a good smooth head on it. I personally have the Vanguard tripods. I love these tripods as they are easy to use, sturdy, heavy duty, and not as crazy expensive as say a manfroto.

4. Gift Cards

Gift cards can be either highly loved or hated. You really need to know your person before you go buying a gift card. Now, I absolutely freaking love gift cards because then I can buy exactly what I want, or the person I am buying for can buy exactly what they want. I always think an Amazon Gift Card is a good idea :)

5. External Hard Drives

Again, not the funnest thing to buy, but your man will love you. My tip here would be to check what kind of External Hard drive she already has and buy the same one. People are very particular with their hard drives, so this one can be tricky. If he doesn’t already have an external hard drive then I like the WD Passports.

6. A Camera Strap

Ok, who doesn’t love a cute new camera strap? Seriously there are so many awesome camera straps out there! I love the Peak Design camera straps, but there are also cute leather ones, super cute floral ones, harnesses, wrist straps, and more!

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7. External Battery Pack

With today’s electronic world we all need more power. More batteries are always a good thing. I use my external battery pack for when I am backpacking and man it has been awesome. I have an Anker Battery Pack, but there really are so many out there.

8. A Photography Coffee Mug

Alright, let’s chat coffee for a minute. First of all, coffee is life. Second, all moms love coffee mugs. Third, all moms need coffee, it is their GO JUICE.

So, I think it would be such an awesome gift to buy a fun coffee mug, her favorite coffee beans, and then a special something to go in the coffee. Now what is that special something? Well, that is really up to you. For me, I would say a neat new syrup to try, maybe a bag of chocolate so she can make a mocha, or you could even buy those single shot bottles of her favorite adult beverage ;)

p.s. I sell fun photography coffee mugs right here on this site! BONUS!

9. A Camera Bag

Again, a bit of a tricky one, but if your photographer has been talking about needing a new bag then this is perfect. If he/she doesn’t have one, then even better! I just recently changed my bag to this Pro Master bag and I am obsessed! I absolutely love it.

10. A Photography Workshop or an Online Course

Ok, so this is one of the best things ever! We are always learning but rarely feeling like we should spend the money on ourselves to actually learn. Online courses are amazing for this! You can take the course whenever you want to and you have it forever! How awesome is that?

Now, the other side of this is a Workshop. Workshops are an awesome place to meet other like minded people. You get to learn from the pros, you get to meet amazing people, and you get to expand your portfolio. Winning!

There are so many cool workshops and online courses out there!

11. A New Lens

Umm, new gear? Yes Please! So a new lens is pretty much the best thing ever. You really have to pay attention to what your photographer needs as far as lenses are concerned, but if you know the lens he/she wants and you get it for him/her, they will love you FOREVER!

If your photographer is just starting out in photography there are a few lens’ that I would recommend.

• For Portraits: a 50mm is a must. I love the Sigma Art 50mm.

• For landscapes: a wide angle hands down. I love the Batis 18mm.

• For all things photography (and my favorite lens): The 24-70mm Sony G Master

12. A Camera

Again, new gear!!!! Every photographer loves new gear. Now we are starting to get big time! Maybe you have someone special in your life that has talked about being a photographer, or getting into photography. Well, if you want to go big this would be the gift to give :)

For beginner photographers there are a few cameras I suggest. One is the Sony A series and the other is the Canon T series. These are cropped sensor cameras. I love the Sony A 6500 and the Canon T7i

13. Go all out with a Drone!!!

Go big or go home!!!!

Ok, if you want to go all out, this is it. The mother of all photography gifts. A drone. Yep, I still don’t have one, and I still am dying to get one.

So there are so many options out there for drones how do you know which one to buy? Well, I have a couple that I have been looking at, but I would say choose something from the DJI Pro series. Make sure to do your research before you purchase.

14. A Spa day or a Day Off

Now this can be a no cost present and can be an amazing gift! Mama’s are busy and photog mamas are crazy busy. They have pretty much ZERO time for themselves. It would be awesome to give the gift of a day off. A where she can do whatever she wants. She can shop, hang out with her girls, or just lay in the sun and sip on a glass of wine. You have to do this one right though. This means taking the kids out. Letting her have a complete day to herself.

The other idea that goes along with the day off would be to get her a Spa Day. Get her a manicure, pedicure, and a message (or just one of the above). Buy her a Starbucks gift card along with it and tell her how much you appreciate her. BOOM award for the best hubby goes to!!!!!!

15. Self Care Stuff

Along with the idea above for a day off and/or a spa day. You could also get her self care stuff such as bath balms, bath salts, face masks, hair masks, lotion, and so forth. Basically an in home spa day!

Ok so how cool would this be…. Buy a basket and fill it with a Coffee mug from my BYP shop. In that coffee mug place a $10 gift card to her favorite coffee shop. Then fill the basket with 2 face masks ($1 each), 2 hair masks ($5 each), 2 bath balms ($2 each), and dove chocolate! Ugh, again BEST HUBBY AWARD!

Wow, now that was alot of Photography Gift Ideas for Christmas!

Do you have any suggestions on awesome photography gift ideas for that man in your life? Please leave your recommendation in the comments below.

Happy Mama’s Day!

Bessie

How to stay motivated as a creative | 6 Ways to Stay Motivated

How to stay motivated as a creative

6 Ways to Stay Motivated

I am in a slump

I am just not feeling it

I don’t have the time

My creative juices are gone

I am in a creative lul

I’m just not motivated…….

Yes, we have all had those feelings. Those feelings of doubt, those feelings of not wanting to, those feelings of not good enough, those feelings that our motivation is just completely out the window. Even the best of the best of the best have those feelings. Those feelings of just not wanting to, not being able to, or even really just not liking to. So how do we fix that? How do we get out of our creative slump? How do we stay motivated as a creative?

Just recently I was watching a Youtube video from Sorelle Amore. In her video she referenced a conference and a presentation being put on by Cody Wanner. Someone asked how Cody is able to create so much dang content (Cody posts daily Youtube videos. Yes…. DAILY).

Cody’s response really hit home, and I just had to share it with you guys. He said:

“You are not creating enough… you are getting out of the heads pace… and procrastinating”

Now obviously those are not his exact words because I wasn’t at the conference; however, they are somewhat close, but really think about that for a minute. YOU ARE NOT CREATING ENOUGH.

This is so dang true!!! The more we create the more we crave to create. When we begin to slow down, when we begin to lag, when we begin to procrastinate we then begin this downward spiral. Our motivation goes out the window. We start this negative self talk, we procrastinate because we are feeling bad about ourselves, which then continues to demotivate us. It is a vicious cycle that we have to break!

How do we break this cycle? According to Cody, create more!

Now if that doesn’t work here are a few additional ways to stay motivated:

How to stay motivated as a creative:

Increase the challenge

What I mean by this is make it harder. Step outside of the box. Do something that you aren’t used to doing. Stop doing the same ole same ole. When we get in a rut, that is when our creativeness starts do go away. That is when our motivation declines. That is when we get in this terrible cycle.

Change your creative method

Try shooting with a different gear set up. Talk about a motivation killer when you are bored with what you are doing right? Well, switch it up!

Create from a different point of view (MIX IT UP)

Change your angle! Shoot from above, from below, sideways, at an angle. Stop doing the same thing over and over again.

Make time for it

Lets face it. Adulting Sucks. Like for realz. Life is so dang busy. Sometimes, we just need to schedule our craftie time. So whether you are a photographer, crafter, baker, or candlestick maker it doesn’t matter. Life gets a hold of us, we get caught up in the day to day life, and next second we realize we haven’t been able to be creative for weeks. No wonder our mood sucks! We aren’t taking the time to do the things that we love! So, if you are finding that you are having a hard time being able to do your craft, schedule it. Actually put it on your calendar. Write it down. Block out the time.

Forget about the goal and just have fun

We get pretty caught up trying to reach our goals that we forget to have fun. After all, we are doing this for fun right? We are doing it because we love it right? We create a goal, we start grinding, and we take away all the fun. We get frustrated, and then we want to give up. Stop it!

I’m not saying stop setting goals here. Do not get me wrong. I am just saying sometimes we need to do the things we love to do just to have fun. To enjoy ourself and to actually do what we love.

Create more and create it more often

This goes back to Mr. Cody Wanner’s quote. Create more and more often. This will have you wanting to create more.

So, I do 100% believe this. I know if you are in a rut, if you are unmotivated it sounds rediculious, but just hear me out. If you start creating, your creativeness begins to start flowing. When you create, you begin to be more creative. Ideas come to you so much easier than they do when you aren’t in your creative mind.

Once you stop creating you begin to get in this “rut” or you begin to have this “block” where you just can’t seem to find any motivation to create. Nothing sounds fun, everything sounds hard, and you are just uninspired.

When you create, you start getting ideas all the time…. in your sleep, before you go to bed, in the shower, while you are cooking. This is because you are actually doing it! You have turned on that part of your brain. It is something that you just can’t stop from happening. Awesome ideas come into your head when you are in your creative mindset.

So create more. Start creating which will then put you in that creative mindset. Yes, it is hard to get started because DUH your not inspired or your not motivated or your not in the creative mindset, but once you get started the ideas will slowly start to come. Then eventually you will be so overwhelmed with ideas that you won’t even know what to do :)

Stop comparing yourself to others!

This is huge you guys! Seriously, this is probably the #1 motivation killer in today’s world. we have the world at our fingertips and social media is blasting us everyday. It is human nature to compare, yet with so much information coming to us on a daily basis, we have every opportunity to compare ourselves to other people. This is so important that I even created an entire video on it. Please please please go watch it, read the post, listen to the words and try to stop the comparison game.

P.s. Make sure you check out my list of Must Read Girl Boss Books to keep you extra motivated!

I hope this helps you a little bit to get out of that slump the next time you find yourself lacking motivation or in that vicious cycle of: not creating - negative self talk - procrastination - not creating…..

Wishing you nothing but the very best!

Bessie

Best books on photography composition

This is a question I get all the time. What are the best books on photography composition. I have almost thought about making my own book since I get the question so often lol.

As you all know I love to provide tips, tricks, and how to’s with photography. Make sure to head on over to my Youtube channel to see all sorts of tips on photography compositions.

Now, with that being said, I wanted to be able to provide a good answer to the question, so I did a bunch of research on the best books for composition. Please note, that I have not read all these books; however, this is a list of the highest ranking books and / or the most suggested books out there. It has taken me the majority of the year to find these books for you.

As a quick side note, composition theory has been a thing for hundreds of years. Make sure that you do not narrow your search to just photography books. You will be surprised how much you can learn from old books on painting composition. Make sure to check out your local library and just look for books on composition.

So let’s get into it:

Best books on photography composition

1. How to Create Stunning Digital Photography by Tony Northrup

   *This one comes in around $20

2. Mastering the art of Photography composition

   *This little jewel is only $3

3. The New Art of Photographing Nature

   *This was one of the most recommended book in all my research. It is around $25

4. Perception and Imaging: Photography - A Way of Seeing, Richard Zakia

   *This was the second most recommended book; however, it is much more expensive coming in at $50

5. Tavis Leaf Glover's composition : Canon of Design: Mastering Artistic Composition

   *Under $10

6. Magazine photography (Life, National Geographic, Travel magazines)

   *This is not just a book. This means magazines about photography. There are so many out there that will help you with your photography art. You can sign up via the link above to the National Geographic magazine for 1 year and $25.

Hopefully this list will help you be able to start digging deeper into learning photography. If you have a suggestion leave a comment below. I would love to hear your suggestions and then add them to this list :)

Happy Reading Friends!

Bessie

Common Photography Terms for Beginner Photographers

Learning digital photography can be super intimidating especially with all the terms! There are so many dang terms out there that it can be crazy overwhelming.

Understanding the terms and lingo is crucial to be able to learn and grow your skills as a beginner photographer . It can take hours to read books, start googling each term, or watch youtube videos. I am here to make it a bit easier and quicker for you!

In this post you will read some of the most common photography terms and their definitions; however, if you want a large list of photography terms and their meanings make sure to download my free guide!

Most Common Photography Terms

Aperature

This is the most common term in photography that you should know. To put it simply, this is the size of the size of the opening in the lens. You can think of the lens as a window. The large windows or wide angles will let in more light. A wide open aperature will let in more light for a brighter image. Aperature is measured in F Stops. The lower the number the wider the aperature meaning the more light it will let in.

Shutter Speed

The shutter is the part of the camera that opens and closes to let light in. The shutter speed is how long the shutter stays open. This is written is seconds or fraction of seconds such as 1” (one second) or 1/200 (1 200th of a second). The longer the shutter stays open the more light that is let it. Note: anything that moves while the shutter is open will become blurry.

Bokeh

Bokeh is created when when light is out of focus in the image. It is that beautiful creamy background that everyone loves. This is created through a wide aperature.

Burst Mode

You can take photos one at a time or you can use burst mode to have the camera take continuous photos as long as you hold down the shutter button, or until the buffer is full. Burst speeds will differ based on your camera. Some are faster than others and are measured in frames per second (fps). This mode is best when shooting something moving. You can get a bunch of photos all at once.

Focal Length

The focal length is shown in millimeters on a lens. This is the distance between the lens and the image it forms on the film. Essentially the focal length is how zoomed in your image is. So an 18mm will be a wider shot that a 35mm. A 70mm will be a much closer shot (or more zoomed in) that a 35mm.

Manual Mode

Manual mode allows the photographer to set the exposure rather than letting the camera make the decisions. In manual mode you will choose the aperature, shutter shutter speed, and ISO. This will allow you to add that artistic effect to your pictures such as bokeh in the background, smooth waterfalls, stars streaking across the sky, and so forth.

Manual may also refer to manual focus where you focus your lens rather than your camera doing it for you.

Long Exposure

A long exposure is an image that has exposed for a long time or has a long shutter speed. This technique is typically in low light and used by landscape photographers.

Hot Shoe

The hot shoe is the slot at the top of the camera for adding accessories such as a flash.

Noise

Noise is the little flecks in an image. Sometimes this is also called grain. The higher the ISO the more noise you will have in your image.

Alright, that was alot of info.

Make sure to check out the free download up above if you want to learn more photography jargon. It is an instant download with loads of terms for you to study and become familiar with :)

Are you just starting out in photography? Well welcome to the tribe! I am so excited for you and have made a couple awesome things to help you along your photography adventure:

• My Camera Gear List

• More Freebies!!!

• Youtube videos full of behind the scenes, tips, tricks, and how I got the shot

Let me know what questions you have by leaving me a comment below :)

Bessie

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P.s. If you are learning photography and love posts like this then make sure to check out these ones :)

How to Create an Epic Blog Post in 5 Steps

Blogging, blogging, blogging….

I have been talking about blogging all year. Why? Because I set out on a mission to blog once a week for the entire year. Yep, I wanted to see if all the stories are true. Does it really help? Is this whole, you have to blog once a week thing real?

Well, in all my blog posts, I have found that the most epic, repinnable, most viewed, most liked, most commented, most shared blog posts had 5 things in common. That is what we are going to talk about today.

Now, if you haven’t done so already, please make sure to check these out to help you in your blogging journey.

How to start a blog and make money in 2019

Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Blog

How to Create an Epic Blog Post in 5 Steps

There are 5 things that every blog post needs, and these 5 thinks are really going to help you stand out of the crowd. They are the things that will help you create those epic blog posts.

So…. here we go:

1.  Content is King

So this one is my dust statement. Obviously you need to have good content. Your content has to be quality. It should be relatable and it should offer something of value to your readers. You need to be serving your audience, providing them good information, if you do this it will actually be received as a good blog. You will keep people on your website and they will actually read your blog.

I know it's super easy, and super tempting to just create a blog for the sake of blogging. Please do not do this and completely fight this temptation. If you do this it will become known that your blogs do not provide good content and people won't want to read them. Plus you won't get people to actually subscribe to your email list or your freebies if your blog post does not have good content.

2. Create a Compelling Title

Think Click bate.

Basically a great title is going to capture your readers attention and it will make them want to visit your blog . The title is the key. If you do not have a good title no one will be interested . If you have an interesting title people will click it . You need to think long and hard about every title that you create . There's multiple ways to go about doing this but I suggest using Google or using Pinterest .  Start typing in what you're thinking about blogging and you'll come up with ideas for the title .  

3. Create Pinnable Images

Pinnable images are so incredibly important. First of all they're going to make your blog look pretty. You want your blog to look nice. Second they're going to create an image that people can pain and promote your blog for you. Pinterest is such an incredibly important piece of blocking and for websites. It's really going to help bring people to your site.

  what I'm trying to say here is Pinterest is your best friend. You need to use Pinterest to ensure your content is shared over and over and over again. The way you do that is with a pretty Pinnable picture.

4. Be SEO Friendly

I have a love-hate relationship with SEO. SEO is going to be able to allow people to find you when they actually search for you. If you don't know what it stands for it stands for search engine optimization. You need your posts and your entire website to be seo-friendly in order for people to find you.

There are 10 different ways to make sure that you have seo-friendly blog posts. One would be Google Analytics . Another, if you're on WordPress, would be plugins like yoast.

5. Find Your Tribe

 Once you post a blog your work is not done my friend. You actually have a lot more work to do, and that's all about promoting your blog post. You're going to want to promote it on your social media account, all of them.

A great way to promote your blog posts is Facebook or Pinterest groups. This way you can collaborate with other people in your niche. On Pinterest you can also use group boards or things called tribe

Alright, now that was alot of information…

Blogging is pretty darn awesome and can be incredibly easy once you get the hang of it.

If you haven’t done so, make sure to check out my blog on 7 Tips on How to Make Blogging Easy. Seriously, this one is a game changer.

I hope you all enjoyed this blog! If you did, leave me a comment below, or even better, share it with your friends!

Wishing you the absolute best!

Bessie

P.s. Did you love this post? Check out these similar ones:

Inspiration for Creative Entrepreneurs | Be Kind to Yourself | Car Chats With Bessie

2018 was rough. I struggled almost the entire year though. There were so many ups and downs and I just couldn’t wait for the year to be over. I thought that there might be ‘something in the air’ for… yes… the entire year.

When I started looking back on my 2018 accomplishments, downfalls, and just the year as a whole, I began to realize that it really wasn’t that bad. I started to realize that it was really just me. My own negative self talk.

You see, I am super mean to myself. I put myself down all the time:

“You’re not experienced enough”

“You’re not good enough”

“You aren’t worth that kind of money”

“You don’t deserve that”

“You are just a poser”

blah blah blah blah blah. The list goes on and on and on. I do this to myself constantly.

So when I started looking back on 2018 I started to realize that most of the things were really just myself being mean to myself, criticizing my work, and ultimately just putting myself down on a regular daily basis.

We seriously are our own worst critics. How can we expect anyone else to appreciate us, to love us, to value our work, if we are constantly devaluing ourselves to ourself?

So this year one of my hardest goals I think I set out to accomplish was to be nicer to myself. You see this is going to be an internal struggle. This isn’t something that I can write down, reach that magic number, and then be stoked that I accomplished my goal. This is something that is just going to be a daily accomplishment.

Did I say anything negative?

“Was I nice to myself today? ”

My question is, why do we do this? Why do you do this to yourself? Comment below. I would absolutely love to hear. Let’s support each other!

I believe that as creatives we struggle with this. At least most creatives do . We have an idea in our head, and when it doesn’t come out exactly like the idea in our head we start the ‘talk’. You see, I grew up with creatives. My mom, my aunts, my sisters. We are all creatives and we all do this! I took art classes in high school and every single person would put their work down and pointing out all the flaws. Yes, all the flaws.

Why are we not pointing out the good things in our work? Showing it off to the world and explaining how awesome it is? Honestly, I believe this is taught and looked down on. We aren’t supposed to boast or show off. So, instead of ‘bragging’ about how great our work is, we start criticizing it.

Let’s freaking stop doing this! All this does is ingrain in our head that, in fact, all our insecurities are true. It is just a downward spiral. The more you create, the more negative self talk you can provide, and the worse our outlook on ourself becomes.

So I hope you will join me this year in being kind to yourself. Let’s talk nicely to ourself. Lets stop this constant negative self talk. Comment ‘i’m in’ below if you want to join me in this uphill battle.

You are absolutely beautiful and amazing just the way you are. You do amazing work. Don’t let yourself tell you otherwise.

“There is only one you in this world and that is your power”

I am hanging this quote on everything. Just as a friendly reminder not to be so dang harsh. Maybe this quote isn’t for you, but it yells at me every time I read it. Find a quote to remind yourself how awesome you are, how far you have come, how you are good enough and print it out as a friendly reminder and a little helper to be kind to yourself.

Wishing you nothing but the most positive 2019!

Bessie

Alabama Hills California Photography - Sunrise Landscape Photography

All Images For Sale in the BYP Shop-

Click the image to purchase or click the buy me button below.

Wow, this last weekend was kinda a whirlwind of emotions.

Thursday morning I woke up to find my Instagram page had been deleted. Yep, my entire photography page was gone. I kinda freaked out a little and then started googling what happened and/or how to get it back. Well, everything that I read said that once your IG is deleted there is no getting it back. It is gone forever.

Ya, after reading post after post about not being able to get your instagram page back, I freaked out a little more.

This entire situation made me think that I really needed to create a blog post about it, so make sure to check out that blog post here.

With this all happening, everything looked so grim. It looked like I was going to have to start from scratch. It really got me thinking about why I started my business, do I still want to continue my business, was it all worth it, and so forth. I ultimately decided to take a little road trip, head out on a camping adventure to a place with no cell phone reception. A place where I could find my love for photography all over again. So that is what I did. Alabama Hills Recreation Area was the perfect place on the map…

The Adventure

Off I went on a 5 hour trip to the desert. Let me tell you, everything was getting in my way and making me think that I shouldn’t be going. I was also super worried about missing an email from IG to restore my account, but I was determined. I needed peace and quiet. I needed to be able to be in nature. I needed to be able to just breath. To get away from all the hustle and bustle of the world. To just be.

So, I continued to push forward and drive. There was traffic everywhere. I missed my exit to grab food. There was a massive accident in Bakersfield that was causing huge delays, but I continued my trip.

After I got outside of Bakersfield I knew it was going to be smooth sailing :)

Alabama Hills Recreation Area

The Alabama Hills are a formation of rounded rocks and eroded hills set between the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the geologically complex Inyo Mountains. Both geologic features were shaped by the same uplifting occurring 100 million years ago.

Visitors enjoy touring film sites, photography, rock climbing, exploring natural arches, and viewing the swaths of wildflowers that bloom every spring. Horseback riding and mountain biking are popular activities.

https://www.blm.gov/visit/alabama-hills

Alabama Hills is such an absolutely amazing place. It is just outside of Lone Pine, California. You can camp anywhere you want to as long as the signs permit.

The camping is free and is first come first serve. When I showed up the place was super busy. It was Friday evening and you could tell that everyone else had the same idea as I did.

I drove around for quite some time to find that perfect spot, and I finally found it! It was the perfect little spot to view the mountains to the East and to view Mount Whitney to the West.

Alabama Hills Sunrise:

I woke up at the crack of dawn, literally lol. I was sleeping in the back of my truck and facing east. Yep, the light before the sunrise was crazy bright. It was about 5am, and I just knew I wasn’t able to go back to sleep. Plus, I had that little voice inside my head yelling at me, telling me

“You better get your bootay out of bed or else you are going to miss the sunrise!”

So, I dragged my lazy self out of bed, and started to witness a beautiful sunrise. I debated on creating a Youtube video for the trip. I wasn’t going to because I really wanted to focus on taking pictures, on falling in love with photography again, and realizing why the heck I do this in the first place, but I just couldn’t help myself. I HAD to create a video in order to share all the amazingness with you.

All Images For Sale in the BYP Shop-

Click the image to purchase

I went about this entire morning much different that I usually do. Normally, when creating a Youtube video, I would walk around and find one composition. This way I could talk through the composition, why I chose it, yadda yadda yadda. This time, I decided that I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to TAKE PICTURES! I wanted to walk around, see the beauty, and capture what I saw, so that is exactly what I did.

IT. WAS. AMAZING!

The one composition that I had to share

While I was walking around I found a crack in the rocks and thought it would be the perfect composition to talk through. I mean it was the absolute perfect example of a leading line. The crack in the rock lead you right to Mount Whitney.

It took me a few tries to actually get this one just right. I wanted Mount Whitney to be almost centered (which breaks alot of rules, but I think it works perfect for this image.). I wanted the rocks to lead straight to Mount Whitney and I wanted to be able to emphasis the fact that these rocks are massive. I did this be putting my camera between the rocks so that they took up the majority of the foreground.

So what was my setup?

Camera: Sony A7riii

Lens: Sony 24-70mm G master F2.8

and of course a handy dandy tripod.

I continued to walk around capturing fun images of Yota, taking a timelaps with my Sony A7rii and just enjoying the view. It was gorgeous and I couldn’t have asked for a better morning. Let me tell you, it was exactly what I needed.

The sun finally peaked over the mountain tops and it was time to head back to camp for coffee and breakfast. Yes, I did all of this before coffee. Like who the heck am I ?

I ended up spending another night here at Alabama Hills. It is exactly what I needed. I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better trip. I felt inspired and rejuvenated. It helped me relax and it reminded me why I started this business:

• to capture Gods beauty with my camera the best way I can

• to share the world the way I see it, through my lens

• to help you learn photography

• to show you that it is possible to do what you love

• to inspire you

Have you ever been to Alabama Hills? Did you even know about it before you saw this post? Comment below and let me know.

Do you have any questions for me? Ask your question in the comments below and I will get back to you.

Wishing you the very best!

Bessie

P.s. Love this post? Check out these similar ones:

Starving Artist? 7 Ways to Make Money with Photography

So typically when you see people posting about ways to make money with photography all you get is a list of different types of photography. Today I want to share with you ACTUAL ways that you can make money with photography. So let’s just get to the point…

Photo by Daniel Korpai

7 Ways to Make Money with Photography

1. Start selling your prints

   • Sell online

   • Craft fairs / art festivals

   • In person

   • Local stores

2. Product Photography

   • Local businesses need pretty pictures of their products. Think food based businesses, local coffee shops, handmade shops, small businesses, etc.

3. Portrait Photography

   • Portrait photography is huge whether it comes to Family, Newborns, Seniors and so forth.

4. Wedding Photography

   • Wedding photography is probably one of the quickest way to get into making money with photography. Where do you start? Well you need a website, social media, and begin advertising. There are so many local wedding fairs so make sure to get a booth and get your name out there.

5. Workshops

   • HUGE HUGE HUGE!!!!!! Workshops are awesome! This is where you actually get paid to teach what you love! Ugh, I am so excited and amped up about workshops lately! If you haven’t done so make sure to head on over and sign up for my Email list specifically for workshops I will be holding in the future!

6. Blogging and/or Youtube

   • Ok, so blogging and Youtube take a ton of time, effort, and persistence, but it is well worth it in the end. With blogging you can create a passive income through affiliate marketing and so much more. If you haven’t done so, make sure to check out my post on How to make Money Blogging.

   • Youtube, is an amazing place for creatives. You can actually get paid by Youtube via their ads. You can also use things like affiliate links in your comments, or you can refer your audience back to your blog!!

7. Stock Photography

   • I haven’t ever dabbled in stock photography as I sell my own prints right here on this website ; however, I wanted to bring up the idea because so many people do this and it is definitely another way to make money with photography.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and hopefully it got your creative juices going on how you can make money with photography. You don’t have to be a starving artist, you just have to be a little creative, think outside the box, and really start opening your eyes to all the potential.

How do you make money with your photography? Do you have any other fun ideas? If so, leave a comment below. I would love to make this list longer as suggestions come up.

Wishing you the very best!

Bessie