When I was in university, I was extremely fortunate that my parents were able to cover both my school and living expenses. My personal expenses however, which included Starbucks, beer, ferry rides home and shopping were all on my own dime, which meant that I needed to work part-time if I wanted to have any sort of social life.
As far as part-time jobs go, mine was pretty cool; I worked in a photo lab, which is where my interest in photography was truly piqued. Although I've never taken any photography classes, in a single shift I would look at literally thousands of pictures and over time I started to get a feel for photos that never seem to work out as intended, photos that are mainstream and boring, even though they seemed exciting when shot, as well as an eye for the style of photos that intrigued me.
When the hubs bought me a Nikon F55 a few years ago I was both stunned and excited, though I felt a little guilty last year when I decided that what I really wanted was a DSLR. Now that I have my Nikon D3000 however, I feel like I'm finally really starting to learn about photography. I read tutorials and have slowly been experimenting with my camera, including making a conscious effort not to use the auto mode whenever possible.
When I was pregnant with the boy I only really got one decent maternity picture, but I was determined that this time around I was going to truly make an effort and do some maternity self-portraits. Of course as a working mom to a toddler time is scarce, particularly during daylight hours when the light is best, so despite being down and out with the flu last week I decided to slap on some makeup and attempt some photos last Friday when I was feeling a little bit better and the boy was off at his aunties so I could rest.
I ended up taking around 50 photos and these are some of my favourites. I have to admit, I'm pretty happy with these photos, but I hope its not just selfish pride and that in reality, my photographic skills are actually slowly starting to improve.
