shoot like no one is watching

I take a lot of pictures.  I take pictures for clients.  I take pictures for my family.  And I take pictures for myself.    I do it because I love it and I want to improve my skills.  This means challenging myself in locations with less than perfect light.  Pushing myself to tell a story with my pictures even when the shot isn't technically perfect.  What does all this mean for me?  It means I need to be willing to pull out my camera in a movie theatre.  Or lay on the floor in the grocery store.  Or simply lug my camera out with me as I go about my daily activities.  When I first started doing this I found myself caring what other people thought.  I didn't want to draw attention to myself or my kids.  But as I continued to shoot, I had to push these insecurities and worries aside.  I made myself focus on the story I was telling.  The moment I was capturing.  The lesson I was learning as I challenged my photography skills.

So my simple advice for anyone who wants to take better pictures.  You need to practice.  You need to experiment.  You need to shoot like no one is watching.

These pictures were taken when our family went out to the movies a few weeks ago.  When taking shots in the theatre, I tried to catch a moment when the screen was bright so I would have more light reflecting on my kids' faces.  I also did this during the previews so I wasn't disturbing the movie.  I don't use my flash so I didn't need to worry about disrupting people with light, but I didn't want to distract my family.  We also spent some time in the mini arcade.  It was fun to experiment with the different light coming off the games.
Practice, practice, practice!