October’s Highs and Lows

Here we are already a week into November and I’m just now looking back to my highs and lows from October. Where did October go? With as busy as September was I was thinking October would be nice and laid back. Turns out, October was hoppin’ as well. Here are a few highlights.

Highs:
There were many highs for October. It started with a trip to Dallas to speak at the I Heart Faces Photography Conference where 200 women gathered to learn, share and encourage each other in the ways of photography. While most of the attendees’ primary focus was portrait photography, I lead a breakout session on how to light for food photography. It was a fun group and the venue was iconic…Southfork Ranch. Amy and I enjoyed getting back to Dallas and hitting a few of our favorite restaurants and catching up with friends. (see snapshots below)

Back in Nashville my schedule included a mix of work for new and old clients with a balance of projects in studio as well as out on location. We even had a couple of outdoor shoots…taking advantage of the wonderful fall colors here in Nashville.

October felt a little like “workshop month”. I lead a mini-workshop (“Delicious Lighting”) at The Skillery in Nashville. We had about twenty people attend and my task was to give them a few food photography tips for making food look delicious with just $10 worth of lights (and a plunger) from Home Depot. Leading sessions like this reminds me of how much I enjoy teaching…as long as it’s not a full semester.

Probably the most exciting part of my October was working with a number of people on pre-production for a personal series we actually started shooting on November 1. We spent about two weeks working on sets, props and wrangling talent and crew. You’ll have to wait until November’s high/lows to get the full story.

Lows:
You know, I’m usually a very critical person…making for no shortage of lows. I’m just wired that way—always finding something to be improved upon. I’d like to think it’s a constructive way of seeing things…or at least I try to keep it that way. But now I’m sitting here trying to think of a low for October and can’t come up with one. Sure, there are things that I desire and wish for but nothing that qualifies as a “low”. Clients have been great. I’ve been happy with the images we’re producing. My workflow is…uh…working. Our crew has been great. Sure, I’m having to address the usual things in our business like copyright infringement and equipment repairs but that’s just part of the territory. Maybe next month something bad but real exciting will happen for me to share. Or not.

On a personal note, one of our highs for our family was kayaking the Harpeth River. The boys did great and we all had a really good time…particularly stopping on a small island and working on our rock skipping skills.

That’s it for now. I hope you have a great November.

-Kyle