May 15, 2025 • 41 mins
#563 Kimberly Irish is a community member and moderator of the Beginner Photography Podcast Facebook group. Kim, based in Wisconsin, shares her journey from picking up a camera out of necessity to document her family’s life, to becoming a sought-after photographer who now primarily shoots weddings. The discussion explores the evolution of Kim’s skills, her approach to learning both technical and creative aspects of photography, and her philosophy on gear upgrades, creativity, and client relationships. The episode is both an inspiring personal story and a practical guide for beginners, emphasizing the importance of consistent practice, embracing imperfections, and cultivating one’s own style.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Getting Started & Overcoming Beginner Struggles - Kim’s entry into photography was motivated by wanting to capture her children’s lives on a tight budget. She learned the basics, especially the exposure triangle, before even getting her camera, but struggled with focus and indoor low-light conditions. Key takeaway: Embrace the learning curve, practice daily, and accept imperfections like grain as part of the process.
- Gear Choices & When to Upgrade - The discussion details Kim’s decision-making process about purchasing her first prime lens, the importance of buying gear to match specific needs, and the benefits of buying used equipment. Takeaway: Don’t rush into expensive upgrades—let real photographic needs drive your purchases, and don’t shy away from secondhand gear.
- Creativity & Building a Consistent Style - Kim talks about attempting to push her creativity by using tools like the Daily Photo Challenge and focusing on self-evaluation rather than external comparison. She shares her methods for developing her style organically and offers insight into the value of authenticity and daily practice. Takeaway: Consistency, self-reflection, and deliberate experimentation fuel creative growth.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What challenges did you face when you started photography, and how did you overcome them?
- How do you decide when it’s time for a gear upgrade? What factors influence your choices?
- In what ways do you push yourself creatively, and how do you avoid getting stuck comparing your work to others?
- What are the benefits and challenges of using themed photo challenges to accelerate your learning?
RESOURCES:
Visit Kimberly Irish's Website - https://www.weeirishphotography.com/
Follow Kimberly Irish on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/weeirishphotography/
Learn What Camera Settings to Use in our free guide!
https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com
Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
- Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa
- Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kimberly Irish (00:00):
I learned so much so quickly because I just
kept on shooting.
And so I would encourage myselfto continue to do that.
Shoot every single day.
Just keep the practice going.
It doesn't matter what you'retaking pictures of.
Like, I shoot weddings, but Ididn't always.
I took a lot of pictures offlowers and icicles and berries.
It's all applicable and it allbuilds up in slow little layers
of knowledge.
(00:20):
So, I would just say, keep doingthat.
Raymond Hatfield (00:25):
Hey, welcome to the Beginner Photography
Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and each week I interview one of
the world's most interestingphotographers to learn what it
really takes to capturebeautiful images so that you can
start to do the same.
In today's rewind episode, weare chatting with our very own
community moderator, KimberlyIrish, about the technical
challenges she faced whenstarting out in photography and
(00:46):
how she overcame them.
But first, the BeginnerPhotography Podcast is brought
to you by Clouds Spot.
Impress your clients with abeautiful gallery that is easy
to view, share, and download onany device.
With Clouds Spot, you cancontrol image size at a
watermark and download limits aswell.
So grab your free Foreveraccount today
over@deliverphotos.com and onlyupgrade when you're ready.
(01:07):
Learning photography can feelsuper overwhelming, especially
when you're just struggling toget a sharp image indoors or
create an image that you'retruly proud of.
Today's guest and fellowcommunity member and moderator
of the Beginner Photographypodcast community, Kimberly
Irish, knows exactly how thatfeels.
She began her journey as aparent, determined to capture
these meaningful moments on atight budget and ended up as
(01:30):
well, honestly, one of the bestphotographers that I know.
She shares the obstacles thatshe overcame, including battling
tricky lighting, gearlimitations and a lack of
creative inspiration, and sheshares how consistent practice
transformed her photography.
And if you're not in thebeginner photography podcast
community, why not?
We would love to have you.
(01:52):
Come join us in the safest placeon the internet for new
photographers by heading over tobeginner photo pod.com/group.
With that, let's go ahead andget on into today's interview.
To start off, why don't you tellus who you are and, where are
you from?
Kimberly Irish (02:06):
Hi, my name is Kim, Irish, and I live in
Wisconsin, and that's that.
I live about halfway betweenMilwaukee and Madison.
Raymond Hatfield (02:18):
Okay, yeah, I guess that was kind of the
entire question that I askedyou.
But, you've obviously beenshooting for a while, this is
kind of new for the group.
This is all about kind of like acommunity spotlight where we're
going to be featuring somebodyfrom the group to kind of talk
and share your experiences.
And I thought, we had Sandra onand now, when it comes to, you
(02:41):
know, who's next, I thought, whobetter than the moderator of the
group?
The beginner photography podcastFacebook group and kind of the
the creator of the daily photochallenge, which is you So you
kind of have this big rolewithin the entire community of
the beginner photography podcastand you've been in the group for
several years now.
So before we kind of talk aboutthe group and whatnot.
(03:03):
Tell me how you got started inphotography in the first place
Kimberly Irish (03:07):
So I have four kids and I have never really had
the finances to go and have alot of pictures taken of my
children.
And so, like all things, Idecided I could just do it
myself.
I decided to get a camera andlearn.
About two and a half years ago,I had my fourth child and that
was when I really startedlearning.
(03:28):
staying awake at night to nursea baby is And so I decided to
find something to listen to inorder to keep myself awake.
And I decided I wanted to learnphotography while I was nursing
a baby in the middle of thenight where I couldn't practice
photography at all.
Um, so I found the beginnerphotography podcast and I
listened to every single episodebecause I had hours and hours of
(03:52):
time.
And I started to get involved inthe group on Facebook and it was
just a super welcomingcommunity.
So I kind of stuck around andprobably overwhelmed everybody
by posting way too much.
But everybody was always just sopositive and encouraging.
And so I stuck around and Becamepretty active there and that's
kind of where I came from.
Raymond Hatfield (04:11):
So then tell me about those earliest days
with the camera itself.
You know, you said that youwanted to learn photography.
It was strictly to whatdocument, your kids growing up.
Is that it?
Kimberly Irish (04:22):
Yeah, pretty much.
I figured that if I could begood at it at some point in my
life, I could turn it intosomething where I could make
money, but at the verybeginning, I just wanted good
pictures of my kids.
Pictures are an important partof growing up.
I love looking back at picturesof myself as a child, the people
that I remember and that I lovevery much, like my grandparents
and people that I don'tremember, like random friends of
(04:44):
my parents.
And they're like, Oh, that daywas this, and we were doing
these cool things.
And so I have somewhat of alittle legacy, even though I
don't remember it, I seeevidence.
So I wanted to give my kids thesame, type of an opportunity to
look back on their lives andremember small things.
I homeschool them.
And so I'm often taking picturesof them just like in our house,
(05:04):
what we're doing in that moment,just them coloring on the floor,
setting up a store in thebasement and playing.
And, that kind of stuff is justreally important for me to
remember as I look back andthink, Oh my gosh, I remember
when they played that game.
And I know that for them,that'll be awesome.
So when I was first learningphotography, I don't know if you
wanted me to go into this, but Iwill, um, so the biggest, I
(05:28):
mean, I just keep talking, um,the biggest struggle for me at
first was not actually theexposure triangle, because I
decided to read up on that priorto even getting my camera in the
mail.
Because I knew that I wanted tobe able to be in control of
everything.
And I had heard like, don'tshoot an auto.
So I decided to learn thatbefore I got my camera so I
(05:49):
could just be ready.
So actually, my hardest struggleat first was focusing.
And we've talked about thisbefore, even on a different
podcast episode where youthought it was strange that I
couldn't focus, but I don't knowwhy I just couldn't focus and we
all have our struggles.
Raymond Hatfield (06:06):
Yeah.
And this is not so much of anissue for you now, but looking
back, why do you think that wasa struggle?
Because you're not the onlyperson who struggled with this.
Kimberly Irish (06:17):
I think part of it was that I was shooting with
a kit lens in, uh, indoors.
I live in Wisconsin where it isgray seven months of the year.
We don't have a lot of light,but it's not warm enough to go
outside a lot, especially whenI'm taking pictures of my baby
on the floor.
I think my ISO just had to be upvery, very high, and I was
confusing a lot of the noisewith, fuzziness or whatever, and
(06:41):
it kind of is.
so I wasn't really happy withthat.
But now I've learned to acceptit.
And so I'm okay with, you know,a little bit greener images at
this point.
but yeah, I think it was justthe combination of the kit lens.
Plus I wasn't, as practiced as,focusing fast.
And I think I wasn't using theright combination of settings to
(07:02):
really give me a nice sharpphoto.
Raymond Hatfield (07:03):
Yeah, again, that's one of those things
where, when you don't know, youjust don't know what's going on.
And unfortunately we've beentold from the beginning that
like, grain is the worstpossible thing that we could
have in all of our images.
But, I think that not having animage is actually the worst
thing that we could havebecause, again, I would rather
(07:23):
have a grainy photo than ablurry photo or no photo any day
of the week, so I'm glad thatyou stuck with it.
So what do you think now?
I mean, now it's not an issuefor you.
What have you done since then?
I know that you've kind ofupgraded some of your gear, so
tell me about how that decisioncame about for you because all
new photographers immediately,once they aren't getting photos
(07:45):
that they want, they blame it onthe gear and they want to get
more gear.
So tell me how that upgrade wasfor you and how you made that
decision.
Kimberly Irish (07:53):
Yeah.
So there was a question in thegroup actually just a couple
days ago, saying, Hey, I'mlooking for a new lens.
And what do I need to get?
And it was just kind of like,well, what do you want to do
with it?
What are your struggles?
And so for me, I waited areally, really long time to
upgrade because at the verybeginning, you'll remember I
(08:14):
started photography because wecouldn't afford to go and just
get pictures done.
So I couldn't afford to just geta whole lot of new stuff right
at the beginning, even buyinglike my first prime lens, like.
Ooh, it was a big investment,you know, I chose to upgrade to
a 35 millimeter because I was ona crop sensor camera and I was
(08:37):
shooting indoors.
And so I wanted to be able toopen up my aperture quite a bit
in order to let more light in,but I also still wanted to
capture more inside the frame.
so instead of going with a nifty50, I went with a 35 and it was
a really, really great decisionfor me.
would say the whole first year,pretty much everything I shot
after getting that lens was withthat lens.
(08:58):
And I really, really worked theheck out of it.
and it, it did a great job.
I was really happy with that.
so I actually didn't reallyupgrade anything else until I
actually started.
shooting for clients and thenwith a little bit of money that
I was making here and there, Iwas able to upgrade and upgrade
a little bit.
and I've actually, I think, onlypurchased one lens brand new,
(09:20):
and that was the, Sigma 35.
Because I love it so much.
but before that, I had justpurchased everything refurbished
or things from eBay or anythinglike that.
I was able to grow my kit toinclude, the telephoto lenses
that I needed for shootingweddings or, macro lenses for
the details, things like that.
It just was kind of like a, overabout a year and a half, I just
(09:42):
kind of saved up and slowlyadded things as I needed them.
It wasn't ever a big rush to getanything new.
I did upgrade to full frame whenI started shooting clients more
consistently.
Just because I thought that wasprobably a better choice as far
as image quality for doingportraits and it was night and
(10:02):
day difference.
So I'm really glad I did.
But that's also probably becauseI was using a pretty very basic
entry level camera.
And so the quality could just bethat as well.
I know a lot of people do someamazing stuff with crop sensors
so I'm not going to knock it,but for me, it was a big
Raymond Hatfield (10:21):
improvement.
Of course, yeah, getting thatextra sensor real estate is a
big improvement for sure.
So When you got that first 35,millimeter lens, was that the
same one as the Sigma?
Is that, are you referring tothe Sigma or did you get a
different one?
Okay.
So then you got the, I'mguessing the Nikon 35 millimeter
lens, and then you upgraded tothe Sigma after that.
Tell me why you made thatdecision.
Kimberly Irish (10:41):
I upgraded to the Sigma because I wanted the
extra aperture.
I wanted it to be down to the 1.
4 instead of 1.
8.
But I waited until I had beenshooting weddings for a year and
a half before I even startedwith, you know, that's my first
like really expensive lens thatI purchased.
(11:01):
I mean, I have the Nikon 70 to200 lens, which is expensive,
but I got it for half pricebecause I went on eBay.
And it works just fine.
So I recommend that kind ofthing used is great.
So the reason I went with theSigma 35 is because I was
actually having kind of anidentity crisis with my
photography, where I noticedthat all of the images I was
(11:21):
taking were just really, reallytight and I've always done
really, really tight close upframing.
And I decided I wanted tochallenge myself to actually get
more of the scene.
And I had a wedding coming up.
Where I knew that they weregoing to have this beautiful
location.
It's at this, art center andgardens, museum kind of thing.
And like, I just know that thelandscape there is phenomenal.
(11:43):
So I actually rented the 35prior to purchasing it.
I rented it just for thatwedding to see if it was, you
know, everything everybody says.
And it is.
And so after that wedding, Ifell in love with it and decided
to purchase it for myself.
And it's been really, reallyhelpful to have.
Because it does force you toinclude more, and that's not how
I typically think, but it hasreally added another layer of,
(12:06):
It's just adding a little bitmore variety to people's
portfolios or to their gallerywhen I deliver to my clients.
Raymond Hatfield (12:12):
Yeah, for sure.
I can imagine first time,getting that extra, additional
larger aperture, you know, andjust being able to separate that
background even more than beforeand then upgrading to a, uh,
full frame sensor.
And then once again, that's likeexponentially, Difference, you
know, so that's very cool.
want to go back to the whole,said that you decided to upgrade
(12:33):
Or that your first prime lenswas the 35 rather than going for
the nifty 50, which I mean iskind of universally said should
be your first lens.
And then you mentioned that partof your decision making was
based on the crop sensor of yourcamera.
And that's another thing that Iknow that many people struggle
with as far as like 35 equals a50 and 50 equals an 85.
What's going on here?
(12:54):
Did you have any struggles whenit came to understanding that or
you able to pick up on thatpretty quickly?
Kimberly Irish (13:00):
Yeah, I know the math part has never been a
struggle for me.
you know, adjusting the settingscorrectly, none of that's ever
been a hard part.
thing for me to conceptualize.
I have never done anythingcreative before.
Photography and the creativitypart is the part that I struggle
with.
I don't struggle with the mathand science part at all.
So,
Raymond Hatfield (13:19):
so then, okay, let's move on to the creativity
part then.
If creativity is that hardestpart for you, if that is what
you struggle with most, how doyou continue to, I guess, push
yourself and try new things?
Kimberly Irish (13:33):
Well, enter the daily photo challenge.
Raymond Hatfield (13:37):
Shameless plug.
Kimberly Irish (13:39):
Yeah.
Um, from the minute I had mycamera, I was taking pictures
literally every single day.
And I would spend at least ahalf an hour to a couple of
hours every single day, justtaking pictures and seeing what
I liked and practicing differentthings.
And most of the time it was mypoor little baby just laying on
the floor, being cute.
I would just take so manypictures of him, and so it was
(14:02):
really fun to just be able tolay down, interact, try to get,
fun pictures of him fromdifferent angles, and see which
way looked the best, and whichway I liked the light coming
from, and, over time, as you dothat so frequently, and you're,
and I was uploading and editingpictures literally every single
night after the kids were inbed, and so, I was able to
really take it kind of real timeand just be like, what did I
(14:24):
like?
What didn't I like?
And so then I could just reallyhone in on those things.
that I appreciated from day today.
And then I just took that kindof, once it got warm enough to
go back outside, you know, Itook it outside and started
taking pictures of every flowerin the neighborhood.
I can tell you every singleplace where every kind of flower
grows now and you know, all thedifferent trees and where
(14:45):
there's pretty moss.
I know where it is.
but yeah, taking pictures everysingle day and just evaluating
those pictures for what I likedand what I didn't like really
just helped me figure out how tobe creative with some of the
lighting and all that kind ofstuff.
Raymond Hatfield (15:01):
So everything for you was more about kind of
finding out for yourself.
It was looking at a photo anddeciding whether or not you
liked it before making changesrather than looking somewhere
else like Instagram or somethingfor inspiration and then trying
to replicate that.
Is that right?
Kimberly Irish (15:19):
Yes, I have always avoided comparing my
photos to anyone else's.
I have always avoided trying tocapture a similar image to
someone's that I've seen.
I do have photographers that Ireally, really like their style
and I like their work.
But I have never been the typeto just sit on Instagram and
(15:39):
scroll through everything andtry to repeat something that I
see.
I just, It doesn't feelauthentic to me and I have
things to do with my time that Iwould rather I'd rather do so.
Raymond Hatfield (15:50):
Okay.
So then, I love that, mindsetthat you have there about kind
of learning more of the,creative side of photography,
kind of on your own and going atit.
What do you think has been thetoughest part for you to do
that?
Because I mean, arguably youcould say that, you know, if you
went on Instagram, you couldjust be flooded with
inspiration.
Whereas going at it at your ownpace is much slower.
(16:10):
So what has been biggestchallenge there for you to be
able to create more, or I guessto be able to capture more
creative photos or to pushyourself creatively.
That was like nine questions.
Sorry about that.
Hopefully you can pick one ofthose out of there.
Kimberly Irish (16:22):
I'll just weave through.
Um, I think that the biggeststruggle was kind of like the
frustration where I didn't feellike I was growing a whole lot
at first because I was justlike, okay, I just took another
picture of a flower.
Yeah, that's pretty.
Yeah, it's close up.
Okay, cool.
and just trying to think of likedifferent things that I could do
to make it more creative.
But I also felt very gladbecause I know that people use a
(16:46):
lot of tricks or, like devicesor things to kind of get those
creative looking photos.
But I want it to be somethingthat I'm able to do on my own.
So like, I didn't ever have likeI've wanted a tilt shift lens
just because I think it would becool.
But I also don't really know,like right now in my head, what
I would do with it at thispoint.
So I'm not going to get it untilI know what I want to do with
(17:09):
it.
The same thing for me happenedwhere I didn't want to get like
the full frame until I was likeready for the full frame.
Same thing for the 35, that kindof stuff.
So I guess it was difficult topush myself to do things
differently.
Without a little bit of outsidehelp.
And then I was also a little bitslower to get things going
(17:32):
creatively, but the benefit isthat I do have a very,
consistent style now, and I'mnot doing, you know, this, that,
and the other.
And so like, I know what kindsof images I want to create.
I know what kinds of things makeme excited.
And so I go and I do that.
And so it's been, it's been fun.
I don't use any kind of extraediting tricks or overlays or
(17:55):
anything like that.
Because if I see something and Iwant to do it or if I visualize
it, I want to figure out how tomake that happen in camera
rather than doing it.
elsewhere
Raymond Hatfield (18:05):
Man, sometimes I see photos with overlays, and
I think to myself, I wish that Icould do this.
Like, I wish that I had thepatience to be able to sit down
and do something like this.
but I think that that also comesdown to, being able to visualize
some Like, when you have acamera in your hand, and you can
see the scene in front of you,you're like, I know what I have
here, and I know what I cancreate with this.
(18:26):
But when you're in front of acomputer, and there's like all
these different overlays andoptions, it's everything is
literally endless and I think tome that becomes really
overwhelming and while I lovethe look and what you can do
with, being able to manipulateimages in Photoshop,
unfortunately, it just doesn'tfit.
The way that I shoot and I thinkthat it would just cause so much
stress for me.
(18:47):
But, yeah, I think, it's reallycool.
And then I had a follow upquestion.
I had something to ask you, butnow I completely forgot because
I was thinking about all thecool things that I wish that I
could photoshop, but I can't.
Oh, yes.
So kind of back to the dailyphoto challenge, right?
We're talking about one thingthat you're doing, that you
started off doing last year, andthat we're doing again, this
year is the themes weeklythemes, right?
(19:08):
So tell me, are these themes?
Are they helping push you inphotography?
Or are these just kind ofguidelines that you hope to help
others with?
Or what have you seen come outof these?
Kimberly Irish (19:19):
Yeah, so the themes of the Daily Photography
Podcast, that's not what we'resaying about.
What's it called?
The Daily Photo Challenge.
I couldn't get there.
My brain just was like, anyway,the thing with the Daily Photo
Challenge themes, they came outof just kind of like a little
poll that we did in the regularpodcast group, at the very end
(19:41):
of last, last year, where wewere kind of talking about,
okay, we're going to start thisnew thing, What do we want it to
look like?
we polled everybody and, somepeople said that a daily thing
would be overwhelming, butweekly would be great.
And so we kind of wanted to pullthat in and then we also wanted
to accommodate people who neededa little push.
But then we also knew somepeople wouldn't need that push
(20:02):
and they would just want to goand do their own thing and not
have to worry about it.
For me, the themes are therejust, for those people who want
that push, and I didn't want tocome up with daily themes and
you had already come up withthemes or.
The first half of last year,which was perfect.
And so, we just kind ofmishmashed all of that together
and now we're keeping up withthe weekly themes just because
it's there for people who reallyneed an idea.
(20:25):
And the group is reallyflexible.
So people can post every day.
They can post each week.
They can post every month.
It doesn't matter as long as youwant to join in and post
something it's there and it'savailable.
It's not like anybody's winningawards or anything, but.
It's a lot of fun just to see alot of that growth, especially
for people who are there everysingle day.
(20:46):
And Sandra was so wonderful lastyear and I, I've thanked her
repeatedly, and I apologize toher profusely because the end of
last year got so crazy for me.
I couldn't keep up with that.
And I just had to let it falloff of my radar.
And she just kept it going everysingle day.
New post, new post, new post.
She was a rockstar getting thatgoing.
So, thank you, Sandra.
(21:08):
and Damien has alsoparticipated, I think every
single day since he began.
So I hope to hear from himsometime soon too.
Raymond Hatfield (21:15):
How do you think that they have helped you
in your photography?
The themes?
Yeah, sure.
Do you think that the themeshave actually helped you in your
photography?
Or has it been more for, thedaily photo challenge?
Kimberly Irish (21:26):
I think that it's kind of put a little bit of
something in the back of mybrain just to kind of think
about throughout the week as Igo around taking pictures of
everything I would normally takea picture of.
The theme last week was littlethings.
And so I just keep thinkingabout, okay, am I going to take
this like our daily life, littlethings like little moments that
happened between my kids, or amI going to think about like
(21:48):
actual little things, you know,like I took pictures of a bug.
Like, what is, how am I going totake that and so that was kind
of.
How that plays around.
I think it just kind of jostlesaround in the back of my brain
and I kind of look for thingsaround me as I go.
Raymond Hatfield (22:02):
So on top of photographing now, kind of your
everyday life daily in a dailyphoto challenge, what other
things are you, focusing on whenshooting?
Kimberly Irish (22:11):
So I started shooting clients about a year
and a half ago or so.
And so that's the kind of stuffthat I'm doing a lot of.
I haven't, thankfully, in thelast few months.
It's been really quiet.
This fall was really crazy withlots of weddings, lots of
engagements, lots of familystuff, lots of mini sessions.
It was just so overwhelming.
(22:32):
But it was a lot of fun toobecause a lot of the clients
that I saw this fall were peoplefrom last year when I had first
started.
And so, I've been able to keepup with some families doing
multiple shoots a year withthem.
And then people for weddings, Iget to see them when they're
first engaged and it's a lot offun and they're anticipating
this great big day and thengoing to their weddings with
(22:52):
them and stuff.
It's really fun to be able tocelebrate those moments and
like, Oh, we're here.
We made it.
You did it.
Like, So that's what I'mshooting mostly these days.
Raymond Hatfield (23:01):
So then talk to me about that progression
because in the beginning, youeither started off shooting
families or started off shootingnewborns and then you went
pretty heavy, on newborns for awhile and, families are
obviously big for your minisessions and whatnot.
While you were also doingweddings, you kind of had a lot
of things going on.
Tell me about, How that went foryou as far as doing all those
(23:22):
things and then ultimately kindof deciding where you're at
right now, to focus on weddings.
Kimberly Irish (23:28):
Well, honestly, it was just a process of kind of
paring things down to see whatwould fit with my family and our
lifestyle.
I'm a stay at home mom with fourkids.
I don't have a lot of time.
To be out, I can't have a studiobecause I can't be there all
day.
And, just having people bringingtheir kids into me for pictures.
I would love to have a studiosomeday.
(23:50):
I love just using flash in orderto like get nice crisp images
that are like pretty reliable.
I definitely prefer shootingwith flash for that reason, but,
I don't have time for that.
And I don't have time to do, todedicate an entire day to many
sessions because an entire dayof many sessions really equates
to, a week to a week and a halfafterward of just editing
(24:13):
nonstop in order to get thosephotos out in a timely manner
for, Christmas cards orwhatever.
I just, I don't have that time.
And it's not cost effective withmany sessions really to send
that editing out to anoutsourcer.
You know, it just, it doesn'tmake financial sense.
Same with like family sessions.
I can't charge enough to reallyjustify sending those family
(24:34):
sessions out to be edited bysomebody else.
So really that's kind of why Idecided weddings is really going
to be the place for me.
I still love newborns.
I'm never going to say no to anewborn.
because they're just so squishyand cute.
But, for a couple of reasons,newborns are not really ideal
for our family as well.
it's a lot of time that I haveto dedicate away from my family.
(24:54):
And during that time, I have tohave someone here to care for
them.
My husband's schedule, it'srelatively flexible, but we like
to be together when he's homeand we like to see each other.
So the wonderful thing aboutweddings is you can plan ahead
of time.
You talk to the couple ahead oftime, you know, quite a bit, but
it's never like you don't haveto dedicate hours upon hours
(25:15):
ahead of time.
And then one day you go andyou're there and you're fully on
focus.
Everybody expects not to talk toyou that day.
And nobody texts you, nobodycalls you.
You're like, I'm at a wedding.
And so they ignore you for theday, which is wonderful.
And then you can take thosepictures and you can send them
off to somebody else with acouple of pictures that you've
edited and then they come backand they're magically beautiful
(25:37):
the way that you wanted them tobe and you can make the tweaks
that you want and then presentthose to the couple and they're
amazed and excited and you know,that's, it's just more rewarding
for me because it is costeffective to send a wedding out
to be outsourced to an editorbecause just is.
So I like wedding because Idon't have to spend a whole lot
of time editing.
Raymond Hatfield (25:59):
What do you see the future of your
photography being?
Do you think that it's going tobe focused on weddings?
Because I know that we'vetalked, obviously you're, a
premium member as well.
And we talk in our groupcoaching calls about kind of
the, the ability to, to startoff with a wedding, right?
That's where you kind of getthem in.
And then later on as theirfamily grows, you can kind of
(26:19):
grow into some of that as well,as far as newborns and families
as well.
Do you see yourself doing a lotof that in the future or
primarily sticking to weddings?
Kimberly Irish (26:28):
I think the most important part of photography
for me is actually therelationships that I develop
with my clients and with thepeople that I see consistently.
So I do see myself becoming likea lifetime photographer for a
set of families.
However, I will only advertisefor weddings, because I think
(26:49):
that's a good way to get peoplein the door.
And then just to continue withthem through life, I think is
much more rewarding for me than,just having a random cake smash
for some kid that I've neverseen before, or, you know, I
love cake smashes.
There's so much fun and they'recute, but, I just, I really
treasure becoming friends withthe people that I work with.
(27:10):
So that's what I.
I think I will do.
Raymond Hatfield (27:14):
I like it.
I like it.
So I got a question for youbecause I went back in time
through the power of searchingon Facebook to look for your
first post in the BeginnerPhotography Podcast Facebook
group and you've been in thegroup for more than two years so
you have a lot of posts to gothrough.
Uh, when I looked, the firsttime that you ever posted
something was actually on KeriNorris.
She posted a photo and she wasasking a question.
(27:36):
She said, why does my camerasuck with indoor light?
Every time I shoot indoors, Ihave to crank my ISO to the
heavens, which I hate doingbecause the quality is nothing
compared to outdoor light.
And you commented, I have theexact same issue with my Nikon
D3300.
Please, someone help.
(27:57):
A lot of time has passed sincethen.
Did you overcome this issue?
Kimberly Irish (28:01):
Yeah.
Raymond Hatfield (28:02):
Okay.
Perfect.
Next question.
I
Kimberly Irish (28:05):
think it was more of a mental thing to
overcome.
I mean, obviously shooting on acrop sensor, you're going to get
a lot more noise indoors,especially shooting on a high
ISO.
So obviously the switch to afull frame was good for that,
but also mentally, like wetalked about at the beginning.
Accepting the fact that there'sgoing to be some noise in photos
when your ISO has to be high.
(28:27):
I can think of a wedding that Idid recently where it was a dark
church with dark wood everywhereand dark orange carpet and the
pastor did not want any flash,which is fine.
You know, most don't, I can'timagine wanting flash at my own
wedding.
Raymond Hatfield (28:42):
So, um,
Kimberly Irish (28:45):
and so those images are very grainy because I
had to shoot it like ISO 5, 000in order to get any kind of an
image that I could work with.
And.
I had to be very far away.
He told me a particular spot Ihad to stand in inside the
church.
And I actually had to pull outmy crop sensor and put my 70 to
200 on it in order to get anykind of shot that was not, far
(29:10):
away kind of
Raymond Hatfield (29:11):
because
Kimberly Irish (29:12):
of where he had me stand.
So that was interesting becauseI was actually back on the old
crop sensor in order to getthat.
I mean, I could have done thatin.
My full frame as well, but I hada different lens on so I wanted
to be able to use both.
But yeah, so it's more of amindset, I think.
And just knowing how to workwith those images in post also
helps as well.
Raymond Hatfield (29:31):
I think as time goes on, probably entry
level cameras aren't going to beas poor with ISO performance as
they were here currently.
And then even, even a few yearsago as well.
So, obviously, we kind of canlook back at any time in our own
photography timeline and see thestruggles that we were facing.
And then now we're like, Oh,here's the solution.
(29:54):
Like, of course we know that.
So I'm interested to know, whatis it that you are currently
struggling with now?
Kimberly Irish (30:01):
As far as shooting goes, I'm not really
struggling with anything.
I know how to get the imagesthat I want.
I know how to like things theway I want them to be lit.
I know how to compose things theway I want them to be composed.
So I'm sorry, there's not awhole lot I can say there.
Raymond Hatfield (30:20):
What about going forward then?
as far as creating somethingnew, is there anything that
maybe you wanted to try?
Kimberly Irish (30:27):
Yeah, yeah.
So this has been something thatI've been pondering for about a
year now.
I tend to visualize imagesbefore I take them.
And I really, really want tocreate a really cool double
exposure someday, but because Ihaven't visualized it yet, I
don't know what it's going tobe.
And I haven't like, I've tried afew things, but it just doesn't
(30:49):
make sense to me.
And I want to be able to do itin camera, not in post.
So I haven't really come up withthe perfect double exposure idea
yet.
That's what I'm struggling withthe most right now.
Raymond Hatfield (31:02):
There you go.
Are you talking like at awedding or just personally at
home?
Kimberly Irish (31:06):
Just in general, I really want to, I want to do
something cool.
Like for a wedding, I have thisidea of what I want to do
eventually someday, where Ihave, I want a couple that's
written their own vows and Iwant like the handwritten vows
to be somehow used within aphoto.
I don't know.
That's kind of where I am atthat point.
But, even at home, I don'treally, like I've tried a couple
(31:27):
of double exposures anddifferent textures and things
like that over pictures of mykids, but it just doesn't work.
It feels inauthentic becauseit's just kind of like, oh,
here's a trick I'm doing today.
You know, it's not, like, I feellike double exposures have the
capacity to really convey a lotof really minute detail within
the broader context of somethingamazing.
(31:49):
And so I want to createsomething that does all of that,
you know, just a whole packagein one photo is kind of what I
want to be able to do someday.
So.
Raymond Hatfield (32:00):
I see.
So obviously, for thoselistening who don't know, a
double exposure is literallytaking two photos and kind of
imprinting it into one image.
So you might think of like aPhotoshop of taking two photos
and putting them together.
But it's different when done incamera because while new digital
cameras have lots of differentabilities settings as far as
double exposures.
(32:21):
I know with Fuji, I don't knowabout Nikon or Canon, but you
can choose whether to, blend thephotos, through the dark
portions of the image or throughthe light portions of the image.
So if you were to blend throughthe dark portions of the image,
everything in that first image,wow, this is really getting
confusing to think about.
So say that you have, like, anighttime photo and at the
bottom of the shot is just,like, a head and shoulders
(32:43):
portrait of somebody.
If you use nighttime blending ornight dark blending, whatever
the term would be.
If you were to take anotherphoto, anything that wasn't dark
would now show up on the darkversion of the dark portion of
the first photo.
Again, kind of hard tovisualize, I guess now when I,
when I'm saying these things outloud, but again, it's, you can
have both those things ormultiple things, depending on
(33:06):
the camera that you have, andput it in one photo, which I
could see.
So like the photo that I'mimagining in my head that you
just described right there wouldprobably be something like.
The first photo that you wouldtake would be close up macro
shot of just the vows right fullframe writing of the vows and
then that next shot would besomething like the couple is
(33:27):
close together and maybe they'rejust like facing each other and
now it's their silhouette.
But it's only in the letters ofthe vows, right?
So you can kind of get all ofthat in, in one image.
Yeah.
So have you tried doingsomething like this?
and if so, how did it turn out?
Kimberly Irish (33:45):
I haven't tried yet because I have been hesitant
because I don't want to screw itup.
Raymond Hatfield (33:53):
Oh, come on.
You can just not deliver thephoto.
Like if it goes wrong.
Kimberly Irish (33:59):
Yeah, I don't know.
It's just been a thing whereit's like this mental block.
And I remember I, this is kindof how I've always gone through
my whole photography journey islike, I have this idea of what I
want to do.
And until I figure out exactlywhat I want to do, I haven't
even tried.
Raymond Hatfield (34:15):
Um,
Kimberly Irish (34:15):
and so it's been like a lot of little tiny, small
steps.
And then like, I get stuck for awhile.
And then I figured out, Oh,okay, I can do that now.
Like same thing for flash.
It took me probably nine monthsof saying that I wanted to learn
flash to actually just do it.
And then I was like, Oh, thatwasn't that hard.
Raymond Hatfield (34:34):
So what was it that got you to that point?
You said that you had to likeknow exactly what it was in your
head before you even attemptedit.
What was it that you saw thatmade you think, okay, now is the
time to take action on learningflash.
Kimberly Irish (34:46):
It was because I had a wedding coming and I
needed to know flash to do myfirst wedding.
And so I got flash and a flashfrom you and then I was like,
this is actually really easy.
So there's another plug for youflash
Raymond Hatfield (35:02):
Lots of shameless plugs today.
This is awesome.
Uh, that's hilarious So now thatyou've obviously been shooting
with flash for a while and youfind it.
You're very competent with it.
Why do you think so many?
struggle in the beginning toeven get started with Flash?
Kimberly Irish (35:15):
I think it's because, again, outside of,
like, this group per se, a lotof other sources make it so much
harder than it really is.
Like, you have to know the math,and you have to know the, right
angles, and you have to set itup just this way, and you have
to have this umbrella, and youhave to have this beauty dish,
and you have to have, you know,You don't need all those things.
(35:37):
You just do it, take a picture.
And if it doesn't look good, trysomething different.
Like, it's really not that hard.
But of course I will say thatwith a caveat, I haven't done a
whole lot with flash.
It's just like, I have very,very basic setup and it works
for me.
And I use that.
So if I wanted to add insomething different in the
future, I could, I mean,recently I did a shoot and I
(36:00):
added a hair, like, Ooh, youknow, that was big stuff for me.
Wow.
No, it was a third.
I'm just saying.
Raymond Hatfield (36:08):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
I'm the same way when it comesto flash.
I mean, I'm very much like, Ijust.
I don't carry much when it comesto a wedding.
I bring three flashes and then Ibring, just like my, diffuser
on, on one of them andessentially like, that's it.
Then I bring the stands to holdthem and that's, that's the end
of the day for me, I like whatyou said there were like, it
doesn't have to be complicated.
(36:29):
You don't even need expensivepieces.
You don't need an expensiveflash.
You don't need an expensivetrigger and you definitely don't
need all of the.
I don't know, modification gear,that's available on Amazon or
wherever.
So, that's awesome.
I love that.
Well, I know that, our time is,coming to an end.
So I just got a few lastquestions here for you.
The first one would be, youknow, you kind of entered the
(36:49):
group when you were very new tophotography, What information do
you wish you could tell yourearliest version of yourself
when just getting started inphotography that would make it
easier to get to where you aretoday?
Kimberly Irish (37:02):
I think it would be less angsty for myself if I
knew that it would go a lotquicker than I thought.
The time has actually, it's beentwo and a half years, But it
feels like I've been shootingforever and the time has just
gone by so quick.
I learned so much so quicklybecause I just kept on shooting.
And so I would encourage myselfto continue to do that.
(37:22):
Shoot every single day.
Just keep the practice going.
It doesn't matter what you'retaking pictures of.
Like, I shoot weddings, but Ididn't always.
I took a lot of pictures offlowers and icicles and berries,
It's all applicable and it allbuilds up in slow little layers
of knowledge.
So, I would just say, Keep doingthat but don't feel so stressed
out yet.
You know,
Raymond Hatfield (37:44):
don't feel stressed out yet.
I love it Yeah, nice and niceand easy.
So Kim before I let you goObviously we can find you in the
Facebook group, but where elsecan we find you and more of your
images?
Anywhere on the internet.
Kimberly Irish (37:56):
You can find me on instagram at we irish
photography All one word.
You can find me on my website atweirishphotography.
com, Facebook, We IrishPhotography as well.
Very consistent.
We is W E E like small.
Raymond Hatfield (38:12):
Perfect.
And then, if anybody has anyquestions, would it be okay if
they were to reach out and askyou?
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, Kim, thank you so muchfor, uh, coming on and sharing
your journey today.
it's been a long one, but it's,it's been fun to get here and I
had a great time talking withyou today.
Kimberly Irish (38:27):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
It's a lot of fun to see you andthank you so much for all of the
help that you've given mebecause I definitely would not
be here without you.
All right today's action item.
The thing that if you implement,just this is really gonna move
the needle forward in yourphotography, is to shoot indoors
(38:47):
and embrace the imperfections.
I know what you're thinking.
Yeah, but the lighting insideis, it's not that good.
Well, that's why this is achallenge that you need to
implement.
Take that photo inside your homewith the gear that you have
right now.
Don't stress about grain or highISO, or image quality or
anything like that.
(39:09):
The goal is to capture a moment.
Then here's the real challenge.
Once you take the shot, look forall the things that you actually
like about the image, ratherthan all of the technical flaws
that only other photographerswould notice.
The photo is probably muchbetter than you think it is, and
taking a photo is always gonnabe better than not taking a
(39:30):
photo.
So there you go.
That's it for this week.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
I learned so much so quickly because I just
kept on shooting.
And so I would encourage myselfto continue to do that.
Shoot every single day.
Just keep the practice going.
It doesn't matter what you'retaking pictures of.
Like, I shoot weddings, but Ididn't always.
I took a lot of pictures offlowers and icicles and berries.
It's all applicable and it allbuilds up in slow little layers
of knowledge.
(00:20):
So, I would just say, keep doingthat.
Raymond Hatfield (00:25):
Hey, welcome to the Beginner Photography
Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and each week I interview one of
the world's most interestingphotographers to learn what it
really takes to capturebeautiful images so that you can
start to do the same.
In today's rewind episode, weare chatting with our very own
community moderator, KimberlyIrish, about the technical
challenges she faced whenstarting out in photography and
(00:46):
how she overcame them.
But first, the BeginnerPhotography Podcast is brought
to you by Clouds Spot.
Impress your clients with abeautiful gallery that is easy
to view, share, and download onany device.
With Clouds Spot, you cancontrol image size at a
watermark and download limits aswell.
So grab your free Foreveraccount today
over@deliverphotos.com and onlyupgrade when you're ready.
(01:07):
Learning photography can feelsuper overwhelming, especially
when you're just struggling toget a sharp image indoors or
create an image that you'retruly proud of.
Today's guest and fellowcommunity member and moderator
of the Beginner Photographypodcast community, Kimberly
Irish, knows exactly how thatfeels.
She began her journey as aparent, determined to capture
these meaningful moments on atight budget and ended up as
(01:30):
well, honestly, one of the bestphotographers that I know.
She shares the obstacles thatshe overcame, including battling
tricky lighting, gearlimitations and a lack of
creative inspiration, and sheshares how consistent practice
transformed her photography.
And if you're not in thebeginner photography podcast
community, why not?
We would love to have you.
(01:52):
Come join us in the safest placeon the internet for new
photographers by heading over tobeginner photo pod.com/group.
With that, let's go ahead andget on into today's interview.
To start off, why don't you tellus who you are and, where are
you from?
Kimberly Irish (02:06):
Hi, my name is Kim, Irish, and I live in
Wisconsin, and that's that.
I live about halfway betweenMilwaukee and Madison.
Raymond Hatfield (02:18):
Okay, yeah, I guess that was kind of the
entire question that I askedyou.
But, you've obviously beenshooting for a while, this is
kind of new for the group.
This is all about kind of like acommunity spotlight where we're
going to be featuring somebodyfrom the group to kind of talk
and share your experiences.
And I thought, we had Sandra onand now, when it comes to, you
(02:41):
know, who's next, I thought, whobetter than the moderator of the
group?
The beginner photography podcastFacebook group and kind of the
the creator of the daily photochallenge, which is you So you
kind of have this big rolewithin the entire community of
the beginner photography podcastand you've been in the group for
several years now.
So before we kind of talk aboutthe group and whatnot.
(03:03):
Tell me how you got started inphotography in the first place
Kimberly Irish (03:07):
So I have four kids and I have never really had
the finances to go and have alot of pictures taken of my
children.
And so, like all things, Idecided I could just do it
myself.
I decided to get a camera andlearn.
About two and a half years ago,I had my fourth child and that
was when I really startedlearning.
(03:28):
staying awake at night to nursea baby is And so I decided to
find something to listen to inorder to keep myself awake.
And I decided I wanted to learnphotography while I was nursing
a baby in the middle of thenight where I couldn't practice
photography at all.
Um, so I found the beginnerphotography podcast and I
listened to every single episodebecause I had hours and hours of
(03:52):
time.
And I started to get involved inthe group on Facebook and it was
just a super welcomingcommunity.
So I kind of stuck around andprobably overwhelmed everybody
by posting way too much.
But everybody was always just sopositive and encouraging.
And so I stuck around and Becamepretty active there and that's
kind of where I came from.
Raymond Hatfield (04:11):
So then tell me about those earliest days
with the camera itself.
You know, you said that youwanted to learn photography.
It was strictly to whatdocument, your kids growing up.
Is that it?
Kimberly Irish (04:22):
Yeah, pretty much.
I figured that if I could begood at it at some point in my
life, I could turn it intosomething where I could make
money, but at the verybeginning, I just wanted good
pictures of my kids.
Pictures are an important partof growing up.
I love looking back at picturesof myself as a child, the people
that I remember and that I lovevery much, like my grandparents
and people that I don'tremember, like random friends of
(04:44):
my parents.
And they're like, Oh, that daywas this, and we were doing
these cool things.
And so I have somewhat of alittle legacy, even though I
don't remember it, I seeevidence.
So I wanted to give my kids thesame, type of an opportunity to
look back on their lives andremember small things.
I homeschool them.
And so I'm often taking picturesof them just like in our house,
(05:04):
what we're doing in that moment,just them coloring on the floor,
setting up a store in thebasement and playing.
And, that kind of stuff is justreally important for me to
remember as I look back andthink, Oh my gosh, I remember
when they played that game.
And I know that for them,that'll be awesome.
So when I was first learningphotography, I don't know if you
wanted me to go into this, but Iwill, um, so the biggest, I
(05:28):
mean, I just keep talking, um,the biggest struggle for me at
first was not actually theexposure triangle, because I
decided to read up on that priorto even getting my camera in the
mail.
Because I knew that I wanted tobe able to be in control of
everything.
And I had heard like, don'tshoot an auto.
So I decided to learn thatbefore I got my camera so I
(05:49):
could just be ready.
So actually, my hardest struggleat first was focusing.
And we've talked about thisbefore, even on a different
podcast episode where youthought it was strange that I
couldn't focus, but I don't knowwhy I just couldn't focus and we
all have our struggles.
Raymond Hatfield (06:06):
Yeah.
And this is not so much of anissue for you now, but looking
back, why do you think that wasa struggle?
Because you're not the onlyperson who struggled with this.
Kimberly Irish (06:17):
I think part of it was that I was shooting with
a kit lens in, uh, indoors.
I live in Wisconsin where it isgray seven months of the year.
We don't have a lot of light,but it's not warm enough to go
outside a lot, especially whenI'm taking pictures of my baby
on the floor.
I think my ISO just had to be upvery, very high, and I was
confusing a lot of the noisewith, fuzziness or whatever, and
(06:41):
it kind of is.
so I wasn't really happy withthat.
But now I've learned to acceptit.
And so I'm okay with, you know,a little bit greener images at
this point.
but yeah, I think it was justthe combination of the kit lens.
Plus I wasn't, as practiced as,focusing fast.
And I think I wasn't using theright combination of settings to
(07:02):
really give me a nice sharpphoto.
Raymond Hatfield (07:03):
Yeah, again, that's one of those things
where, when you don't know, youjust don't know what's going on.
And unfortunately we've beentold from the beginning that
like, grain is the worstpossible thing that we could
have in all of our images.
But, I think that not having animage is actually the worst
thing that we could havebecause, again, I would rather
(07:23):
have a grainy photo than ablurry photo or no photo any day
of the week, so I'm glad thatyou stuck with it.
So what do you think now?
I mean, now it's not an issuefor you.
What have you done since then?
I know that you've kind ofupgraded some of your gear, so
tell me about how that decisioncame about for you because all
new photographers immediately,once they aren't getting photos
(07:45):
that they want, they blame it onthe gear and they want to get
more gear.
So tell me how that upgrade wasfor you and how you made that
decision.
Kimberly Irish (07:53):
Yeah.
So there was a question in thegroup actually just a couple
days ago, saying, Hey, I'mlooking for a new lens.
And what do I need to get?
And it was just kind of like,well, what do you want to do
with it?
What are your struggles?
And so for me, I waited areally, really long time to
upgrade because at the verybeginning, you'll remember I
(08:14):
started photography because wecouldn't afford to go and just
get pictures done.
So I couldn't afford to just geta whole lot of new stuff right
at the beginning, even buyinglike my first prime lens, like.
Ooh, it was a big investment,you know, I chose to upgrade to
a 35 millimeter because I was ona crop sensor camera and I was
(08:37):
shooting indoors.
And so I wanted to be able toopen up my aperture quite a bit
in order to let more light in,but I also still wanted to
capture more inside the frame.
so instead of going with a nifty50, I went with a 35 and it was
a really, really great decisionfor me.
would say the whole first year,pretty much everything I shot
after getting that lens was withthat lens.
(08:58):
And I really, really worked theheck out of it.
and it, it did a great job.
I was really happy with that.
so I actually didn't reallyupgrade anything else until I
actually started.
shooting for clients and thenwith a little bit of money that
I was making here and there, Iwas able to upgrade and upgrade
a little bit.
and I've actually, I think, onlypurchased one lens brand new,
(09:20):
and that was the, Sigma 35.
Because I love it so much.
but before that, I had justpurchased everything refurbished
or things from eBay or anythinglike that.
I was able to grow my kit toinclude, the telephoto lenses
that I needed for shootingweddings or, macro lenses for
the details, things like that.
It just was kind of like a, overabout a year and a half, I just
(09:42):
kind of saved up and slowlyadded things as I needed them.
It wasn't ever a big rush to getanything new.
I did upgrade to full frame whenI started shooting clients more
consistently.
Just because I thought that wasprobably a better choice as far
as image quality for doingportraits and it was night and
(10:02):
day difference.
So I'm really glad I did.
But that's also probably becauseI was using a pretty very basic
entry level camera.
And so the quality could just bethat as well.
I know a lot of people do someamazing stuff with crop sensors
so I'm not going to knock it,but for me, it was a big
Raymond Hatfield (10:21):
improvement.
Of course, yeah, getting thatextra sensor real estate is a
big improvement for sure.
So When you got that first 35,millimeter lens, was that the
same one as the Sigma?
Is that, are you referring tothe Sigma or did you get a
different one?
Okay.
So then you got the, I'mguessing the Nikon 35 millimeter
lens, and then you upgraded tothe Sigma after that.
Tell me why you made thatdecision.
Kimberly Irish (10:41):
I upgraded to the Sigma because I wanted the
extra aperture.
I wanted it to be down to the 1.
4 instead of 1.
8.
But I waited until I had beenshooting weddings for a year and
a half before I even startedwith, you know, that's my first
like really expensive lens thatI purchased.
(11:01):
I mean, I have the Nikon 70 to200 lens, which is expensive,
but I got it for half pricebecause I went on eBay.
And it works just fine.
So I recommend that kind ofthing used is great.
So the reason I went with theSigma 35 is because I was
actually having kind of anidentity crisis with my
photography, where I noticedthat all of the images I was
(11:21):
taking were just really, reallytight and I've always done
really, really tight close upframing.
And I decided I wanted tochallenge myself to actually get
more of the scene.
And I had a wedding coming up.
Where I knew that they weregoing to have this beautiful
location.
It's at this, art center andgardens, museum kind of thing.
And like, I just know that thelandscape there is phenomenal.
(11:43):
So I actually rented the 35prior to purchasing it.
I rented it just for thatwedding to see if it was, you
know, everything everybody says.
And it is.
And so after that wedding, Ifell in love with it and decided
to purchase it for myself.
And it's been really, reallyhelpful to have.
Because it does force you toinclude more, and that's not how
I typically think, but it hasreally added another layer of,
(12:06):
It's just adding a little bitmore variety to people's
portfolios or to their gallerywhen I deliver to my clients.
Raymond Hatfield (12:12):
Yeah, for sure.
I can imagine first time,getting that extra, additional
larger aperture, you know, andjust being able to separate that
background even more than beforeand then upgrading to a, uh,
full frame sensor.
And then once again, that's likeexponentially, Difference, you
know, so that's very cool.
want to go back to the whole,said that you decided to upgrade
(12:33):
Or that your first prime lenswas the 35 rather than going for
the nifty 50, which I mean iskind of universally said should
be your first lens.
And then you mentioned that partof your decision making was
based on the crop sensor of yourcamera.
And that's another thing that Iknow that many people struggle
with as far as like 35 equals a50 and 50 equals an 85.
What's going on here?
(12:54):
Did you have any struggles whenit came to understanding that or
you able to pick up on thatpretty quickly?
Kimberly Irish (13:00):
Yeah, I know the math part has never been a
struggle for me.
you know, adjusting the settingscorrectly, none of that's ever
been a hard part.
thing for me to conceptualize.
I have never done anythingcreative before.
Photography and the creativitypart is the part that I struggle
with.
I don't struggle with the mathand science part at all.
So,
Raymond Hatfield (13:19):
so then, okay, let's move on to the creativity
part then.
If creativity is that hardestpart for you, if that is what
you struggle with most, how doyou continue to, I guess, push
yourself and try new things?
Kimberly Irish (13:33):
Well, enter the daily photo challenge.
Raymond Hatfield (13:37):
Shameless plug.
Kimberly Irish (13:39):
Yeah.
Um, from the minute I had mycamera, I was taking pictures
literally every single day.
And I would spend at least ahalf an hour to a couple of
hours every single day, justtaking pictures and seeing what
I liked and practicing differentthings.
And most of the time it was mypoor little baby just laying on
the floor, being cute.
I would just take so manypictures of him, and so it was
(14:02):
really fun to just be able tolay down, interact, try to get,
fun pictures of him fromdifferent angles, and see which
way looked the best, and whichway I liked the light coming
from, and, over time, as you dothat so frequently, and you're,
and I was uploading and editingpictures literally every single
night after the kids were inbed, and so, I was able to
really take it kind of real timeand just be like, what did I
(14:24):
like?
What didn't I like?
And so then I could just reallyhone in on those things.
that I appreciated from day today.
And then I just took that kindof, once it got warm enough to
go back outside, you know, Itook it outside and started
taking pictures of every flowerin the neighborhood.
I can tell you every singleplace where every kind of flower
grows now and you know, all thedifferent trees and where
(14:45):
there's pretty moss.
I know where it is.
but yeah, taking pictures everysingle day and just evaluating
those pictures for what I likedand what I didn't like really
just helped me figure out how tobe creative with some of the
lighting and all that kind ofstuff.
Raymond Hatfield (15:01):
So everything for you was more about kind of
finding out for yourself.
It was looking at a photo anddeciding whether or not you
liked it before making changesrather than looking somewhere
else like Instagram or somethingfor inspiration and then trying
to replicate that.
Is that right?
Kimberly Irish (15:19):
Yes, I have always avoided comparing my
photos to anyone else's.
I have always avoided trying tocapture a similar image to
someone's that I've seen.
I do have photographers that Ireally, really like their style
and I like their work.
But I have never been the typeto just sit on Instagram and
(15:39):
scroll through everything andtry to repeat something that I
see.
I just, It doesn't feelauthentic to me and I have
things to do with my time that Iwould rather I'd rather do so.
Raymond Hatfield (15:50):
Okay.
So then, I love that, mindsetthat you have there about kind
of learning more of the,creative side of photography,
kind of on your own and going atit.
What do you think has been thetoughest part for you to do
that?
Because I mean, arguably youcould say that, you know, if you
went on Instagram, you couldjust be flooded with
inspiration.
Whereas going at it at your ownpace is much slower.
(16:10):
So what has been biggestchallenge there for you to be
able to create more, or I guessto be able to capture more
creative photos or to pushyourself creatively.
That was like nine questions.
Sorry about that.
Hopefully you can pick one ofthose out of there.
Kimberly Irish (16:22):
I'll just weave through.
Um, I think that the biggeststruggle was kind of like the
frustration where I didn't feellike I was growing a whole lot
at first because I was justlike, okay, I just took another
picture of a flower.
Yeah, that's pretty.
Yeah, it's close up.
Okay, cool.
and just trying to think of likedifferent things that I could do
to make it more creative.
But I also felt very gladbecause I know that people use a
(16:46):
lot of tricks or, like devicesor things to kind of get those
creative looking photos.
But I want it to be somethingthat I'm able to do on my own.
So like, I didn't ever have likeI've wanted a tilt shift lens
just because I think it would becool.
But I also don't really know,like right now in my head, what
I would do with it at thispoint.
So I'm not going to get it untilI know what I want to do with
(17:09):
it.
The same thing for me happenedwhere I didn't want to get like
the full frame until I was likeready for the full frame.
Same thing for the 35, that kindof stuff.
So I guess it was difficult topush myself to do things
differently.
Without a little bit of outsidehelp.
And then I was also a little bitslower to get things going
(17:32):
creatively, but the benefit isthat I do have a very,
consistent style now, and I'mnot doing, you know, this, that,
and the other.
And so like, I know what kindsof images I want to create.
I know what kinds of things makeme excited.
And so I go and I do that.
And so it's been, it's been fun.
I don't use any kind of extraediting tricks or overlays or
(17:55):
anything like that.
Because if I see something and Iwant to do it or if I visualize
it, I want to figure out how tomake that happen in camera
rather than doing it.
elsewhere
Raymond Hatfield (18:05):
Man, sometimes I see photos with overlays, and
I think to myself, I wish that Icould do this.
Like, I wish that I had thepatience to be able to sit down
and do something like this.
but I think that that also comesdown to, being able to visualize
some Like, when you have acamera in your hand, and you can
see the scene in front of you,you're like, I know what I have
here, and I know what I cancreate with this.
(18:26):
But when you're in front of acomputer, and there's like all
these different overlays andoptions, it's everything is
literally endless and I think tome that becomes really
overwhelming and while I lovethe look and what you can do
with, being able to manipulateimages in Photoshop,
unfortunately, it just doesn'tfit.
The way that I shoot and I thinkthat it would just cause so much
stress for me.
(18:47):
But, yeah, I think, it's reallycool.
And then I had a follow upquestion.
I had something to ask you, butnow I completely forgot because
I was thinking about all thecool things that I wish that I
could photoshop, but I can't.
Oh, yes.
So kind of back to the dailyphoto challenge, right?
We're talking about one thingthat you're doing, that you
started off doing last year, andthat we're doing again, this
year is the themes weeklythemes, right?
(19:08):
So tell me, are these themes?
Are they helping push you inphotography?
Or are these just kind ofguidelines that you hope to help
others with?
Or what have you seen come outof these?
Kimberly Irish (19:19):
Yeah, so the themes of the Daily Photography
Podcast, that's not what we'resaying about.
What's it called?
The Daily Photo Challenge.
I couldn't get there.
My brain just was like, anyway,the thing with the Daily Photo
Challenge themes, they came outof just kind of like a little
poll that we did in the regularpodcast group, at the very end
(19:41):
of last, last year, where wewere kind of talking about,
okay, we're going to start thisnew thing, What do we want it to
look like?
we polled everybody and, somepeople said that a daily thing
would be overwhelming, butweekly would be great.
And so we kind of wanted to pullthat in and then we also wanted
to accommodate people who neededa little push.
But then we also knew somepeople wouldn't need that push
(20:02):
and they would just want to goand do their own thing and not
have to worry about it.
For me, the themes are therejust, for those people who want
that push, and I didn't want tocome up with daily themes and
you had already come up withthemes or.
The first half of last year,which was perfect.
And so, we just kind ofmishmashed all of that together
and now we're keeping up withthe weekly themes just because
it's there for people who reallyneed an idea.
(20:25):
And the group is reallyflexible.
So people can post every day.
They can post each week.
They can post every month.
It doesn't matter as long as youwant to join in and post
something it's there and it'savailable.
It's not like anybody's winningawards or anything, but.
It's a lot of fun just to see alot of that growth, especially
for people who are there everysingle day.
(20:46):
And Sandra was so wonderful lastyear and I, I've thanked her
repeatedly, and I apologize toher profusely because the end of
last year got so crazy for me.
I couldn't keep up with that.
And I just had to let it falloff of my radar.
And she just kept it going everysingle day.
New post, new post, new post.
She was a rockstar getting thatgoing.
So, thank you, Sandra.
(21:08):
and Damien has alsoparticipated, I think every
single day since he began.
So I hope to hear from himsometime soon too.
Raymond Hatfield (21:15):
How do you think that they have helped you
in your photography?
The themes?
Yeah, sure.
Do you think that the themeshave actually helped you in your
photography?
Or has it been more for, thedaily photo challenge?
Kimberly Irish (21:26):
I think that it's kind of put a little bit of
something in the back of mybrain just to kind of think
about throughout the week as Igo around taking pictures of
everything I would normally takea picture of.
The theme last week was littlethings.
And so I just keep thinkingabout, okay, am I going to take
this like our daily life, littlethings like little moments that
happened between my kids, or amI going to think about like
(21:48):
actual little things, you know,like I took pictures of a bug.
Like, what is, how am I going totake that and so that was kind
of.
How that plays around.
I think it just kind of jostlesaround in the back of my brain
and I kind of look for thingsaround me as I go.
Raymond Hatfield (22:02):
So on top of photographing now, kind of your
everyday life daily in a dailyphoto challenge, what other
things are you, focusing on whenshooting?
Kimberly Irish (22:11):
So I started shooting clients about a year
and a half ago or so.
And so that's the kind of stuffthat I'm doing a lot of.
I haven't, thankfully, in thelast few months.
It's been really quiet.
This fall was really crazy withlots of weddings, lots of
engagements, lots of familystuff, lots of mini sessions.
It was just so overwhelming.
(22:32):
But it was a lot of fun toobecause a lot of the clients
that I saw this fall were peoplefrom last year when I had first
started.
And so, I've been able to keepup with some families doing
multiple shoots a year withthem.
And then people for weddings, Iget to see them when they're
first engaged and it's a lot offun and they're anticipating
this great big day and thengoing to their weddings with
(22:52):
them and stuff.
It's really fun to be able tocelebrate those moments and
like, Oh, we're here.
We made it.
You did it.
Like, So that's what I'mshooting mostly these days.
Raymond Hatfield (23:01):
So then talk to me about that progression
because in the beginning, youeither started off shooting
families or started off shootingnewborns and then you went
pretty heavy, on newborns for awhile and, families are
obviously big for your minisessions and whatnot.
While you were also doingweddings, you kind of had a lot
of things going on.
Tell me about, How that went foryou as far as doing all those
(23:22):
things and then ultimately kindof deciding where you're at
right now, to focus on weddings.
Kimberly Irish (23:28):
Well, honestly, it was just a process of kind of
paring things down to see whatwould fit with my family and our
lifestyle.
I'm a stay at home mom with fourkids.
I don't have a lot of time.
To be out, I can't have a studiobecause I can't be there all
day.
And, just having people bringingtheir kids into me for pictures.
I would love to have a studiosomeday.
(23:50):
I love just using flash in orderto like get nice crisp images
that are like pretty reliable.
I definitely prefer shootingwith flash for that reason, but,
I don't have time for that.
And I don't have time to do, todedicate an entire day to many
sessions because an entire dayof many sessions really equates
to, a week to a week and a halfafterward of just editing
(24:13):
nonstop in order to get thosephotos out in a timely manner
for, Christmas cards orwhatever.
I just, I don't have that time.
And it's not cost effective withmany sessions really to send
that editing out to anoutsourcer.
You know, it just, it doesn'tmake financial sense.
Same with like family sessions.
I can't charge enough to reallyjustify sending those family
(24:34):
sessions out to be edited bysomebody else.
So really that's kind of why Idecided weddings is really going
to be the place for me.
I still love newborns.
I'm never going to say no to anewborn.
because they're just so squishyand cute.
But, for a couple of reasons,newborns are not really ideal
for our family as well.
it's a lot of time that I haveto dedicate away from my family.
(24:54):
And during that time, I have tohave someone here to care for
them.
My husband's schedule, it'srelatively flexible, but we like
to be together when he's homeand we like to see each other.
So the wonderful thing aboutweddings is you can plan ahead
of time.
You talk to the couple ahead oftime, you know, quite a bit, but
it's never like you don't haveto dedicate hours upon hours
(25:15):
ahead of time.
And then one day you go andyou're there and you're fully on
focus.
Everybody expects not to talk toyou that day.
And nobody texts you, nobodycalls you.
You're like, I'm at a wedding.
And so they ignore you for theday, which is wonderful.
And then you can take thosepictures and you can send them
off to somebody else with acouple of pictures that you've
edited and then they come backand they're magically beautiful
(25:37):
the way that you wanted them tobe and you can make the tweaks
that you want and then presentthose to the couple and they're
amazed and excited and you know,that's, it's just more rewarding
for me because it is costeffective to send a wedding out
to be outsourced to an editorbecause just is.
So I like wedding because Idon't have to spend a whole lot
of time editing.
Raymond Hatfield (25:59):
What do you see the future of your
photography being?
Do you think that it's going tobe focused on weddings?
Because I know that we'vetalked, obviously you're, a
premium member as well.
And we talk in our groupcoaching calls about kind of
the, the ability to, to startoff with a wedding, right?
That's where you kind of getthem in.
And then later on as theirfamily grows, you can kind of
(26:19):
grow into some of that as well,as far as newborns and families
as well.
Do you see yourself doing a lotof that in the future or
primarily sticking to weddings?
Kimberly Irish (26:28):
I think the most important part of photography
for me is actually therelationships that I develop
with my clients and with thepeople that I see consistently.
So I do see myself becoming likea lifetime photographer for a
set of families.
However, I will only advertisefor weddings, because I think
(26:49):
that's a good way to get peoplein the door.
And then just to continue withthem through life, I think is
much more rewarding for me than,just having a random cake smash
for some kid that I've neverseen before, or, you know, I
love cake smashes.
There's so much fun and they'recute, but, I just, I really
treasure becoming friends withthe people that I work with.
(27:10):
So that's what I.
I think I will do.
Raymond Hatfield (27:14):
I like it.
I like it.
So I got a question for youbecause I went back in time
through the power of searchingon Facebook to look for your
first post in the BeginnerPhotography Podcast Facebook
group and you've been in thegroup for more than two years so
you have a lot of posts to gothrough.
Uh, when I looked, the firsttime that you ever posted
something was actually on KeriNorris.
She posted a photo and she wasasking a question.
(27:36):
She said, why does my camerasuck with indoor light?
Every time I shoot indoors, Ihave to crank my ISO to the
heavens, which I hate doingbecause the quality is nothing
compared to outdoor light.
And you commented, I have theexact same issue with my Nikon
D3300.
Please, someone help.
(27:57):
A lot of time has passed sincethen.
Did you overcome this issue?
Kimberly Irish (28:01):
Yeah.
Raymond Hatfield (28:02):
Okay.
Perfect.
Next question.
I
Kimberly Irish (28:05):
think it was more of a mental thing to
overcome.
I mean, obviously shooting on acrop sensor, you're going to get
a lot more noise indoors,especially shooting on a high
ISO.
So obviously the switch to afull frame was good for that,
but also mentally, like wetalked about at the beginning.
Accepting the fact that there'sgoing to be some noise in photos
when your ISO has to be high.
(28:27):
I can think of a wedding that Idid recently where it was a dark
church with dark wood everywhereand dark orange carpet and the
pastor did not want any flash,which is fine.
You know, most don't, I can'timagine wanting flash at my own
wedding.
Raymond Hatfield (28:42):
So, um,
Kimberly Irish (28:45):
and so those images are very grainy because I
had to shoot it like ISO 5, 000in order to get any kind of an
image that I could work with.
And.
I had to be very far away.
He told me a particular spot Ihad to stand in inside the
church.
And I actually had to pull outmy crop sensor and put my 70 to
200 on it in order to get anykind of shot that was not, far
(29:10):
away kind of
Raymond Hatfield (29:11):
because
Kimberly Irish (29:12):
of where he had me stand.
So that was interesting becauseI was actually back on the old
crop sensor in order to getthat.
I mean, I could have done thatin.
My full frame as well, but I hada different lens on so I wanted
to be able to use both.
But yeah, so it's more of amindset, I think.
And just knowing how to workwith those images in post also
helps as well.
Raymond Hatfield (29:31):
I think as time goes on, probably entry
level cameras aren't going to beas poor with ISO performance as
they were here currently.
And then even, even a few yearsago as well.
So, obviously, we kind of canlook back at any time in our own
photography timeline and see thestruggles that we were facing.
And then now we're like, Oh,here's the solution.
(29:54):
Like, of course we know that.
So I'm interested to know, whatis it that you are currently
struggling with now?
Kimberly Irish (30:01):
As far as shooting goes, I'm not really
struggling with anything.
I know how to get the imagesthat I want.
I know how to like things theway I want them to be lit.
I know how to compose things theway I want them to be composed.
So I'm sorry, there's not awhole lot I can say there.
Raymond Hatfield (30:20):
What about going forward then?
as far as creating somethingnew, is there anything that
maybe you wanted to try?
Kimberly Irish (30:27):
Yeah, yeah.
So this has been something thatI've been pondering for about a
year now.
I tend to visualize imagesbefore I take them.
And I really, really want tocreate a really cool double
exposure someday, but because Ihaven't visualized it yet, I
don't know what it's going tobe.
And I haven't like, I've tried afew things, but it just doesn't
(30:49):
make sense to me.
And I want to be able to do itin camera, not in post.
So I haven't really come up withthe perfect double exposure idea
yet.
That's what I'm struggling withthe most right now.
Raymond Hatfield (31:02):
There you go.
Are you talking like at awedding or just personally at
home?
Kimberly Irish (31:06):
Just in general, I really want to, I want to do
something cool.
Like for a wedding, I have thisidea of what I want to do
eventually someday, where Ihave, I want a couple that's
written their own vows and Iwant like the handwritten vows
to be somehow used within aphoto.
I don't know.
That's kind of where I am atthat point.
But, even at home, I don'treally, like I've tried a couple
(31:27):
of double exposures anddifferent textures and things
like that over pictures of mykids, but it just doesn't work.
It feels inauthentic becauseit's just kind of like, oh,
here's a trick I'm doing today.
You know, it's not, like, I feellike double exposures have the
capacity to really convey a lotof really minute detail within
the broader context of somethingamazing.
(31:49):
And so I want to createsomething that does all of that,
you know, just a whole packagein one photo is kind of what I
want to be able to do someday.
So.
Raymond Hatfield (32:00):
I see.
So obviously, for thoselistening who don't know, a
double exposure is literallytaking two photos and kind of
imprinting it into one image.
So you might think of like aPhotoshop of taking two photos
and putting them together.
But it's different when done incamera because while new digital
cameras have lots of differentabilities settings as far as
double exposures.
(32:21):
I know with Fuji, I don't knowabout Nikon or Canon, but you
can choose whether to, blend thephotos, through the dark
portions of the image or throughthe light portions of the image.
So if you were to blend throughthe dark portions of the image,
everything in that first image,wow, this is really getting
confusing to think about.
So say that you have, like, anighttime photo and at the
bottom of the shot is just,like, a head and shoulders
(32:43):
portrait of somebody.
If you use nighttime blending ornight dark blending, whatever
the term would be.
If you were to take anotherphoto, anything that wasn't dark
would now show up on the darkversion of the dark portion of
the first photo.
Again, kind of hard tovisualize, I guess now when I,
when I'm saying these things outloud, but again, it's, you can
have both those things ormultiple things, depending on
(33:06):
the camera that you have, andput it in one photo, which I
could see.
So like the photo that I'mimagining in my head that you
just described right there wouldprobably be something like.
The first photo that you wouldtake would be close up macro
shot of just the vows right fullframe writing of the vows and
then that next shot would besomething like the couple is
(33:27):
close together and maybe they'rejust like facing each other and
now it's their silhouette.
But it's only in the letters ofthe vows, right?
So you can kind of get all ofthat in, in one image.
Yeah.
So have you tried doingsomething like this?
and if so, how did it turn out?
Kimberly Irish (33:45):
I haven't tried yet because I have been hesitant
because I don't want to screw itup.
Raymond Hatfield (33:53):
Oh, come on.
You can just not deliver thephoto.
Like if it goes wrong.
Kimberly Irish (33:59):
Yeah, I don't know.
It's just been a thing whereit's like this mental block.
And I remember I, this is kindof how I've always gone through
my whole photography journey islike, I have this idea of what I
want to do.
And until I figure out exactlywhat I want to do, I haven't
even tried.
Raymond Hatfield (34:15):
Um,
Kimberly Irish (34:15):
and so it's been like a lot of little tiny, small
steps.
And then like, I get stuck for awhile.
And then I figured out, Oh,okay, I can do that now.
Like same thing for flash.
It took me probably nine monthsof saying that I wanted to learn
flash to actually just do it.
And then I was like, Oh, thatwasn't that hard.
Raymond Hatfield (34:34):
So what was it that got you to that point?
You said that you had to likeknow exactly what it was in your
head before you even attemptedit.
What was it that you saw thatmade you think, okay, now is the
time to take action on learningflash.
Kimberly Irish (34:46):
It was because I had a wedding coming and I
needed to know flash to do myfirst wedding.
And so I got flash and a flashfrom you and then I was like,
this is actually really easy.
So there's another plug for youflash
Raymond Hatfield (35:02):
Lots of shameless plugs today.
This is awesome.
Uh, that's hilarious So now thatyou've obviously been shooting
with flash for a while and youfind it.
You're very competent with it.
Why do you think so many?
struggle in the beginning toeven get started with Flash?
Kimberly Irish (35:15):
I think it's because, again, outside of,
like, this group per se, a lotof other sources make it so much
harder than it really is.
Like, you have to know the math,and you have to know the, right
angles, and you have to set itup just this way, and you have
to have this umbrella, and youhave to have this beauty dish,
and you have to have, you know,You don't need all those things.
(35:37):
You just do it, take a picture.
And if it doesn't look good, trysomething different.
Like, it's really not that hard.
But of course I will say thatwith a caveat, I haven't done a
whole lot with flash.
It's just like, I have very,very basic setup and it works
for me.
And I use that.
So if I wanted to add insomething different in the
future, I could, I mean,recently I did a shoot and I
(36:00):
added a hair, like, Ooh, youknow, that was big stuff for me.
Wow.
No, it was a third.
I'm just saying.
Raymond Hatfield (36:08):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
I'm the same way when it comesto flash.
I mean, I'm very much like, Ijust.
I don't carry much when it comesto a wedding.
I bring three flashes and then Ibring, just like my, diffuser
on, on one of them andessentially like, that's it.
Then I bring the stands to holdthem and that's, that's the end
of the day for me, I like whatyou said there were like, it
doesn't have to be complicated.
(36:29):
You don't even need expensivepieces.
You don't need an expensiveflash.
You don't need an expensivetrigger and you definitely don't
need all of the.
I don't know, modification gear,that's available on Amazon or
wherever.
So, that's awesome.
I love that.
Well, I know that, our time is,coming to an end.
So I just got a few lastquestions here for you.
The first one would be, youknow, you kind of entered the
(36:49):
group when you were very new tophotography, What information do
you wish you could tell yourearliest version of yourself
when just getting started inphotography that would make it
easier to get to where you aretoday?
Kimberly Irish (37:02):
I think it would be less angsty for myself if I
knew that it would go a lotquicker than I thought.
The time has actually, it's beentwo and a half years, But it
feels like I've been shootingforever and the time has just
gone by so quick.
I learned so much so quicklybecause I just kept on shooting.
And so I would encourage myselfto continue to do that.
(37:22):
Shoot every single day.
Just keep the practice going.
It doesn't matter what you'retaking pictures of.
Like, I shoot weddings, but Ididn't always.
I took a lot of pictures offlowers and icicles and berries,
It's all applicable and it allbuilds up in slow little layers
of knowledge.
So, I would just say, Keep doingthat but don't feel so stressed
out yet.
You know,
Raymond Hatfield (37:44):
don't feel stressed out yet.
I love it Yeah, nice and niceand easy.
So Kim before I let you goObviously we can find you in the
Facebook group, but where elsecan we find you and more of your
images?
Anywhere on the internet.
Kimberly Irish (37:56):
You can find me on instagram at we irish
photography All one word.
You can find me on my website atweirishphotography.
com, Facebook, We IrishPhotography as well.
Very consistent.
We is W E E like small.
Raymond Hatfield (38:12):
Perfect.
And then, if anybody has anyquestions, would it be okay if
they were to reach out and askyou?
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, Kim, thank you so muchfor, uh, coming on and sharing
your journey today.
it's been a long one, but it's,it's been fun to get here and I
had a great time talking withyou today.
Kimberly Irish (38:27):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
It's a lot of fun to see you andthank you so much for all of the
help that you've given mebecause I definitely would not
be here without you.
All right today's action item.
The thing that if you implement,just this is really gonna move
the needle forward in yourphotography, is to shoot indoors
(38:47):
and embrace the imperfections.
I know what you're thinking.
Yeah, but the lighting insideis, it's not that good.
Well, that's why this is achallenge that you need to
implement.
Take that photo inside your homewith the gear that you have
right now.
Don't stress about grain or highISO, or image quality or
anything like that.
(39:09):
The goal is to capture a moment.
Then here's the real challenge.
Once you take the shot, look forall the things that you actually
like about the image, ratherthan all of the technical flaws
that only other photographerswould notice.
The photo is probably muchbetter than you think it is, and
taking a photo is always gonnabe better than not taking a
(39:30):
photo.
So there you go.
That's it for this week.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
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