A-hem, hi, I’m Aubry Startin.  I’m a picture fanatic and I would like to take you on a journey. A journey with your camera.  My whole purpose is to get you empowered with the knowledge and confidence to make your pictures pop, draw a tear, take you back in time, fill you with emotion, and/or just let you show off what a professional you can be.   I’m a self-proclaimed “professional” photographer – where I’ve had formal training, I owe most of it to workshops and just messing around on my own.

I use a digital SLR camera, those fancier looking ones where you can interchange the lens.  Now there is also the point and shoot kind, like those cute compact ones. Everything is automatic. You will still be able to learn and have fun with a point and shoot, yet, you are going to be limited in your control of how the picture comes out.  Now with the SLR cameras – YOU have the control.  You say what the mood is, how much light you want, what you want your focus to be, gives you so much more control to be creative.

I’d also like to say I am a natural light photographer, I almost never use a flash.  It takes away all the romance.

In my bag:

Canon 5d mark ii

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L

EF 50mm f/1.4

In your bag:

Hmm, I would say an affordable camera that would do the trick would be Canon’s xsi, or for a bump up I would go with Canon’s 40d or 50d.  This is the camera I used before my 5d. I really loved it and it can fire off shots faster than the xsi. So it could come to what you can afford.

The lens I would highly recommend is the 50 mm 1.8 ($100) or 1.4 ($350) this is where you get those lovely shots that have a lot of blur in the background.

I go with canon simply because it was the one that I got when I was in high school and then when cody worked at best buy in the camera department he preferred canon. That’s about it though, they are pretty much the same in price and quality.

Got all that?

Now for my post processing work I use photoshop cs4 (photoshop elements is less expensive and more user friendly), that is where the magic happens. that program is a beast, but for what we’ll be using it for you will learn to love it and become comfortable in no time. well, you’ll never be totally comfortable because it can make your head want to explode, but don’t be scared I’ll try to lead you along the best I know how.

Soooo. Get your camera, 50 mm lens, photoshop, a great deal of patience, some cute subjects, and let’s begin.