Photo.....piphany?

Just before Thanksgiving a good friend asked me to take pictures of her family for their Christmas card. Moi? Truly, I was flattered. And sort of nervous. I DO love to take pictures. SOMETIMES I think I have an eye for a good shot. Other times I am just reminded of how very little I really do KNOW about the subject. I want my pictures to look like this. I want to have cool editing software like this. My photo reality is somewhat less spectacular. Still I enjoyed the process and think it's the kind of thing I'd like to figure out how to do more of. I learned that I

1. find it pretty easy to take pictures of kids, but not as easy as inanimate objects. ;-)

2. find I am not good at giving directions to my subjects. Something I maybe should have thought more about before tackling a photo session with 4 people and 3 dogs. I am used to being the "just pretend I'm not here" photographer, not the "okay, everybody look at me" girl. Probably a "photo session" should have a nice AND COMFORTABLE balance of both.

3. should just take MORE pictures, instead of waiting sometimes. It's digital. What's my problem?

4. still feel happy even if only a handful turned out in a way that makes ME feel good, but wouldn't feel the same way if I were charging a photographer's fee.

5. Can't wait to get their Christmas card.

So, no photog business plans any time soon, but I'm happy to practice on my family and friends...