Just sticking my head up out of the water to say hi!

And also to chat about something real quick... my favorite lens. So, I've given this a lot of thought and I can't seem to find another lens that I feel this way about. My good old Nikkor 50mm 1.4... It has my heart and here's why.

It's as simple as just wanting to grab my camera, shove it in my purse and walk out the door. I often times find myself in situations where I don't want to be bogged down by a lens bag or the weight of a bigger lens... (pretty much all of the time). I know for professional shoots I need to have a few options with me, but for my own personal projects, I just want the ease and simplicity of one camera body and one (small) lens.

When I first started it was the only lens I purchased (because it was the cheapest). I bought a 50mm 1.8 which only cost about $120. I had SO MUCH FUN with this lens. Because it wasn't a zoom lens, it taught me to move around the room instead of being lazy and standing in one spot. It also taught me to break down the wall that is sometimes created between photographer and subject with a tighter lens.

I have shot entire weddings with this lens (in the early years of April K Photo, see examples below). It was wide enough to get family and group photos and tight enough to get details on the bride. It worked for portraits, details, on the dance floor etc... It works in so many situations for subjects near and far.

I have since purchased quite an array of lenses (and other equipment that I may or may not use). I have used each lens intimately to really understand what I can do with it... and although I prefer certain lenses for certain situations, the 50mm is my all around "show pony".

What is your favorite lens and why?

The Nifty 50 in action, close enough for portraits and far enough for the whole crew... (the first wedding I ever shot, solo back in 2010).

{Audience: Photographer, mother, taker of pitcha's}

While my husband {who's very business saavy} asked me what my 2015 business goals are going to be my reply was... to survive. hahahaha, no seriously! With 2 young ones around here I have no idea what my life will be like. I'm certainly prepped for the shoots I've already taken on, they're in my mind, I'm prepared to execute perfectly... but bringing on new jobs is not in my wheelhouse at the moment... in turn I'm coining this year my "discovery year"... I want to have a more open dialogue with other photographers so we can learn and grow together. In my discovery year I want to discover new parts of photography that i've never explored and push myself to learn new tricks. Most importantly, I want to share it all here on my blog with you!

...so here we go! Below are my 2 top priority goals for 2015 that I want to share with you...

1. Perfect my personal photo filing system

of course I have my own unique workflow in order to run my business efficiently, but what about my personal life?

{my goal} - have a beautifully archived year in photos printed, album style. So my files need to be easily accessible and organized in one place so I can dump them into my album builder at the end of the year. I'd like to curate this selection more over the years... but for now, she's growing so fast I want them all!

{how I plan to achieve} - I just updated my external hardrive with another trusty (so far so good) Guardian MAXimus so this is perfect timing. Here is the path I will use to keep everything easy to locate and in order.

2. Try having a newborn shoot at my house

{my goal} - I am creating a trustworthy and quality brand which means my work needs to be on point (as always). To have consistent work my lighting needs to be consistent and I need to know it well. I know the light best in my house and even more so in Sienna's sun filled playroom {which I've strategically purchased all furniture to be white so it bounces light even more :)} I think it would be the perfect location for a newborn studio but the thought of having customers in my home freaks me out a bit... mostly because I'd have to clean 24/7! So maybe I can test it out to see what in all needs to go into having a home studio and will it be worth it to me financially.

{how I plan to achieve} - well what'dya know?! I'm about to have a newborn here 24/7 so I can test the lighting out on him... if it works then I'll invite a client over and see how it goes!

That's all for now folks, stay tuned and check in with me to see my progress... until next time,

AK-47 {what my old field hockey teammates used to call me, hehehe}