You got all this technology, but don't know how to use it.

Welcome to my photography special problems course! 

Now I know what some of you may be thinking... "What does that even mean?"

Allow me to explain; I needed some extra hours to be able to finish up and graduate come December, so I thought what better to do than sharpen my skills in an area relevant to my degree? It just made sense to take up Mrs. Cox's offer to take a special problems course focused on photography over taking "Underwater Basket Weaving 101" or any other lecture class.

The goal of this course is to help me enhance my photography skills in areas that are of interest to me, for example, livestock photography. But I don't want to stop there, I want to challenge myself as well.

Throughout this course I will be creating a photographic journal that I will post on my blog (right here!) once a week, starting September 20 and ending November 14, that will help me improve my photography knowledge and skills. I will also need to complete a Camera Features assignment and attend a photography workshop in order to receive credit for the course.

I am by no means a professional photographer, but I really do enjoy taking and editing photos, so I have a couple of goals set for myself this semester. 

One photographer that I really admire and appreciate their work is Brittany Coffee-Parker. Brittany is an Oklahoma photographer that shoots weddings, engagement photos, senior photos and so much more. By the looks of her work, she likes to include a western feel to her photographs by including clients' horses, turquoise from Heritage Style and photographing grooms wearing their cowboy hats on their wedding day. 

I do not want to copy Brittany by any means, but seeing how she makes every photo fit her unique style is something I want to achieve as well. Her photos are timeless, not necessarily trendy and I see that as a good thing. I want my photos so follow that standard as well.

You can find Brittany's Instagram here to see what I'm talking about. @brittanycoffeephoto

Content Areas & Goals

1. Livestock & Equine Photography

• I want to capture quality images of livestock as well as horses that people could be proud to use for social media, advertisements, or to print on a canvas to hang on the wall. I also want to take nice backdrop photos and photos of kids showing livestock at my county fair. The last goal would to get clear action shots of roping and working cattle.

• To achieve these goals, I will be taking my camera when my family goes to check cows and when we go horseback riding. I want to always put myself in a situation to get the best shot. To capture those action shots, I will study the best manual settings to use by watching YouTube videos and reading photography blogs. Ranch House Designs provides resources such as online courses to help with livestock photography editing and much more. I plan on purchasing their RHD Livestock Photography Handbook to learn from as well.

2. Portait Photography

• My goals with this content area is to capture portraits with the "Bokeh" look. I see bokeh photos on Instagram all the time and I think it is beautiful to have the photo focus on one person with an intentional blur in the background. The next goal would be to shoot some senior mini sessions for some students and the last goal would be to use lighting to my advantage. I want to take portraits in open shade and direct sunlight.

• To achieve these goals, I will complete lessons from the book Digital Photographers Handbook by Tom Ang, that my aunt gifted to me. The lesson on portrait photography explain depth of field and how to capture bokeh photographs. Thankfully, I have friends that are willing to help me with my professional and personal goals by going with me around Fayetteville to capture impressive portraits of them. I would like to shoot two, one hour mini sessions. I want to go out and shoot at all times of the day to see what kind of photos I am able to get. Everyone has said "Golden Hour" is the best time of day to shoot, but I want to try to challenge myself to shoot at noon, when the sun is the highest and on overcast and rainy days.

3. Landscape Photography

• My goals with landscape photography are pretty simple. I want to learn what High-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) is, how to take HDR photos on my camera and how to edit them so that the photos will look how the eye would actually see in that setting. The next goal would be to learn Long-exposure photography. I want to be able to capture images with really cool lighting. The last goal will be to shoot the perfect sunrise and sunset photo.

• To achieve these goals, I will be watching how-to videos on YouTube about HDR and long exposure photography. I will try *fingers crossed* to wake up early enough (as most everyone knows I like my sleep) to go to different spots such as Lake Weddington or Devil's Den to capture the sunrise, and then later that day to shoot the sunset.

4. Architecture Photography

• The University of Arkansas is filled with beautiful buildings for the perfect "photo op." I always find myself stopping to take a picture with my phone. My first goal would be to photograph things that are special and unique to the U of A campus. The second would be to shoot indoors and to do it well. My last goal would be to capture interesting textures of buildings.

• To achieve these goals, I will need to put in a lot of time studying and visiting areas and buildings such as Old Main, Mullins Library, the Pi Phi gates, etc. The light will hit each building in a different place at different times of day. I will need to look for unusual angles and unusual perspectives to make my photos stand out. I will spend time taking photos of barn wood, metal and stone and learn from photography blogs on what settings to use.

If you have made it this far in this blog post, I commend you. Going on and on about my goals might have been a bit boring, but at least you now have an idea of what I will be shooting for the next nine weeks! I will be back to share photos with you on September 20th!


My dad always tells my brother and I, "You got all this technology, but don't know how to use it." And he is right. (He was really talking about us being on our phones to play Candy Crush instead of looking up how to do or learn something, but dad does have a point.)


Sometimes we buy this fancy tech and don't even try to take the time to use it to its full potential. 

Well, I'm going to learn how to use my camera and grow my skills to where Photography is a skill I am confident in putting on my resume.