Couldn’t resist the f-stop joke/pun! But yes, Photo Fun Month is over as of today! Wow… what a month it has been. I am so happy to have been able to offer so many fantastic giveaways to my readers. It’s been great meeting more of you and getting to know some of you better. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting this bit of an inside view into my life as well with my near-daily photos. I have one more shot to take today; not quite sure what I want to shoot.

I’m looking forward to getting back to a slower paced blog life again – blogging daily is super fun but I admit, incredibly time consuming. I also have a lot of love that needs to be shown to my photo blog as I’ve been working like crazy to get my last few weddings finished up before I go on vacation next month.

If you have enjoyed Photo Fun Month, I would sincerely appreciate if you could click the links to vote for me on Picket Fence or Top Baby Blogs! And don’t forget to check out the sidebar of the blog for giveaways!

I wanted to post my own interview answers to the questions that I’ve been asking other photographer moms this past month. I saved myself for last. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the Q&A!

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Name: Karen
Age: 28
Location: South Florida

Blog/Website/Twitter/FB Page:
http://www.karenlisa.com
http://www.karenlisa.com/blog
http://www.facebook.com/karenlisaphoto
http://www.twitter.com/karenlisaphoto (business twitter account)

How long have you been a photographer, and how did you get started?
I’ve always enjoyed photography as a hobby. I used to take my little Olympus point & shoot everywhere in high school and in college I did a few shoots with friends just for fun. It wasn’t until I met my husband that being a photographer was even a consideration. Adrian always wanted to start a photo business, and after he got his first DSLR camera, I assisted him on a few shoots, and even took a few shots. He encouraged me when he saw that I had a good eye, and eventually he upgraded to a better camera and I received his DSLR. We started shooting portraits together in 2005, and weddings in 2006.

What’s your favorite type of session to photograph, and why?
I love shooting couples in all different fashions. Engagements are fun because they are just super excited about the wedding and bursting with energy. Weddings are a blast. But maternity is very special to me because I most often shoot first time moms & dads, and their maternity session is frequently the last “big thing” they do for themselves together before the baby comes. It’s the last time they have alone to enjoy each other, hug, kiss a lot, and cuddle. People always laugh because I ask them to be so touchy feely during the shoot, but I hope that those memories are ones that they look back on happily once the baby comes. My last vivid memories from right before my own baby was born were doing our maternity shoot and going to the beach with Adrian to try to induce labor by walking on sand! LOL!

What are three words that describe your photography? romantic, emotional, authentic

Are you a Canon or Nikon girl, and which lens is typically glued to your camera?
I shoot Canon (though sometimes I do have Nikon envy…shhh). I most often shoot with the 50mm 1.4. I know it like the palm of my hand!

How do you find balance being a mom and managing your own photography business?
It’s definitely tough, but preschool has been big for me. Now that Zachary is in school, I finally have time to do do things for myself as well as time to get work done effectively. It is all too easy to get burnt out and stressed out otherwise!

What’s your best advice for photographing your own kids?
I have found that the best way to photograph my son is in a “lifestyle” situation when I am capturing him at play or in action. I shoot fast and try to engage him in the activity and just try to be happy with what I get. It’s hard to shoot your own child because they’re used to your style and too interested in what mom/dad is doing. If your goal is to do a serious portrait shoot with your kid, having someone to help definitely produces better results since they can distract the child out of your frame of view. Otherwise, I aim to capture authentic shots of him in his environment, just being a kid. 🙂

How do you stay inspired?
Movies & beautifully produced TV shows inspire me a lot. I am not a really technical person as far as cinematography goes (my husband is the film school graduate) but there are many movie scenes that I would kill to recreate still images with my camera! I also enjoy checking out images from some of my favorite wedding & portrait photographers, but to be honest, I do this very infrequently as I hate to compare myself to others.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
This time of year anything with pumpkin is my absolute weakness!!! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin dish towels, pumpkin trivets… you name it. If it’s made with pumpkin or has a pumpkin on it, I will probably buy it. I love pumpkins!

What’s the best thing about your job?
Flexibility and convenience to spend time with my family and play with my baby.

This is my current favorite image. I actually blogged it last week on my photography blog, as a preview for the wedding I photographed a few weeks ago. This bride and groom had an incredible sense of style, and we did their photo shoot before their ceremony at one of the swankiest hotels on South Beach! I love it!