I love experimenting! While you can learn a great deal from reading, the best way to learn is "do it." I have been mainly experimenting on my own and not in public (It's less embarrassing that way!). But a couple weeks ago I decided to join a Meetup group of photographers and thought it would be fun to learn from those more experienced than me, and maybe even help out if someone is there less experienced than me.

I can't thank Chris, our leader, enough! He did a great job of organizing the event given some unusual circumstances - short version: The original location, Anne Springs Close Greenway, had to close at the last second due to a death at the location :( He rescheduled to a park in Ballantyne, brought props and all kinds of fun toys for us test out!

Thanks also to Gwen, our wonderful and fun model, for being patient with all of the event attendees who were all new to photography! (and special thank you to her hilarious husband/bodyguard/reflector holder/everything)

The gallery below includes a wide variety of shots. Some are unedited but for a few of them I did some neat Photoshop effects to experiment a bit!

Special shout out to Doug and Madison too for showing up and being super friendly and making me feel comfortable!