Before we were born we saw light. It was pink and out of focus, but it was there. We've had light all around us and for most people it's all about being able to just see in the dark, or it comes from the sky, or we flip a switch and we can see. It's as natural as breathing and we take it for granted the same way. Photography is all about the light. All photography uses it...great photography manipulates it, paints with it, makes us see what the photographer, what the artist, wants us to see.

It could be as simple as a black photo with a hint of an eye showing. It often uses light to draw lines with the shadows to bring out a shape, a form, or lack of one. Light is the essence of the art of photography.

If it's a bride we can wash her in warm pastels or put a baby in beautiful sunshine. Endless options.

When I have the opportunity to share my knowledge of photography I always show how everything I do revolves around the light. Studio lighting, location lighting for day and night, and playing with the light in all situations. I often find myself stepping back and wondering just how I can use the light I have to make this into an interesting picture. It's not like a math problem to me. There are no rules. Actually, there are plenty of rules and I break them every chance I get because I ignore them. Knowing your lights, modifiers, and gear to a degree where you just know what they can do is all you ever need. I light a subject with my gut more than my brain. What is going to make the shot just crawl off the page and grab you by the ears! Okay, maybe not that strong, but keep your eye on the shot and wonder.

So many people take pictures that are, well, just pictures. Selfies, but using a photographer. Sorry, but yuck.

If people look at a picture and they are moved by it. If they wonder what the person is thinking in the picture. If they feel what the subject is feeling then I think it was worth the time, the thought, or gut, that went into it.

When someone sees a picture I've taken of a nude or implied subject and the response is 'that's hot' then they aren't seeing what I intended at all.

I'm thinking that great photography is broken down into two groups. People who know how to use the light to paint an amazing picture with their camera, and those that know enough about art to appreciate it for the art that it is.

If you are a photographer - know every aspect of lighting. Period. And you will be amazing!

We love to shoot. It's a passion and we certainly don't do it often enough. We tend to want to just start shooting away as soon as we have someone playing and posing in front of our camera. It's a natural instinct.

Then we get back to the computer and upload the images. We go through them and often think...if we'd payed attention to all those needles in the snow we might have cleaned them up before laying her in the middle of them to shoot. Or if the light had been just a little more to the left and down her eyes would have really popped. It's to late. Sure, some of the shots are going to be fine.

This is when you have to ask yourself...is FINE what I was after? I hope not. I doubt you are reading this is average is what you are after.

I have a habit of stopping often and just standing there and looking at the model, the lighting, and the overall setting. Yeah, it's a little odd and I usually tell the model to relax while I think this through. After all, I don't want them to think I'm just staring at them and they are awaiting direction from me at this point.

So, stop. Set the camera down. Look at the light, where it's coming from, how it will hit the model, and envision what the end shot will look like.

Envisioning the end shot is the hard part, at least at first. Once you have experience you can look at something you take right on the back of the camera and have a fairly good idea of what you can do with it. I've found more and more I look at a picture and get excited about the possibilities of the shot when everyone else looks and doesn't see what I see. Often my finished shots don't look very close to the original so in my case it's even more important to look and imagine what I can do with it. So, it's slightly more important to get it right...to take my time. Unless the sun is going down there's time.

Don't get into the 'spray and pray' mode of shooting. If you have a model that poses well from shot to shot, get everything working right and then let him or her go through 6-12 of their expressions and then stop. I do often show them the first test shots to let them know what the lighting is like and how to angle their heads the best to take advantage of the lighting. Then let them play as you shoot. Those will be great shots.

So, take your time. Enjoy being creative. Train your eye to look at the shot in the view finder for a while before hitting that shutter button.

One thing I've done, even in the studio, is to wear the R strap with my camera. Then, when I want to think, talk with the model, whatever, the camera is at my side. And it's not far away in those rare and fun moments in time when a perfect shot hits you in the face and you need to get it quickly.

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It's okay, go into the light!

Stand back and put the camera down

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