Erika @ Dania Beach

Today I learned several valuable lessons while at the beach around sunset with the family. While moseying around on the sand, I spotted this gorgeous young girl walking with her friend. I really wanted to capture some shots of her so I made the plunge, introduced myself, told her she was absolutely beautiful and would she mind letting me fire off a few frames.

She was delighted to help me and such a perfect model. The few times I've had strangers stop me in the street or grocery store to compliment me totally made my day. Hopefully I made hers and I hope to be able to send her the results of her willingness to be captured.

A few very important lessons I took home today:

1) Always bring your camera along. You never know what photographic opportunities can come out of the woodwork.
2) Always bring extra memory cards! I realized my card capacity was full and had to erase some images from an earlier shoot. Shooting in RAW now, I really have to keep this in mind as it takes up so much more space than JPEG.
3) Don't be afraid to approach people. I almost let her walk away because I was too shy to ask. I am so glad I didn't. Hey, what have you got to lose? The worst that can happen is the person says no.
4) Don't rush the shoot once the person agrees. If they're comfortable and having fun, keep getting in those frames until you're satisfied you captured the essence of the person that captivated you in the first place.
5) Chat them up while continuously shooting. You get so many varied expressions that way & it eases the self consciousness of the subject.
6) Keep a pen with paper in your camera bag. I desperately needed this when I wanted to get her email address to send her the processed photos. Now I only hope I can remember her contact info.

That's all!