Charlene's Portrait Photography Experience

Portrait Photography, Maternity photography and newborn photography is the focus of the podcast today.  Speaking with Charlene whose photography work has appeared in the Ultimate Wedding Magazine. Alvern: Hi, ladies. Alvern here. Today, we are going to be looking at the topic of portrait photography, and to do that, I have a special guest on with us today. Her name is Charlene, and I am going to get Charlene to introduce herself. Over to you, Charlene. Charlene: Hi. Yes, my name is Charlene, and I am the founder of Honey Bee Lens Photography business. I've had my business for around about six years now. Alvern: Very good. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us today, Charlene. Charlene: Thank you, my pleasure. Alvern: Good, good. So, to kick it off, I'm just going to ask a few questions. In terms of the photography, obviously, business, or even just portrait photography as a whole. Obviously, you didn't start as a business, you probably started doing it as a hobby first. So, in terms of that, when did you get involved in photography, and why? Charlene: Yes, of course. My path and my journey in photography started when I was a child, when I was a teenager, really. I loved to study all the old photos in my home, and we had so many photos from retro photos from my grandparents to my siblings in the 70s and 80s, and myself included. I just realised that every single snap was capturing a moment in that one person's life, leaving memories to last a lifetime, really. So, it always fascinated me in that regard, and at around when I was 17, an option arose for me to take an extra A Level at my school at Banbridge Academy here in Northern Ireland, and I jumped at the chance to study photography. So, this was all before the digital age when all film cameras were around. I had many fun hours in the darkroom, developing my images. That was a lot of fun. So, that was really the start of it, and I just sort of went on from strength to strength. I've been a freelance photographer, a portrait photographer, and as I said, I'm the founder of Honey Bee Lens portrait photography. Alvern: Awesome. That's great. That's a really nice little background there, which leads me nicely on to the next question. Because of that then, that little background that you've had, would you consider yourself to be a natural at photography because some people have to study a lot of years for it. But would you consider yourself being a natural photographer? Charlene: Yeah, that's the thing. I honestly do think that it does come second nature to me, and I am ... Apart from my A Level, I'm all completely self-taught as a photographer. So, I definitely I'm a creative person, and I think that's reflected in my images, but everybody can photograph, so every individual's different. But I think it was natural for me, yes. Alvern: Cool. Nice. And what would you consider as your area of specialty, or areas, even? Charlene: Yeah. As I mentioned there, I'm a portrait photographer, but I do specialise in baby bump or maternity, if you want to call it that, and newborn babies. I also work with both families and children as well, so that's my specialty, in that field. Alvern: Good, good. What would you consider being your favourite? Every photographer has their favourite set of camera kit that they like to use. What would yours be? Charlene: Yeah. Definitely. Well, I'm a total Canon girl, that's for sure. I've used Canon since I was a teenager, and I just love the brand and I've stuck with it. That was my favourite camera. I currently use a camera the Canon 6D at present. It's a great camera. In terms of lenses, well, I've actually had a love for a lot of lenses. The Canon 1.4 aperture, effects 50 millimetre, is one that I use a lot, and I love that one for closeups, for instance, as I specialise in little babies. That's a great lens to use for close-ups of their features, so say, for instance, their toes or their lips. It's a fantastic little...