Photo Tips for Beginners

We like to shop around here but what we really enjoy doing is sharing our most loved items with our favorite people – YOU!

Today we have Susan Bahen, Click Pro and a wonderful nature and street photographer, joining us to share just a few of her favorite things.

Without a doubt, my most favourite thing is my family. I hope it isn’t too cliché to say so but my family truly completes who I am.

I have been married to my husband, John, for 25 years and I have been so fortunate to have been a stay at home mom to our sons, Cameron and Colin, since Cameron was born. They were teens when I started to learn everything I could about photograph, so I don’t have as many images of them as I would like, but when they were young I took some many images of them. I was on a first name basis with the manager of my local one-hour photo lab.

Grabbing my camera and heading outside is my favourite way to get out of a creative rut. Come to think of it, most of my work is done outdoors. Being inside is distracting for me. I have other tasks that pull on my time.

Just walking through my neighbourhood feels like meditation with my camera. I look very carefully for interesting details to capture with my Nikon 105mm macro lens or people watch and do some street photography with my Sigma 24-70mm.

I don’t limit myself to nice weather and you’ll find me and my camera walking the streets in the rain. I love the atmosphere that rain adds to an image.

I love the taste of that first sip of coffee of the day as I curl up on the sofa in the moments before the rest of the family come downstairs.

I love incorporating reflections into my work. I use windows a lot in my street work, but I really love interesting compositions framed within puddles. It’s like a picture within a picture.

I wouldn’t say that soup is my favourite food but I love eating soup and have will have a bowl full almost everyday for lunch, even in the summer. I love how comforting it is but most importantly it keeps me from eating junk food for lunch.

Our family wouldn’t be complete without our dog, George and our two cats, Coal and Lucy. George is so joyful!

I’m like a proud mama when I take him out for walks. We get stopped all of the time by people who want to pet him. I love watching the looks on people’s faces when they look at him walk by. They light up when they see his happy Golden Retriever smile.

My earliest memories were of my grandparents’ cottage on Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. I loved watching the sunlight sparkling across the lake in the morning. This is where I learned how to swim.

Lake, rivers, canals or the ocean – I love the peaceful feeling you get when you are near the water. When I was a kid and we took family road trips, my mom would always tell us to wake her up from a nap if we passed a lake. I must get that love from her.

I love to travel but packing causes me great anxiety. I’ve scoured Pinterest for tips on packing light. We try to travel with only carry on luggage so I only want to bring what I really need. My favourite method is the 5-4-3-2-1 method where you pack 5 tops, 4 bottoms, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 cute scarves and a versatile dress.

I have a Longchamp “Le Pilage” Expandable Travel Bag that I use as my personal item (zipped up it fits under my seat) and I also have the Longchamp Small Pilage Neo that I keep packed until I get to my destination and use as my purse. It’s lightweight and easy to carry all day, plus my camera fits in nicely!!

We used to take beach vacations with the boys but now John and I travel quite a bit on our own. We have a long list of cities and countries to visit. Some of our favourite international cities are Dublin, Paris and most recently Berlin.

I developed a love of street photography while on our first trip to Paris. I wanted to capture the essence of the city without just having my husband standing in front of a landmark. I used to carry my full frame DSLR with me but now I have lightened my load and have gone mirrorless when I travel.

I am shooting with the Olympus OM-D EM-1 and the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens. This is a micro 4/3 system so the lens has the equivalent focal length of a 24-80mm lens on a full frame camera. Its small size makes and tilt touch screen make it very discreet for street photography.

Music has been a big part of my life from when I was a very young child. I always have music on in the house and in the car. Going to concerts is still something I love to do especially with my eldest son, Cam. I have always loved the live aspect of music whether it’s in a small club or an arena. It’s a multi-sensory experience from the sounds to the lights.

My photographic fantasy gig is to be a concert photographer, in the pit for my allotted three songs armed with two camera bodies, one with a 24-70 and the other with a 70-200 capturing Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters thrashing it out on stage. Until that day comes, I have to be content shooting from the crowds with whatever gear I am brave enough to bring in with me.

It’s usually the Fuji X100T, with it’s fixed focal length lens. I still can capture unique images of the shows that incorporate more of the environment and how it felt to be there.

Read all of Our Favorite Things series here.