Our Projects—Sweet 16 Birthday Party

I enjoy photography, but I'm still an amateur who is constantly learning more about camera settings and reading and reacting to lighting. However, every once in a while I am still afforded the opportunity to document special moments in the lives of my friends and family, and having those opportunities always help motivate me to try and be better.

I recently took pictures at a sweet 16 birthday party for the daughter of an old friend. Going into it, the only direction given to me was that these pictures didn't need to be anything special, but just a documentation of the special day. When I got there, I was then told to try and take a picture of each person at the party, which I like to think is a give-in when capturing most special events. I was sure to show up a little earlier than the rest of the guests, so I could get those last minute candid photos of the birthday girl getting ready.

I enjoyed capturing this photograph of the birthday girl as her little sister struggled with her shoes. It reminded me of my little sister and the things little sisters are happy/forced to do! Showing up early also gave me some one-on-one time with the birthday girl to get some posed portraits.

Luckily, it was 5p.m., which during the summertime in California is great for lighting. I quickly took the birthday girl to the front of the house to find some pretty backgrounds to photograph her against, which was a challenge as there weren't many big trees or colorful walls (my favorite things). However, I did find some spots in her front yard that contrasted nicely against her dress, and I was really happy with how they turned out. Next, I wrangled the immediate family to ensure a few group shots before the crowd arrived.

Now that I had gotten all the most important shots, I moved on to getting pictures of the food, decorations and anything else the family spent money on!

Once I had most of that down, I continued to take pictures of all the guests, especially with the birthday girl if possible. When it wasn't, I was sure to walk around, table by table, to get at least one shot of everyone.   

I'm always sure to find out the tentative schedule for the party, that way I don't miss any important action shots. For any birthday party, this is going to be singing "Happy Birthday," which I'm proud that I captured of a picture of her completely embarrassed while everyone was singing. Also, there was a father/daughter dance that I was happy to photograph.

There were many more pictures that I took that didn't make this post. I was at the party for three hours, and I was able to give the family 150 pictures, which was almost a picture a minute!

Did you find any of this helpful? If so, please share more with us in the comments below!