For those who are my friends on Facebook, you saw the hilarious video that I posted a few days ago. It was a spoof video about all the funny things that people say to photographers and it was 100% accurate! I watched it at least a dozen times and laughed so hard that tears were rolling down my cheeks. A few of my photography colleagues watched it and said they had the same laugh-out-loud reaction.

{If you haven’t “liked” me on Facebook yet, you can do so by going to my Rachel Eng Photography Facebook page HERE. Once on my Facebook page you can watch the video!}

Seeing that video a few days ago reminded me that for a long time I have wanted to start blogging about the tips and tricks that as a Denver wedding photographer I have learned over the past decade.

Here’s why…..

When I am out in public and I pull my camera out to take photos of my children I can see people trying their hardest not to gawk. I don’t mind though. I mean, we call my camera “the beast” for a reason. It really is massive and draws attention to itself everywhere we go. It always has to be the center of attention.

After a minute of trying to ignore the massive camera I’ll usually get at least one brave soul who comes up to me. Usually the first thing out their mouth is, “Wow! That’s such a nice camera!” After that segue they go for it: massive amounts of questions about cameras and photography.

And I love it!

You see, I’m a camera nerd. I love talking about f-stops, shutter speeds, bokeh, post processing and all that good stuff. Sometimes I get so into talking about it that I don’t realize the person standing next to has the glassed over look in their eyes that tells me they have no idea what I’m saying. Other times I find the rare photography enthusiast who gets it. This is a rare but awesome moment.

I not only get stopped by strangers in public but I also get many frantic emails, texts and phone calls from friends, clients and family as they have a photography or camera emergency. I have opened my home as a Emergency Room to treat SLR cameras who are on their deathbed and have nearly 100% success when I perform my surgical magic on them, fixing their ailments and sending them home in perfect working condition.

So, because it is so far overdue, in order to address all of the many questions that I am always being asked about cameras and photography I will be starting a new “advice column” here on my photography blog.

This new advice column will be called: “Ask The Camera Chick” 

Nice name, eh? You know you like it.

Here is where YOU, my readers, come into play. You get to ask all those questions you’ve wanted answered and I promise to answer as many of them as I can. A friend of mine refers to my “photography secrets” and well, let’s face it, since I’m terrible at keeping secrets I may as well blog about all my photography secrets in a forum where the whole world can read them. Blow up the idea of my secrets all together.

There are several ways that you can ask your camera or photography related questions:

1: Email me at rachel@racheleng.com

2: Use the “contact” form on the upper right of this blog

3: Leave a comment on any of my blog posts

4: Leave a comment on my Rachel Eng Photography Facebook page

5: Get creative. I’m sure you can think of other ways to find me…..bonus points for the strangest way a person contacts me. Please, though, no crawling through my windows. I have an awesome security system and the police station is literally two blocks away so they respond very quickly. I don’t want anyone to end up in jail over this.

Are there rules for these questions? Not really. I would appreciate your name and state of residence so I can pretend that I’m talking directly to you when I respond. If you have a photo of the problem/question email it to me so I can use it as an example in the answer post.

Happy question asking! Can’t wait to hear them!

Thanks to my little sister, Laurie, for taking these photos of me. {I, of course, did the post-processing work….especially taking away the wrinkles under my eyes that have come from nine years of no sleep thanks to my cute little children.}