*This year I am participating personal project with a group of amazing photographers. We created a blog circle where we challenge ourselves creatively and technically throughout 2018. Life From This Lens is a fascinating look at how a group of photographers around the country interpret the same prompt (or theme) each month. Please follow along in the circle and see everyone’s take on the theme each month*

Hellllloooo out there! Are we surviving January?? Not only a new month but a new YEAR! And two new personal projects – I like a good challenge 🙂 Today I want to share the first installment of Life From This Lens, a blog circle that I am so excited to be a part of. There will be a new theme (or prompt) each month. At the end of my post please follow along to the next photographer and see what their interpretation of the theme was. I am so excited to see what these talented gals come up with! You can also follow along on IG my following the hashtag #lifefromthislens (btw – do we follow each other?? You can find my IG here)

January’s theme was “wide open aperture”. We challenged ourselves to shoot with our apertures open as wide as we could, which results in a very narrow depth of field. Basically, the wider open your aperture the less will be in focus. My Sigma 35mm is my work horse. I love it for lifestyle newborn sessions, for shooting my every day around the house, and for wide view family sessions outside. It is on my camera 80% of the time. The lens has the capability to open up to f/1.4 – which is a VERY narrow depth of field. The few times that I have opened it up that far usually ended in missed focus and disappointment. My sweet spot is anywhere from f2 – f/2.8 no matter what lens I am using, so I never really felt the need to challenge myself. Thank goodness for this project. I forced myself to use my 35mm as much as I could this month, and to leave it on f/1.4 – it didn’t budge all month. And I have to say…I am now in love with shooting at f/1.4 🙂

Are you still with me?? If you’ve followed along this far, THANK YOU 🙂 Pretty images are coming soon, I promise!

I would love for you to visit Kelly, from Kelly Beth Photography, next in the blog circle! Her work is so beautiful, I can’t wait for you to see her images! You can visit her blog post HERE.

All images below were made with my Canon 6D and Sigma 35mm f/1.4