Gawrsh Amy – Thanks! I love getting different perspectives on things and the ground seemed like the perfect place to capture the poms as well as the crowd in the background.

Mitch, you’re very welcome! We all really loved your shot and the interesting perspective. Thanks so much for submitting it to our contest!

The shot is fantastic! Keep up the great work.

Mitch – curious if you got any weird looks when taking this shot in front bleachers filled with people! Were you on the ground or just the camera?

Amy, I’m not sure about weird looks, i wasn’t looking LOL. This particular game happened to be homecoming so there were lots of parents trying to get close to take photos. While everyone was watching the field, i spotted the rows and rows of poms on the ground and couldn’t resist. I really like shooting from the ground. I was kneeling and the camera was on the ground. Yep, it would look weird if i were just lying there so i wasn’t (tho i would in a flash if I’d had time to get ready).

My tip is to practice shooting without looking thru the viewfinder. I take tons of photos where I’m just lining up the lens and snapping away without my eye being anywhere close to the camera. In most cases people don’t suspect you’re shooting so they are more natural. Not every shot is a keeper, but you get some classics that way!

Speaking of shooting without viewfinding (something I first noticed by watching Stephanie from I Speak Film shooting), we were at the fair a week or so ago and while Amy was off with the boy taking photos I was watching the girl playing in a cool playspace with a bunch of kids. In the space was a guy with a couple of Nikons photographing the kids playing. He had a fair employee badge (I know, easy to fake), which made me a little more comfortable, but I noticed that another reason for my comfort was that he wasn’t using his viewfinder at all – he seemed like he was more engaged in what was around him and less… voyeuristic.