I want to grow older with a girl like you...

So it looks like I've been commissioned to write another one of Maggie's guest posts. And, I was actually have supposed to have done this on...Thursday, but all kinds of things, (especially Maggie herself) have gotten in my way, so I'm FINALLY writing this four days late.

Since you probably don't recognize my writing, even though I've guest posted before, I suppose I'll say that this is Niklaas, yes, the boyfriend, and also the one who takes many a picture for Maggie. Since I don't have a whole lot to say, I'm gonna put up some pictures from around town, as well as a few sneak peeks at some of Maggie's future posts.

Before I begin, I feel like I should tell you all about myself. Even though there's been a lot said, you and I have never really been introduced. Let's see... So, I'm a senior in high school, I play soccer and take pictures, I've decided that I way prefer fashion and portraits to any other style, aannnddd....that's probably about it. As far as other things go...I shot most of these pictures on the Canon 40D, if it wasn't on that, I'll let you know. P.S. I'm totally going to photography-nerd-out on these pictures, so bear with me. (If you don't it could get grizzly) (Hahahahaha...)

So this first picture was taken at a wedding that I ended up being drafted to shoot backup pictures at, and this was the one that I absolutely ended up falling in love with. The focusing absolutely wins it, in my opinion. To be honest, I was a lucky duck that any of these wedding pictures ended up turning out, since it was my very, very first day with the the 40D, and since it didn't come with an instruction manual (buy cameras used on Amazon...best. deal. ever.) I had to basically brute force good (read: decent) pictures out of it. Plus, it was super bright that day, so there was terrible, terrible glare coming off this wheat field there was all that to contend with too.

Alright, so I took this next one on the beach in Mexico almost a year ago today. Back when I finally met Maggie (such nostalgia!), but since we were effectively living for a week on a beach, there wasn't a way in HELL I would take any kind of "fancy" camera. But I've got to admit, after using a disposable camera, I actually liked it way more than I thought I would...I absolutely love the romantic qualities that some really hardcore film grain makes pictures, and with some ISO way out there (it must've been in the 1000's) in the cheap, Mexican, disposable camera that I used, I got some awesome, awesome unintended effects.

This one was taken while I was out on a photography "date" with another one of my good friends. We managed to get to the top of our nearby mountain JUST as the sun was going down. The lighting was actually kind of weird, since it was a hazy day, but I suppose things turned out in the end.

So this is a sneak peek, so to speak (rhyme!) though you MAY have seen this a while ago, I don't actually remember, but there it is. This was our first (and only!) indoor shoot, and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! We were using the sketchiest lighting set up ever though (see the next picture!)
 and there definitely wasn't enough light so I was shooting way slow (1/30, 1/40) so a lot of them ended up blurry.

So this is the lighting from that indoor shoot. And yes, it's a tad bit sketchy. The worst part was that bare, incandescent, bulb next to my left arm. That thing heated up to about a million degrees, and when I tried to soften up the light, I ended up setting one of my t-shirts on fire.

This is the last picture...sorry kids! And it, as you (hopefully) guessed isn't of me nor Maggie. This is of a kid who used to go to our high school, and has since graduated. His mom wanted me to get a few pictures of him playing the accordion (long story) and this was the best one I managed to take.

So that's it for now! I hope you enjoyed the guest post, y'all! If you want to see MORE of my pictures, and quite a few more sneak peeks of Maggie, you ought to check out my tumblr.

--Niklaas