Meet This Week's Guest Judge: Nadeen Flynn

This week, Nadeen of Nadeen Flynn Photography shared her eye for the natural world for this week's "weather" theme. Please enjoy her beautiful landscapes and rich macro work as you read a little about her!

Tell us about yourself:

I'm a wife, mother of two grown sons, former elementary school teacher, part-time farmer, lover of exercise, and a hobbyist photographer. My husband and I own a young walnut orchard and have
common interests in wine, food, excursions, and photography. We live in both TX (for my husband's job) and CA (the location of our orchard). I don't like to cook. At all. But I do. Everyday.

What ignited your passion for photography? What fuels it now?

Oh, how I wish the photography bug would have bitten me when my kids were little. You cannot
imagine how many horribly exposed, out-of-focus pictures I have from their childhoods. My
photography obsession began a little bit differently from most. Although I always had a little point and shoot camera as a kid and young adult, my sister was the photographer in our family. When she lost her battle with breast cancer, I took over that role. But, yes, I was still making bad images with a point and shoot or my phone. Then a friend invited me to a one-day workshop sponsored by Canon. With a borrowed 40D, I spent the morning learning about the exposure triangle and spent the afternoon shooting at the beach. I was hooked! I was then on a quest to learn all I could; a quest that continues today. My goal is to continue to improve and evolve as a photographer. Each day provides an opportunity to do just that. I'm hoping someday to merge the role of photographer with that of teacher.

What's in your camera bag?

Happily, my camera bag is becoming very full! I shoot with a Canon 5d miii body. My lenses
include: 24-105L, 100L macro, 70-200L, 50 Sigma Art, Lensbaby Sweet 35 and Edge 80. I also have access to my husband's lenses. I just received a speedlight, so that is next to learn. You will also find remotes, cleaning cloths, graduated filters, my camera manual, fingerless gloves, and a drop cloth for laying my bag on (or myself) if the location in which I'm shooting is wet or sandy. I probably use my 100L most often. Not only is it a fantastic macro lens, it is great for shooting at varying distances. I've even used it for portraits.

What is your dream project?

Oh! My dream project would be to shadow some of my favorite photographers, one a month, for a
year while soaking up all their knowledge and learning to SEE what they SEE! You did say dream!

What are the biggest challenges you face as a photographer?

The biggest challenges I face as a photographer are maintaining confidence in my work and finding
ways to continue to push forward, to see and create differently than I did the day before. I'm just
beginning my third consecutive 365. I have a bit of angst about it this time around. It's not easy
shooting daily and I won't allow myself to skip. In the past, it has been those days that I just didn't
know what or how I was going to shoot that have ended up providing some of my most favorite
images.

If you had $500 to spend on photography...

I'd use it toward an on-location workshop. I
really want to shoot in the Palouse area of Washington and have been considering a three day workshop there. But, a workshop requiring travel is very spendy!

What advice do you wish you had been given when you started your photography journey?

Oh, gosh, there are probably dozens of answers to this, but the question is, would I have really heard what they were saying? I was so obsessed at the beginning of this journey (Some people may say I still am!), I don't think I would have really gotten the message whatever it was.