Meet This Week's Judge: Yasmina Cowan

This week's guest judge has a gift for finding the most dreamy light. Read more about Yasmina of Yasmina Cowan Photography here!

1. Tell us about yourself...  

My name is Yasmina, but my friends call me Yas! I'm a mother to a beautiful little girl and married to my college sweetheart and love of my life. I'm a lover of sushi, a little bit addicted to Nespresso and a self proclaimed food snob. I come from a big family and I love it. I love to talk, meet mew people and travel. Oh, and I adore photography :) 

2. What ignited your passion for photography, and what fuels it now? 

I've always had a borderline obsession with visual storytelling. I could sit for hours and pore over family albums. I purchased my first SLR in 2009 and the rest is history. Like so many mothers, my daughter is my muse and fuels my passion. I want to capture her childhood and freeze those special moments in time for her to look back on fondly. 

3. What's in your camera bag right now, what do use the most? the least? 

I shoot with a Nikon d700. In my camera bag, I have my 35mm 1.4 which is on my camera 95% of the time. I just adore it. I also carry a  50mm 1.4,  70-200mm 2.8 and 105mm 2.8 which I probably use the least. 

4. What's your dream project or shoot? 

It doesn't take much to make me happy. I just love photographing people. I'd love to venture into documentary photojournalism and travel a bit to do that, but for now I'm happy shooting my family, friends and lovely clients.

5. What is the biggest challenge you face as a photographer?

Balance. I love to shoot, but I also have a business to run which entails a lot of not so fun stuff to keep it going. I love to collaborate in personal projects to continue learning and growth. My family is my number one priority so I also very much value taking time off from all of that to be present in our life as a mom, daughter, wife. I love it all, but the balancing act is something I work on every day and try to improve. 

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

How should you spend it? Investing in advertising and marketing. 

How do you wish you could spend it? An awesome workshop from one of the many on my bucket list. 

How would you really spend it? Film camera and film, one of my goals this year is to embrace film photography. 

7. Is there any one thing you wish someone had told you at the very beginning of your photography journey? 

Shoot what you love and compare yourself only to the photographer you used to be.