Winter Sunlight

I am currently taking the Finding the Light workshop and this past weeks assignment was shooting during the golden hour.  Golden Hour is last 2 hours before the sun sets, where the sun is low and the light is spread out softly across everything.  I really love this time for taking photos - no squinty eyes!  But I usually looked for open shade or waited until the sun was low enough and had subjects face the sun.  Backlighting was kind of scary to me.  This lesson taught different techniques for backlighting, and I got to say that I pretty much LOVE everything about it.  I love the light that gives life to the photos.  It adds an artistic element to the image too.  I can't wait for this winter to be over and done with so that I can practice this some more.  Oh - and a big THANK YOU to my friend and her daughter for braving the cold and letting me practice - I know Joey would not have sat still for me to try this new stuff out.  Also, I realize these are ALL headshots - during a session I don't do only headshots - but I was really concentrating on my camera settings and trying different angles for this first attempt.