A few new things

Here are some images from my new camera that I wanted to share. Not too bad for my first week back at it after 4 years absence from photography I think!

New Camera!

Well, I finally received my new camera! It seemed to take a lot longer than I had anticipated once I placed the order, but all is good now. The manual on it is so long and there are so many features that I fear I'll never understand fully how to use it! Not to mention I am SO rusty in the photography department that I don't know how long it will take me to actually be able to take a decent picture with it. Plus, I only have one lens for the camera right now and no editing software so that will also make it difficult. I'm currently in the process for saving for those.

I'm just hoping that I can overcome the ADD that seems to come out in me when I have to read manuals and with all things technical. It is really important that I get a good understanding of how this camera works and photography in general. I know I have a degree in it, but I don't feel like I learned anywhere near the amount that I should have in order to get that degree. I feel that I have the creativity part under control for the most part, although I could use some improvement in that area as well, but the technical stuff is always what held me back. I have been reading a ton of photo blogs as well as joining an "online digital photography school" which sends all kinds of tips and tutorials to my email. I'm really hoping I can start taking some really good photos again. I'm going to post a few that I took with the new camera but please bear in mind that they are completely unedited and with no real knowledge of how to use the camera! Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures as I go along on my quest for new found photographic knowledge and experience and you can all delight in my advances! :-)

Opportunities?

Hello again. It's been a little while. What's new with me? Well let's see...nothing is happening in the pregnancy department yet. We are on our second month of trying. I don't technically know that I am not pregnant, I just feel that way. We have one more month of trying and then we are going to take a little break because I don't want my child to be born under an astrological sign that is incompatible with me! I know, I'm a crazy person.

I do feel excited, creative, hopeful and positive lately though. I was recently inspired by seeing an old friend from photography school and having her shoot pictures of my daughter. I had pretty much stopped all things photographic for a long time feeling that I was not good enough to ever make any money at it and I that I never learned enough to even try to make any money at it. Also, the fact that my only good camera was a film camera and it was a pain in the butt and expensive to take pictures with it did not help. I am now back on the photography wagon! I am buying a Nikon D5000 which should be getting shipped today or tomorrow and I can't tell you how excited I am to start playing with it!

I definitely need to refresh my skills and do some reading up on the subject of digital photography because I never really learned much about that medium. But I want to start snapping away and playing around too to learn by trial and error. Once I feel that I am in good form again, I am going to start trying to build a portfolio so that I can build a business. I am going to offer free sessions for photo shoots of newborns, children, engagement pictures and so on and then using those, I am hoping to entice someone to let me shoot their wedding so I can then use that in my portfolio so hopefully I can actually get paid for these things.

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way in it just for the money, I just feel that in order to give me a little boost of confidence to feel like I may actually have a knack for photography, a paycheck or at least someone willing to take a chance on me would help. I can't wait to get the camera so I can start snapping pictures and at least be able to set up a facebook page for my photography. A website will have to wait until I am in full blown business mode. The best thing about doing photography as a business is that I can do it on the weekends and in the summer so when I get a teaching job, I can still do this on the side. I'll be able to do two things I love if all works out according to plan!

I used to be deathly afraid to shoot someone's wedding for the simple fact that if you ruin someone's wedding photos, that's it. You're done. I do not want to be responsible for ruining the biggest day of someone's life. However, I think with the digital format, it would go a long way to give me peace of mind because I will be able to take a bunch of pictures and look at them and if they are not right I can do it until I get it right. I won't have to just shoot and hope and pray that they come out right when I get the film developed. I am just hoping that this new camera will greatly improve the quality of my pictures. Now I just need to get adobe Lightroom and I will be all set!

I am very glad that I have this to focus on right now because last month my mind was completely consumed with the whole "I could be pregnant...no I'm not pregnant" argument. This month I am focused on other things so it won't be so devastating this month if I'm not. Which is am 99.8 percent sure that I'm not.

I had my tarot cards read at the renaissance faire yesterday and the lady told me that now is a great time for my career, whether it is starting my own business or working for someone else, I have what it takes to get it done and within 6 months I should see some progress in that department. So, that was uplifting! I hope she's right about that, but wrong about me not having another baby for 3 0r 4 more years! Yikes! I can't wait that long, I'll be too old and tired by then! :-)

What to do, what to do?

Lately I have felt my creative juices start flowing again. It all started with a trip to have my daughter's photos taken. Being there with my friend from college who succeeded in the photography field when I was too afraid to even enter it, got me thinking about how much I actually miss it. I never really even think of it anymore. I was just telling my husband the other day that I never look at things through a camera lens anymore. I never look at something and say, "oh, that would make a cool picture." That kind of saddened me. I took pretty decent photos and I could've gotten a whole lot better if I had just had some more confidence in myself and patience to learn. I learned enough to pass my classes, but nowhere near enough to be able to go out and do it on my own. I should've gone and been an assistant to a photographer after school. I could be out on my own making pretty good money right now. Instead I am almost a hundred grand in debt for college for like 3 different majors.

Right now I would love to be able to make some extra cash to try and pay down my debt, or at least be paying on the interest. I miss having my own paycheck. I miss meeting people at work. However, I absolutely love staying home with my daughter. That's kind of why I wish I could do more photography. If I could do portraits a few times a week on location or something, it would bring in more income and give me the chance to meet people. I need a better camera though and it appears nobody wants to buy 35 mm cameras anymore, so it would take me forever to come up with the money for a nice digital camera. If I could sell the old one that I have plus a bunch of lighting equipment I have, I could put that towards a new digital camera that takes really good pictures. I just requested some digital photography books from the library because even though I have a degree in Photography, very little of it was digital. I think I had two classes on it and since I didn't have a digital camera, I couldn't really learn as much as I should have been able to. Also, I am so out of practice, I need a refresher.

I don't know, I just feel like that is something I can produce that I can see I've accomplished something. I feel like one day just blurs into the next and I haven't really done anything but play with my daughter. Not that I don't love that, but it would be nice to feel a sense of accomplishment in another area of my life. This is what happens when I have two weeks off from school! I go a little mad. In another few days I won't have time to worry about all this I guess. I suppose I'll be accomplishing school work towards my degree, but that is not quite as personally satisfying. I want to do something creative.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you all to death. If anyone even reads this blog. Probably not. Anyway, I'm off to find something to do. Night all.