Quote to Live By

"Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God."

This is a principle from "The Artist's Way" by Joanne Cameron. I love it!!!!

Ups and Downs of Photography

I need to put Barb on a payroll. All of my photography gigs seem to be coming from her.

Christina wanted portraits of her two older children and her new baby. Right up until the shoot, I was dreading it, and was so tempted to call and cancel. Why? Because my tools are for crap, leaving me with very little control over the situation:

• I only have about 6 feet of white background paper now, and it was turn and punctured by the high-heels from the Senior Portraits.
• I had no idea what the lighting would be in her house, and my strobe is unreliable and floppy, and my on-camera flash can often overwhelm.
• My laptop can barely get Photoshop to function, so doing my clean up takes hours and hours and hours.

I taped up the holes as best as I could, resolving myself that it would require additional Photoshop time (ugh!) to smooth out the background. Thank goodness they were kids. Had they been any taller, of if I had needed them to stand up, my backdrop wouldn't have been big enough.

I NEED to get a white, canvas backdrop. I go through the paper so fast, and the big roll is so awkward and heavy.

I worked through the lighting issue by bouncing my on-camera flash against a piece of white cardboard. That worked well. I still needed to brighten my images in Photoshop a bit, but at least the eyes had catch lights, so that pleased me.

Honestly, I need to invest money in this. I need to get a job so I can take out a small business loan and have guaranteed cash to make the loan payments. If I'm going to continue with this, I must have reliable equipment. Good, trust worthy equipment that is lightweight, since I will probably never have a studio, and will always need to travel to my customers.

And I need to raise my rates and feel more confident in what I do. I put in roughly 20 hours editing the photos from this shoot. Which means, for my $50/hr, I am earning $2/hr. Ridiculous. If my equipment was better, the Photoshopping would take less time, but unless I raise my rates, I can't afford the new equipment.....or even maintain it.

Also, I need to stick to my rules. Fees are due at the time of the shoot. But, Christina didn't offer to pay me, and I didn't bring it up. It made me too uncomfortable. Why??????

Also, Christina was saying that she wanted customized baby announcements, and I found myself volunteering to create these for her, with no mention of an extra charge. Why did I do this? Because, I don't feel that what I do has any real value, that's why. And if I don't believe, why should my customers believe it?

Yes, I'd be happy to create a customized announcement. But I shouldn't have to do it for free. I need to charge per hour for that service, just like my photography. I've got to get it through my head, and stop apologizing to my customers for my fees.....which are the lowest in the Des Moines area, for heaven's sake!!!!

Either I need to do this right, or quit torturing myself with it.

By the way, I was VERY pleased with how the photos turned out.

Bahamas Remembered - Pre Cruise

Ah, Bahamas....I remember you well.

And why wouldn't I? I've done a thorough job of scrapbooking every single minute of that fantastic holiday. My husband would undoubtedly say I went overboard to create over 100 layouts. But, I see it differently. My experience was made of a million tiny, marvelous little moments. It was the combination of these single, seemingly inconsequential delights that combined to make a fun vacation FANTASTIC.

The design for my digital album was inspired by Rhonna Farrer's Magnifico Mexico layout on page 10 of Designing with Digital by Autumn Leaves. The graphic design, deliberate rough edges, and muted colors absolutely appealed to me, and I felt it would be the perfect frame to offset the rich jewel colors of the Bahamas.
Since each day of the cruise was spent at a different Port of Call, so I created chapters for each day of the cruise. It was a system that worked well for me, allowing me to break the massive project into smaller, more manageable bites (bytes? Hee hee). I must say, digital scrapbooking projects are so much easier for me than paper scrapbooking ever was. The photos are already in order, with the dates recorded in the history. No sorting, no shuffeling, no misplacing pictures only to discover it....too late!!!....later. The tedious (but fun) process of page design assimilation is done once.....and then used and reused over and over, with subtle variations for visual interest. In other words, the work is removed, and all that's left is the memories and the fun.

And now....for my Bahamas Cruise scrapbook album.

Photography in the Blinding Sun

Sigh.

It's always extremes with my photography, it seems. Either I'm struggling to catch a wedding bouquet in mid-flight during a dimly-lit reception, or I'm called to take outside portraits in the blinding glare of midday.

Generally I try to dissuade patrons from midday outdoor pics, but that's not always possible. Today, I was helping my good friend, Sarah Hobart, by photographing the cast for her current play. I don't have good lighting for indoors (Wish List!), and we needed to coordinate the outside pics with the existing rehearsal scheduling. So, outdoors at midday we went.

I would love to have one of those huge mesh screens to set up between the subject and the sun. It would be the solution to this problem....yet one more item on my "wish" list. I've read that you should try to position the subject in the shade, and I've come to the conclusion that that is a frustratingly unsatisfactory solution. I dislike the wierd shadows that show up on the face more than I do the strong light contrast. Using my flash did help a bit, but I strongly suspect that my flash only fires about 80% of the time.

I could kick myself. I never once looked at my ISO setting. That was an idiotic, inexcusable mistake. I think my camera only goes down to 100, but that may have helped quite a bit. 50 would have been even better.

Time to reread the text books and learn how to better deal with this situation. It's bound to arise again. Would adjusting the white balance help? I think it unlikely, but I'm not sure. Would shooting in RAW make it easier to correct? I would prefer to shoot it correctly to begin with, but at least it's another option to consider.

Anyway, I was up pretty late last night, make the initial adjustments in Photoshop and creating B&W counterparts. Actually thought to create an action in PS to set the B&Ws the way I like them. I suppose it was faster, but my laptop is so slow, it's hard to see a difference right now. Another item on my "Wish" list. Sigh.

My Reading List

Today was the Grand Opening for the new Des Moines Central Library.

The old, historical library, with its musty hallways and rooms smelling of aging wood, is officially closed. The new building is ultra-modern and fasionably sleek. It was a little crowded for my taste, it being the official opening day, but I look forward to many long hours spent quietly in this building.

Surprisingly, Marshall decided to go with Minao and me. We so rarely have outtings together; it was a pleasant suprise. And afterword, Marshall treated us to lunch at Hu Hot, one of my favorite restaurants, because Minao said he wanted "Noodles!"

At the last minute, I opted not to bring my camera to the library with me. I'm glad of the decision. I don't like carrying my bulky camera bag in cramped quarters. But, in honor of my new hang out, I thought I would dedicate today's entry to my current reading list.

Up until recently, I've always been a fiction lover. However, more and more I have found myself loitering in the non-fiction and reference areas. If you were to look at the list of books I have checked out in the last several months, you would see a long list of:

• Travel (with an emphasis on Ireland)
• Photography reference books, and
• Cook books.

I did pick up one work of fiction, this time, in the form of a book on tape. I'll enjoy listening to this while driving to and from work. Way better than the stupid radio station, and a little something to make driving less tiresome.

I'm excited to find a brand new book on digital photo editing tricks. Not only do I hope to incorporate this new knowledge toward assisting my photography business, but also for improving my scrapbooks.

And cookbooks. What can I say about me and cookbooks? I love them. I sit down and read cookbooks like other people read novels. Which wouldn't be wierd, probably, if I actually cooked. But I don't. I'm not entirely sure if I dislike cooking because my kitchen is so awkward, because my family enjoys a less exploratory palate than myself, or if it's because I'm lazy....but there you go. I rarely cook, because I find the day to day grind of preparing meals to be tedious and unrewarding. So, my love of cookbooks is a mystery to me.

I'm sure I'll return to fiction again some day. But, for the time being, my brain seems to be hungry for new information, not distraction.