Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Not-Forgotten Photography Blog


So I did it. I became that blogger that starts a blog with fervor and then lets life get in the way and allows their newfound blog to be forgotten. I have, however, been actively working on pursuing my photography goals despite neglecting my blog.


My last blog post alluded to a not-so-great photo shoot. I spent time (A LOT OF TIME) correcting and re-doing shots so as to assure the family had photographs that they were proud to share with their family for Christmas. I refuse to hand over photographs that I am "halfway sorta kinda ok" with sending out. This experience tested my love (and to be quite frank, my patience with photography). In the throws of painstakingly photoshopping out a cone-shaped winter hat that the client HATED, redoing prints (man oh man did I learn ALOT about color management, ICC profiles and RGB Values), downloading programs to use with professional printers and stressing about perfection I found myself NOT loving this photography gig at all. I had to take a few steps back - why did I start this in the first place? I was starting to feel stressed and crazy and frustrated. I considered why I was beginning to feel this way and realized I was starting to head down a path that wasn't my own. I found myself relishing in the affections other people had for my photographs and not creating them on my own terms. I started getting so excited about the response and the word-of-mouth over the photographs that I started feeling rushed and hurried to open shop and just do it FOR OTHER PEOPLE. But, I am not the type of person to work with other people's times schedules and desires - I needed to just stop. I went back to the books and started my research, learning and practicing my skills. I have only been doing this for 6 months now. I am not professional, I have a lot to learn and that's where my focus needs to be.








The photographs featured in this post are quite hodgepodge. There are a few from my FIRST attempt at photographs in the snow. I learned a lot about how critical white balance is for this type of weather. Many of them turned out pretty grey despite my attempts at adjusting the white balance, but, I did manage to create my first "stop the falling snow" picture!


I promised myself after this photoshoot I would be more diligent about using my 18% grey card (and what a difference it makes!) There are some that were just fun - a snow day out with my boys and a candid shot from Nolan's Birthday. Then there was a trip to the zoo! My sister, Sam, wanted to surprise her sister-in-law for her birthday with pictures of her nephews. It was freezing that day and the zoo personnel were quite anal retentive about my carrying in my small lightbox so I had to shoot on the fly without any fancy equipment and very cold bums... Now that I am learning how to manipulate light a little better it was quite disappointing to take such "flat" shots, but, I think their mom was happy and that's all right with me.




I also decided it was time to start practicing indoor photography (my love is natural light and environmental photography so this is tough, but, I don't want to have to take pause during the cold winter months either). We have a small house that is already brimming with relics of our daily life, but, I was determined to find a space... somewhere. So, I cleaned out my hall closet/entryway and painted the area stark white (and painted my front door shut in the process guess the side door is not the OFFICIAL entryway to the Bailey Household). This space is small, 39" wide and 6 foot long kind of small. My husband came home in the middle of my transforming this area (I decided this on a Sunday night and by Mid-Day Monday I was already halfway finished). He stopped and asked, "What are you doing to the closet?" I said, "Making it a practice studio." And in a nonchalant way he said, "Ok, then" and went about his business. I love him for this. Though he doesn't completely understand my answering the calls of my artistic desires, he understands my creativity is a large part of who I am and would never ask that I sacrifice this part of myself even at the expense of our hall closet and front door! I have shared a few photographs from my first trials with the Mini-Studio and Indoor Lighting Equipment. Indoor lighting is tough... definitely have a lot more work to do.








So, for now, I am leisurely practicing AND saving up for a Shed or Outdoor Garage. I eventually want to move away from the limiting dimensions of my front foyer and move to a big girl studio! And because the sharpness of my photos is a source of frustration for me... I want sharp, clean images - I also have my eyes set on a few new lenses. In the meantime, I will keep practicing with what I have and continue counting down the days until Spring when I can get my camera BACK OUTSIDE!