February Focus

I had this big long depressing post written up about how long and horrid this week has been, but I only managed to depress myself further, so I scrapped that and decided to make some goals for myself this month.. 

1. Survive Photojournalism Class. Ok.To say this class makes me nervous is a HUGE understatement...mainly because we have to work, hard, and fast. One week turn around on most assignments and on top of that a Photo Story/Essay that's due in six weeks. Only school can make a week the shortest amount of time ever. 
2. Continue shooting daily - I did miss one day this week, because well my motivation took a vacation. But I'm pleased that I've kept it up this long.
3. Purchase a car!!!!!! - as I alluded to in previous post, I am in need of a car. Like...NOW. Like as in I don't have a car to drive anymore...and let me tell you this. When I grow up, and get married I WILL NOT (please God?) have more than 4 kids. Driving a 15-Passenger van  (especially at 21) is NOT cool...but what's sad, is that is the ride is so.much.smoother than my dad's car. (sorry dad) So I'm scraping together every little bit of money I can so I can purchase a vehicle. Right now I'm looking at the 2000-2002 Acura TL or the 2003-2005 Mazda6.  I'm going to have to finance this car, so I have to get something I can afford on my meager salary. PRAY!! 
4. Start raising my fifth guide dog puppy - 3 weeks 4 days.....
5. Drink more water, watch calorie intake: Completely failed on that last month, what can I say. Stress. This month will get back on the band wagon, logging what I eat, so I can start moving towards something a little healthier. 
6. Redo Hair. So in case you were wondering...that is all my real hair, and it takes about 3 hours to get flatten into shape. I normally will do it this way in the winter, due to less heat which equals less sweating, which means my hair stays flatter longer. get it? But its starting to fuzzzzzz so I need to make some time pre-puppy to get that taken care of. :-/ 

Other smaller goals include: Being on time for things, being prepared ahead of time, trying to get my homework done before the last minute, continuing to not procrastinate about things that scare me...... #gulps. 

Not a long list but challenging enough I supposed.
How about you? What are some of your goals for this month?

November 12th

When I walked out of the city court building, a few weeks ago, debt free...I tried with all my might not to let the thought..."Ok what NOW" cross my mind. Yet I couldn't shake that nagging feeling something else was going to happen. But I couldn't imagine what. 


I discovered "what" on Wednesday morning of last week, and it turned my life upside down. I think there is a good reason that God doesn't show us the future sometimes,and I know He's been seriously helping me through this extremely trying period of my life. But its still so so hard. 


I've never felt more alone in my life, I've been STRUGGLING to find the good in life good in this situation. Not really because I think this particular situations is "for my good"..but more one of those.. "That's LIfe" things. Finding the good in other situations has been easy, but this one...I have to stop, think, search for it, and then hold onto that little shred of hope with all my might.  Thankfully I have a little shred. However, I haven't had more than four hours of sleep in about a week and a half. The fact that I know what day it is, is big. 


What doesn't kill me will make me stronger. 


Though I'm not too sure this won't kill me. Mentally. Emotionally at least. 


Ugh I hate posting downer posts. 


There was one bright spot to this day. My new flash arrived! Just in time for my job assignment tomorrow! I can't wait to get out and play with it. *happy dance* 

Via

                   

Ode to JPEGs

Today (Sept. 3, 2010) I learned:

• JPEG files are the polaroids of our day, and that we are never to shoot anything with them. 
• My school doesn't have Sony's 50mm 1.4 lens. Which made me really really really sad. 
• When taking portraits of men, always have them tilt their heads towards their lowest shoulder and never holding it high.
• When taking portraits of women, have them put all their weight on one hip and lean forward slightly. Positioning their hips further away from the camera, which makes them LOOK less....um..weighter
• There is no such thing as a non-photogenic person, just a person whose never had a good photo taken of them. 
• I will need to purchase at least six thumb drives/flash drives. Seriously!? That's like $60 in just memory cards!?! I have a couple from last year but I mean.....geez louise! 
• That I like my Photography II and Digital Imaging and Work Flow Instructor....but not so much my studio photography teacher
• I probably won't enjoy studio photography so much. Just sayin.
• Yay for Using Photoshop! 

More on Photography

Are  ya sick of me talking about it yet? :)


Especially as a newbie photographer, I take this photo meme's and a huge opportunity to get out and make myself shoot every single day. Its hard cause I have things to do, or I'm in an office  for 6-8 hours daily. But with my current schedule, I know I'm going to be blowing my cameras up, so I might as well get used to it! Anyway I stumbled across this forum on Jessica Claire's Facebook page, which I thought had some incredible tips. 

1. Understand Lighting - . Learn how to see YOUR best light, the light that defines your images.  Achieving great lighting is the first step to a great photo.
2. Rent Equipment - Advice from Jessica Claire herself:  Don't buy a ton of equipment right away. Rent it until you really understand and figure out what you want. That way you aren't wasting $$ best spent on other things.THanks to my school, I can borrow lens and such from there, which makes me incredibly excited. Yeehaw! I'm big on the "Try before you buy" which is why I have been so hesitant to purchase more lens for my Sony. 
3. Don't compare yourselves to other photographers. - A toughie for sure! But that's words I will make myself live by this semester. 
4. Know Your Camera
5. Shoot A LOT - Advice from Jessica Claire: Shoot a LOT. Shoot every single chance you get. Try to shoot at least 500 images every single day and once you are comfortable shooting objects in all kinds of light, work on moving objects--kids, cats, dogs, anything that moves!
6. Be Yourself - Pick a style. Be confident in it, don't question yourself, it'll show in your post processing.
7. Know When to Edit -Think before you edit... often we get so caught up in the latest preset or action and just run that on a bunch of our photos, or we are excited to try a new way of processing without thinking about the effect on the photo. Watch for what your editing does to the skin of your subjects.

Yesterday, I got a chance to watch a pro photographer shoot a wedding live via the internet. Thanks to my dear friend, and AMAZING photog Abby for tweeting about it! It was amazing, I mean so.freakin.cool. its one thing to hear it in class, and to read it on line, its a completely different world to watch a pro in action.

Jasmine Star Photography  held a FREE online course in shooting weddings. While that's not something I plan to do professionally...um.. seriously do you know all the tips I got just from watching? It was amazing. Thank you Creative Live!!

I started watching around 730pm just as the reception started, and didn't stop until they cut the sound at 11pm (EST..they are in Cali) when the dancing started.  I also jumped back on today and watched as she went through her images individually and talked about what she did to get that shot and how VERY LITTLE she edited them for her clients/herself/magazines.

It was way cool.

Time for me to start saving up for either a Canon EOS 50D or an Sony Alpha a700. Yeah when I upgrade I UPgrade.

And I'll stop there because I have run out of writing steam.

TATA!

=]