Macs, Erin, Lisa. . . and a job offer?!

Been a while, eh?

My life goes on crazy turns sometimes. (Don't all of ours?) Unbelievably enough, I'm without my new laptop now. It's definitely not me, but something that was wrong before I even received the new computer. On start-up, it takes 5 minutes to load, whereas it should take 20 seconds or around there. It shouldn't take that long. So I took it in to the mac people and they weren't sure what was wrong either, so they sent it into Apple. It was suppose to arrive back for me to pick up this afternoon, but I got a call today in which the guy said "I have bad news, it got lost in transit and we won't have it now till Monday". I think he was surprised of my reaction because I said "that's okay, I'll be in there Monday. I'm just glad you know where it is." I think he expected me to yell at him or something. (It wasn't his fault and really, I was glad it was okay and not lost-lost.) So all week, my laptop has been away. Mac just doesn't appear to like me.

But Mac not liking me is a good thing this week because it's forced me to do other things. Like not blog and not read others' blogs but get myself ready for my big wedding this weekend in Chicago. In Chicago! I haven't had a wedding in Chicago since Johanna's wedding, and I think that's been 2 or 3 years. Jo? This one is at a Frank Lloyd Wright church. A photographer's DREAM. I mean, just look at this place! Just amazing fabulous FAMOUS architecture. Breathtaking. I look forward to the moment of walking into it for the first time. If you have an appreciation for architecture and history, you'll understand my feelings.


(Frank himself!)


We aren't leaving for the wedding until tomorrow morning. Then we're staying up there Saturday night coming back Sunday evening where we'll be meeting ERIN and her hubby, JER, at MY HOUSE! They're visiting us for two days before their drive out east to an outdoor Christian concert. I cannot wait to see my dear Erin again. I can't even explain how neat this is to be able to see her twice in a year's time. I feel very very lucky. :c)

And then when they are on their merry way, we are going to get yet another visitor. Well, visitors, plural! My friends, Lisa and Matt (another graphic designer who will have his mac with him and he and I will talk geeky computer like we tend to do!), along with their 3 children, are coming to stay with us Thursday night. They will be starting their journey from their home in Richmond, Virginia, to good ol' Illinois. They're staying over here till they're off again to a family gathering in Minnesota. Last time I saw them, Maegan was a year old? (Noah, too.) And now they have two more babies, Wils and Mia, whom I've never met and cannot wait to meet these two precious little people. (And we have Maia!) Long story short, I met Lisa 8 years ago on a pregnancy support board (the same place I met Alexis, actually!). It's really neat how God has brought the most amazing people into my life through the Internet. I am quite thankful for the Internet being invented in my lifetime just for those reasons alone. (Corny stuff, but all very true.)

In the meantime, I've been personally struggling a little with something that has been thrown out of left field at me.

Almost a week ago I was asked if I would be interested in teaching art. Yes, TEACHING. At Noah's school. At one point in my life I actually wanted to become a teacher. An art teacher, to be exact. My life, from the beginning, has revolved around art. I remember my favorite gift ever when I was like 8, being a small suitcase filled with child artist's dream --- pens, paper, paint, paint brushes, everything. I can still remember opening it. In college I changed my major to teaching for a day. And then realized that my introverted part of me couldn't handle being in front of people, even kids. So I changed back to graphic art. Now, after having shot zillions of photographs in front of zillions of people, not caring who was looking at me, I tend to wonder if I could actually do it now? I think when you have a passion for something, being introverted or not, it doesn't seem to matter anymore. I love children and love art. But that doesn't mean I can TEACH children. It's a completely different thing. And that is what is holding me back.

I don't have a teaching certificate, but in the private school you don't have to have one. I also would only be teaching 2 or 3 days (I would set my own schedule), for a total of 8 hours all week. I'd be teaching grades kindergarten through 8th grade. The plus to it all is that it's 8 hours and that I can make my own schedule (I could do it all in one day if I wanted or split it into 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 days). And, the classes are extremely small. My largest class would be kindergarten which is 10-15 kids (depending on how many sign up this fall). My smallest would be 8th grade which is about 3 or 4 kids. PERFECT for me.

What's not perfect for me is that I'm not sure what I would do with Maia. I know they would allow me to bring her with me. She loves art, too, so I know I could keep her busy. I don't think she would interrupt what I was doing. If she did, I am sure I could find a place to take her. My friend, Lindsay, already said she could watch her (she is a stay-at-home mom).

The other not-so-perfect thing is the fact, again, that I don't have a teaching certificate, and while that doesn't matter to the principal (he is the one who asked me), it does to me. I don't know how to teach. I don't know curriculum. I wouldn't know where to even begin. And that scares me. I have a lot of sources. My grandmother was a teacher and I kept ALL of her art teaching books when she passed away. I have never even looked at them, but I kept them for whatever reason. (Maybe for this???) And my sister-in-law is a teacher, my dear friend, Katie, is a teacher, my sister-in-law's sister-in-law, Missy, is a teacher, my friend, Leann, is a teacher, and I have a friend who actually is an art teacher at a high school near here. I have so many sources. But again, it would me teaching, not them, and the thought overwhelms me a bit.

The other problem is time. While it's only 8 hours a week, I still have to have time to focus on those 8 hours outside of class. Do I really want to focus on teaching my classes or my photography? Deep down, I want to say photography. That is my passion. I think the absolute hardest thing in all this for me is that 4 of the other teachers have found out about this and are really encouraging me to do it. They think I'm a "perfect fit". They say I'll love it. One even told me that she thinks I'm being called by God because she knows my background, she knows how I have all these teaching books at home, etc. and I came around right at the perfect time of them needing an art teacher. That makes it hard. It's a lot of pressure when they all are so excited but when I just am not sure I can be excited with them.

The day after I was asked this, I read this piece of scripture in a devotional book I read:

"Measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you . . . God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best."

-- Romans 12:3, 6-8, CEV

That scripture spoke volumes to me; that I'm probably doing something right by following my passion. But I'm not sure about teaching.

Then I read this, too.

"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

-- John Wooden

It's hard and I have to think and pray about it a lot more. Pray for me, please, too, if you remember to.

Passion is where passion is born.

I have came along way from being 8-years old working hard at my first job on the farm in the bean fields. I still can't believe it some days that I am a photographer in a business that is solely mine.

While in Oklahoma a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet my newest niece right after she was born in the hospital before her first bath. And when she was brought home, I had so many fabulous opportunities to take photographs of the sweet pea.

And then when back home, I had the fun opportunity to design her birth announcement. Every single step of the process so fun and rewarding.

I am so blessed to have this job. It just kind of flows in my life. I think that's when you know it's what you were meant to do. Like it's something that has always been there but I didn't know I could actually make money doing. Who would ever imagine you could make money doing the thing you love to do most?! I think this holds true deep in everyones hearts. It's when you discover that your passion can turn into something bigger that you know you are living the life God created you to live.



There can't be many more exciting and more rewarding jobs out there than what I do, but I guess when what you do is your passion, you do think that there can't be anything better out there, right?! What a great feeling to know that what you are doing is what you were born to do.

Thank goodness walking beans wasn't the lifelong plan for me. I definitely would have the best tan out of anyone else, but I'd also be the dirtiest and probably the grumpiest. Farm life was amazing and one of the best experiences I have ever had, but I am so so thankful that I was made to be a photographer. Living and working on the farm taught me so many life long lessons, however. Ones that helped mold me into the person and photographer I am today. I just know I wouldn't have had such strong determination and passion if I hadn't walked beans and if I hadn't seen how passionate my dad was for his job as a farmer . . . one of the hardest jobs on our planet. I thank him for showing me what determination and will looks like.



So tell me . . . how could a job be any better when you get to see this?! It really is hardly a job at all sometimes . . .

I know, she's pretty darn cute, isn't she?? Newborn hair, newborn yawns, newborn skin, newborn smell . . . so precious and such a gift. A true gift from God.



Welp, back to doing the CHORE I like doing most . . . vacuuming.

My gorgeous subject named Erin

I can't not share these with you. A teeny tiny peek into pictures I shot of Erin. See, this is the sort of thing you get if you come visit me. A free sitting, with images on a CD. Tell me it can't get any better than that?! We had fun and she wasn't sure she was going to look good, but I kept telling her she was because what I was seeing was a beautiful girl. (Seriously, she is gorgeous! You should see her lips in person! And her hair . . . I could go on and on.) So, here's 2 of the many. Isn't she the prettiest?!


We had so much fun. Remember to check out the Halloween pictures below. She was a wench, I was a witch, and we are just the cutest together. No joke. Nothing cuter than us. :c)

A photographer's dream. Well, mine, anyway.

I just have to tell you guys something that I am really really really excited about. As a photographer, I am just so excited about this. So much so. Yep, really really really excited ;c)

My very good friend, Leann, is a doula. And a mighty fine one, too. She is DONA certified as well as certified as a child birth educator on top of her already having a masters degree in education. She is one mighty cool gal.

We both live in this small town together now. We really really feel a pull now for us to bring our passions together. And I think what I am about to tell you is one of them. One day I really think we'll join forces, and I think this is just the beginning of that journey. I. Am. So. Excited.

I am pretty much "on call" for the month of August and then later in this year also because . . . drum roll . . . I GET TO PHOTOGRAPH TWO BIRTHS!

This is a DREAM come true and a huge gift from God above because there is nothing, nothing, more powerful and amazing on this earth than a baby being born. And I get to photograph it. Wow. It makes tears form in the corner of my eyes.

I think the thought of this makes me all emotional because 1) I didn't get to have either of my births photographed at all. (I had a photographer "on call" but the way things happened, it just couldn't happen. Ah well.) Nothing about them was photographed except for the moment I got to see Noah 2 hours after his birth and then holding Maia for the first time 2 DAYS after her birth. That was hard. And beside the point. Well, kinda. I feel this is a gift given to me to fill the void which I never had.

And 2) To be a part of a birth just amazes me so much. I can't wait to celebrate these new lives. I can't wait to PHOTOGRAPH these little human lives making their way into their mommies arms . .. into this big big world. Wow. Hopefully I will be able to shoot with all the tears running down my face. Who knows, maybe my super photographer powers will erupt and I won't feel the urge to cry and I can hold it all in till it's all over. I doubt that will happen, but we shall see. I am hoping I won't disappoint myself.

Anyway, is this not the coolest thing EVER?! I mean, really. Come on, what is more spectacular than that?

Thursday I think I'm going to shoot some maternity pictures of Lindsey, who is one of the mothers. I have met L but never met the other mother. And this other mother . . . I can't wait to meet her. She is having a WATER BIRTH. Talk about amazing. I've seen pictures, but have never seen it with my own eyes. I know it's going to be something very special.

So stayed tuned. I hope to be talking about these births in the near future and then I hope to be able to talk about other births and just where all this will be taking me. I pray this leads me and Leann on a new great adventure. And I think it will. I already feel like it's starting.

The "why will my photo cds go bad over time?" mystery.

I know it's been weeks and weeks since I posted about archiving your photos. I said I would post the next day the continuation and that just didn't get done. Sorry. Anyhow, I hope today is as good a day as any :c)

So to continue, yes, probably most of the cd's that you archive your photos onto will go bad. Yep, it's true (I've had it happen!), which is why I wanted to tell you about it.

It is scary to think that the majority of people these days take pictures but never actually print any of them. Most of the time the majority of us, who use digital cameras, do this. And many times this is all we do; download the pictures to our hard drive, archive them to a cd, then delete the ones from the hard drive making room for more, but hardly ever do we put them onto an external hard drive or archive them the way we should.

If you buy cd+-r (or dvds) for archiving your pictures, you better rethink it. They will go bad. I'm not just saying it. They really will.

Many manufacturers say that their cds will last 40+ years, but it's not true. Tests have been done that show that they only last an average of 2 years. Of course we will probably read and keep reading varying reports, but from my own research, I keep seeing around 2 years. That scares me. The thought of not being able to pass my children's baby pictures down to them and their families because of something I did the wrong way (and could have easily done right) is really frightening.

You can read numerous reports here, here, here and here. Oh, and here.

I won't go into depth because you can read those articles, but bottom line is, the materials the cds are made from will deteriorate making your pictures inaccessible. The chemicals that the cds are made of will eventually break down. Who wants that to happen? Even more, who wants to risk that happening?

The solution: buy archival gold cds. Yes, they are expensive (around $42 for 25), but they are worth it. They are proven to last more than 300 years because they are made with 24K gold instead of silver, which stops degradation from oxidation (the CD rot). I highly (did I say highly?) recommend getting them. To me, just like the external hard drive, they are 110% worth every penny. Pictures, to me, are worth a thousand words plus so much more . . .

I haven't found the gold cds in many retail stores (yet). I am sure eventually I will as they gain popularity. But you can find them at numerous places online: light impressions (one of my favorites), delkin, mac mall (another fave), my digital discount, print file (a great one for archival anything), and encore data.

Here are a few things you can do to possibly keep your silver cds living longer (even though I still wouldn't rely on them personally):

*store them vertically in a protective case
* do NOT write on them with a permanent marker. Use a felt-tipped water-based pen. Solvent-based are no-no's and will destroy your cds even quicker.
* buy only branded cds. Don't try and save money with an unbranded cd because in many cases you will be disappointed with cd failure. This, again, has been proven over and over. Use only branded cds. To identify them, they just need to have the brand on the outside of the cd.
* do not use any sort of labels or tape. The solvents in these will slowly destroy your data. (I recommend using the white cd envelopes with the clear window in them. I find them at Office Depot and places like that.)
* store them in dark places out of sunlight (these things will break your cds down quicker as well: high temperatures, humidity, light exposure, mechanical stress, chemical exposure and air quality)
* use a good quality burner and do not burn cds at fast speeds like 52x. Even slow burning can cause problems with the images after time. Stay in the middle at 12-16x.
* and finally, do not not not buy cds that say "CD-RW". This means it's a rewritable cd which can be the worst quality cd ever. I always buy "CD-R" or "DVD-R". I actually burn most of my personal images these days on DVD's because I can store so many more images, especially high jpeg, tiff or RAW image files.

My last few words:

if you can't go the gold cd route, go the DVD route for burning your photos. While they will probably break down over time, too, they are sealed with a thin plastic, unlike cds, so your photos will at least last longer with dvds than cds. And if you can't even do the dvd route, PRINT OUT YOUR PICTURES. Better yet, go ahead and do that anyway! You'll thank me later :c)

I've been featured at HOW!

Look!! I've been featured at Doris Chua's
Home Office Women blog!
Is this not the neatest?!

If you visit, make sure you leave a comment at the site, too! :c)

Farm shoot

I had a great opportunity last May to do a shoot on a farmer's farm, taking shots of him planting during planting season. Farmer "TM", I'll call him, takes great pride in his farm and in his tractors.

I really enjoyed that morning getting to do this. I got to ride out with his "hired help" on a truck in the middle of his field and take a roll of pictures from the back of the truck, and while it was windy and dirty and not a very girly thing for me to do . . . I truly loved it. The smell of dirt brought back so many memories of living on the farm I grew up on. The John Deeres made me smile because that was what my dad, uncle and grandpa used very loyally . . . never anything else. It made me really miss that life *tears* but I felt completely honored to have the opportunity. How many other photographers would have appreciated that like I did?

So TM, he had this vision of a panoramic photo with the entire picture desaturated with the John Deere still in color. He wanted the "arm" on the planter to be coming out at a certain direction and he wanted the tractor at just a certain spot. He knew what he want and I loved that! It made me see how much pride he took in his job and his machinery. I think all farmers do!

So here is the final piece. I hadn't seen it since it was framed, so TM's wife sent me a picture of it just today. The picture is 3-1/2 feet wide and was placed above their couch. This was a bit harder for me than what it normally would have been because I was still using film when I shot this. The process of having film scanned at a very high resolution made it take a lot longer than what it normally does now with the ease of digital photography.

I take pride in this picture now and have a feeling TM and his wife do also.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Wow, I am blessed with an incredible opportunity. I was just notified today that I made it into the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" Program. Let me give you some background info as to what this is.



For some soon-to-be parents, broken hearts and dreams are shattered when told that their baby may have a life-threatening problem. Most of these couples will go through the entire pregnancy knowing that they will not be granted the certainty most parents get with the gift of new life. Some parents won't know about life-threatening issues until after baby is born, while some will know immediately because of a stillborn child forcing the pain to be very raw and imaginable in a blink of an eye . These couples don't think about what outfit they'll bring their baby home in, about upcoming birthday parties, or any of the things we take for granted when we have a healthy child born to us. They think about planning for the very worst because they are told they have to.

It's something I cannot fathom and I know it's not something any of us want to think about, but truth is, it happens. It has happened to one of my best friends, Alexis. And because of her, I sought out this organization and was put on a list as a possible professional photographer volunteer who would volunteer time (free) to take portraits of these babies.

Photographs are something most parents don't think about, but Alexis said she would give anything to have had pictures like these taken of Allison. She wished she had had that beautiful opportunity and I wish I had had the opportunity to do this for her because I would have done it in a heartbeat. But I wasn't in photography yet and I honestly the thought of doing something such as this never crossed my mind. With that said, I knew right then when Alexis told me these things, that I had made the right choice to put in my name as a possible volunteer (I had done it before she even said anything to me), and just today I found out that I made it in.
This is Alexis's sweet Allison. I actually did have the opportunity to take this one picture before her final heart surgery, and before she became an angel. No one ever wants to think about the possibility of their child not making it through, but you have to, which is where I would, passionately and sensitively, come in.
Thinking of you, Alli, as your birthday approaches us . . . we'll be celebrating you.

While it's not something to be in jubilation about, it is something that I am very proud to now be a part of. I am good friends with my OB-GYN's nurse practioner and I plan to tell her about this and see if I can have a hand out for Dr. M's clients just in case, God forbid, they need me. And one of my dear friends is a doula, also knows my OB and NP, among other doctors, and so already I will have a connection with some OB's and hospitals here in central Illinois. I just feel so blessed that I now have this opportunity to bring such a vital service to families in search of healing and peace.

This is NILMDTS's mission:

Parents through out the world experience heartache and grief every day due to the death of a baby. This heartache can happen to anyone one of us. Through our experience, being able to introduce this art form of photography to parents suffering this grief will help them in their healing process. We want to bring awareness to parents and caregivers everywhere to this method of healing. We aim to bring parents together with professional photographers that are volunteering their time and services to helping parents create these heirloom memories of their time together as a family. Our goal is to ultimately be able to present Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep to families through out this nation. NILMDTS also aims to educate other photographers to the sensitivity and compassion of this topic.

You can find me at their website under "find a photographer".

One last word from me. . .
I dedicate my future service (and this blog entry) to my friends who have lost infant children . . . Alexis (angel Allison), Whitney (angel George), Amanda (angel Lochie), Karen (angel Luke), Ronna (angel Luke), Reva (angel Ryan), and I apologize if I forgot anyone else . . . please let me know. xo Love you all.

Personal digital photo accomplishment!

I got something huge off my shoulders this weekend.

I am really bad at downloading personal pictures and then doing nothing with them. When we had Noah, I started off really well downloading and then ordering pictures through Snapfish. Once Maia came along, I started to slack. Granted, I was doubly busier, but I still shouldn't have slacked so much. I don't have a single print from my small digital camera (yes, this is coming from me, a professional photographer! . . . eek!) of Maia except for a few from the day she was born - she is almost 18 months old now - how embarrassing.

So this weekend I spent about 10 hours (yes, 10 hours!!) going through all the pictures over the past 18 months (about 2500!), sorting them on my computers ("computers" - plural - I learned something right there - to not download some on one computer and then some others on another computer - it makes for huge huge disorganization and lots and lots of stress!), deleting ones I had doubles of, downloading them onto disks, and then uploading them into Snapfish. Man was that a chore!!

I still have to order the prints (only a thousand, that's all - yikes), but I figure I'll order about 100 or so a week and do it slowly over time to save moolah. Once I finally catch up, my new plan will be the following:

(This is not just a list, but a lesson learned, not just for me, but for you, too!)

1) Download only onto one computer - still not sure if my laptop or desktop makes more sense, but I'll figure that out when the time comes.
2) Download into only one program (I had pictures scattered between 3 different photo programs on 2 computers - major unnecessary hassle and stress!)
3) The very same day I will upload to Snapfish and ORDER
4) Make a folder in my photo program of the date, so that when I have enough pictures to fill up a disk, I can know what I am saving and do it in a fashionable simpler manner!

Now I have to work on an organization route for when I receive the pictures back in the mail. That's another 10+ hour day, I'm sure, and another post that hopefully I can share within the year, and maybe that organization will entail actually putting them into albums? And I don't mean scrapbook them - I have learned there's no possible way for me to scrapbook because I am such a tedious person when it comes to my creative works, so I have to go the simple stress-free and inexpensive route: open the album, slide in and presto -- done! I cannot believe I just admitted all my downfalls that pertain to my personal photographs. It's kinda embarrassing. But I can truly say I am organized when it comes to my clients - I have to be.

So now, does anyone have any photography organization skills that you would like to share? I would love love love to hear!

A new VWC gig?

Something exciting to share. I was contacted by the owner of Fanci-Free, after ordering products and posting about them here, to possibly do some promotional photography work for them! The owner said she tries to do as much work as possible with other women entrepreneurs! How cool is that?! It's amazing how things just work out so well sometimes. I can't wait for the opportunity. Thank you, Fanci-Free!

By the way, I highly recommend their products. I received mine yesterday and they ROCK. Love them. Oh, and even better . . . they are out of Chicago, so you'd be supporting a more "local" vendor. Check out my blog entry on where to purchase their great mommy items.

Patty's Portraits

I wanted to share a bit about my friend, Patty. She and I were in the same major in school down at SIU - Visual Communication Design it was called - a.k.a. graphic design. We had the best time together and she became a friend for life. I actually don't keep in touch with many from my major (we were a really small major - I think there were about 15 of us) except for she and another girlfriend, Tracy.

Patty stayed at SIU to work on her master's in photography! We were required to take a black & white class with Vis Com, and like myself, she loved it. It inspired her to keep on going, and she did, and as she puts it "is knee deep in her thesis". Her thesis: brides and grooms in unusual circumstances/surroundings.

Patty does amazing work. Each one of her pictures are set up. She puts great thought into each one - the "story", the clothing, the hair, the lighting, everything. While her work and mine are completely opposite (I just shoot things how they are, although I do put some thought into my lighting because, well, you just have to in order to get the perfect result. That is part of photography.), I still love love love her work and fully enjoy it. When I see her pictures I study them and study them. I think to myself "wow, how does she do it?!" Leave it to Patty for being amazing. Here is some of her outstanding work. I know she will be famous some day.



Good luck, Patty, with the next couple months and finishing your thesis!! YOU CAN DO IT YOU CAN DO IT YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Funky Summer 2005

I had yet another flash back in time when I ran across more pictures from the past while "organizing". I took them when I was still shooting film, and they reminded me again, how spontaneous & exciting film photography can be, yet also how much I miss it.

With this film, I used Kodak E-100, which is a slide film. I processed it as negative film, which does a a funky cross-processing to the film. And this kind of look is usually what I get, you just never know! I loved doing this with film and miss it. A friend of mine, Patty, showed me how to do this a few years back. She is a graduate student right now at SIU in photography. She has so many great secrets.

People ask why I am keeping my film camera. For 2 reasons - 1) It was my first "professional" camera and I carry lots of memories with that camera and 2) I can use film in it to create beautifully unusual pictures like these and it's EXCITING because you don't know how they will turn out until you see the prints. I can do this "look" with digital, but it takes a lot more time and it seems like the more time I spend on each picture to perfect and make it look like actual cross-processed film, the worse they look. So E-100 film I love and always will. And hence, my camera will always hold a very special place in my heart.

So, here are my pictures back from the Summer of 2005 when I was preggie with Miss Maia. We took Noah to the park that day in his cute brown wife-beater. We had a really fun afternoon. Ahhh . . . the memories . . . .






,

Showing off.

It's time for me to send you over to my portfolio at VWC. Come see Nolan, Jack, preggie Natalie and her daughter, Bella. Some of these will be put up later today, tomorrrow, whenever I get it done. Anyway, come take a peak.

My Princess

Ok, one more and then I'm crashing for the night. I haven't felt all that spiffy today. I think there is something going around and I must be well for this weekend . . . Alexis is coming to visit!! I absolutely cannot wait. Anyway, speaking of her, this picture was taken at her house back in July, when Alexis still lived here (sob!). My Maia Lizzy. Isn't she a doll baby? (I know I am biased, but still . . . )

Saturday Shots

I've added all kinds of pics to my photography homepage, VWC Photography. Come on over when you have a sec!

revised!

"Valerie Photography"

Just for fun I googled "Valerie Photography" and here are some sites that came up - some very creative, fun and unique fellow photographers! Thought I'd link'em.

Valerie Pyke Photography
Valerie Fischel Photography
Valerie Cochran
Val Burton Photography
Valerie Pedersen Photography
Valerie Simmons
Valerie Fleming
Valerie O'Sullivan
Valeri Hoffman
Valerie Yong Ock Kim
Valerie Baron Photography
Valerie Santagto
Valerie Benvenuti Photography

There are a lot of us "Valeries" out there with love & passion for the same thing. So very cool. My favorite, however, is still, kid you not, this one and this one.

And I came across another Valerie & Neil, married in Italy. I only wish I could say that is me! Take a look under "wedding galleries" - I believe "we" are the first gallery there. (hehe)

Who me? Sharing pictures?

Sharing some recent pictures at VWC.

Visions of Val

I take zillions of pictures on my point-and-shoot camera. I wish I took more on my D200 but I'm afraid of taking it every place I go like I do my small digital point-and-shoot. So I decided to find a good place to really showcase my personal photography work - not just that of VWC Photography but of the "work" I do personally almost every day! - my kids, my animals, my friends, my environment - so I can display my creative side more often in a simple (easy to navigate, easy to use) and enjoyable way. I've set up a webpage at smugmug.com called "Visions of Val". My first album is an experiement since I was not sure where I was going. The future albums that I display I hope to contain work never seen by you or anyone else (sometimes I haven't even seen them and if it's been a while I hear myself saying "oh, wow, I don't remember this one!" a lot). All of my most favorite photographs are trapped on CD's in folders and in need to get out. So, check back when you can because I hope to update as often as possible. Until then, here's my first album . . . enjoy.

Oh, and I think you need a password to view this one. It's "0703". Merry Christmas!!

Hannah

Hannah Bana Bo Bana . . . isn't she gorgeous?

She is Jamie's daughter. (Enjoy the picture, Jamie!)

Can we just go back to simple negatives?

Time for a digital photography vent. I am so stressed out at the moment! Bear with me!

I have to say, digital has NOT been a walk in the park. The taking of the pictures has been simple (that part isn't hard for me - I look forward to, and really love, that part!), but it's the work flow after that has been kicking my butt! As I sit here now, I am downloading an event to the web for the THIRD time. It's so frustrating. I should only have to do it once. But that's how you catch on, right? You live and learn and learn again! (Or I should say you live, make mistakes, make more mistakes, and then make one more mistake and hope your client doesn't wish s/he had never hired you!)

My biggest problem has been figuring out everything after the picture-taking. And it's taken just about every wedding this year for me to do my "living and learning". I really hope I don't get a bad reputation after this year. It is just so hard. I thought "going digital" would mean less work, but so far it hasn't. It is hard. And I went to college for what I am doing now. I still am completely lost sometimes! Now I know why some photographers are even more lost than I am, and, have terrible output because they don't know how to do their workflow right. I cannot imagine taking all this on and know absolutely nothing about computers or Photoshop!

One of the hardest things for me, I think, is getting into this so late in the game. I'm the last one in town to have "gone digital" and so I feel so behind. I feel like such a newbie and really I'm not. I went to school to do what I'm doing in my workflow, but the rate I'm going, you would never know it. Everything that I've dove into with digital photography is still changing and will be changing; over and over and over.

Photoshop, for one, is never ending. It's a program that you can never learn in full because there is always something more to learn. One thing always leads to other things in the program so it's easy to either feel like you aren't doing enough to make your photo work or else you have done too much.

And then the digital world as a whole is changing so rapidly all the time, that I don't really think anyone will ever be where they really want to be. There will always be better cameras coming out, there will always be better Photoshop versions, there will always be better digital storage, there will always be better printers, there will always be new tricks of the trade. It's because of all of these things that I actually wonder if I made the right decision? I am just not one to compete for all this and so I'm afraid I'm going to get lost in the jumble.

With negative film you just took the picture, printed over and over from the original negatives and your customer had to be happy with that. Now it's never ending as to what you can do, so pretty soon the client is never going to be happy because they are always expecting more.

While the average consumer believes digital photography has become the answer we were all looking for, I myself, sometimes wonder. It has definitely opened up great new avenues and I really love getting to do what I do to my photos. It's really fun and I can get as creative as I want with each wedding that I do. But I question whether it's really all that worth it when it's so darn stressful? You have to go through so many steps just to get to that final finished print. While it's so great to have all the things we've got now with having digital photography, tonight I am starting to wonder if it is possible to go back to simplicity? (Doesn't simplicity usually mean less stress? Why wouldn't all photographers want this?)

Bottom line is this: I love photography. It's my life and I really think it's what I was born to do. I just have to suck it up that negative film is out, digital is in and that I have made the switch and so I need to stay where I am. Unfortunately, film is going out the door. Soon there will be nothing but digital. So I have to stick with it because trying to be the "different one" in the photography world is not going to fly anymore. Digital is here to stay. It definitely doesn't mean I have to like it, though.

Ok, vent over.