Encouraging You to Soar

How many of you have dream of having your own photography business but just don’t know how or where to start, or even the confidence to do it for that matter?  Wouldn’t it be great to feel unrestrained from our own fears to take the leap to get us to where we want to be? 

Me Ra Koh, with the support of some awesome sponsors is affording 3 women to soar into their photography dreams by affording them all the necessary tools with a scholarship. The entrance for this scholarship is a 2 minute video made by you.  Watch Me Ra’s video explaining why she’s doing this and everything this scholarship has to offer.  It’s amazing! 

The deadline to enter is December 21^st and the winner will be announced January 1^st. In the meantime, Me Ra’s website is a great place for photo tips and contests and a great resource for any photographer, so be sure to check it out.  We adore her and her work! And to those who decide to apply for the scholarship, good luck to you! 

 Special thanks to Chris Sneddon for sharing this image, post and the good news with us! You rock Chris!

routine & renewal

August and September have proven to be the busiest months of the year for my photography business. I am thrilled to be busy doing what I love and meeting new clients. It's been a constant flow of sessions and I have spent many, many hours in front of my computer editing tons of photos. But suddenly today I realized that I haven't taken any photos for fun in a very long time. I had been finding that after the client sessions were over and the photos had been proofed, what I needed the most was time away from my camera and the computer.

But in the past couple of days, as I drive around, things are starting to catch my eye again. A beautiful golden field spotted with giant hay bails against a blue sky begs to be photographed and I tell myself to remember it and come back with my camera at this time the next day. I think every profession has it's seasons of routine, and it's seasons of renewal. It seems that photography is no different for me.

I didn't feel guilty about taking some time away from that experimental, personal photography because I found that it comes back to me when I need it most.

What are you listening to?

When I was growing up, music was a huge part of my life. It was a safe haven to retreat to after a difficult day at school, something that defined who I was, like the clothes and shoes I wore, a way to connect with friends as we shared a common passion, mix tapes and earphones, and learn new English vocabulary.

We've all done it. We've unpacked an old box and found a CD or a tape, and smiled as we held an entire year of our lives in our two hands. Toto's "I'll be over you" reminds me of one particular summer watching horror movies with my friends when I was 14. Bon Jovi's "I'll be there for you" is still a karaoke favorite of mine. And don't get me started on the New Kids on the Block. 

This made me wonder. I know a lot of professional photographers like to play music in the background on photo shoots to set a certain mood and put the model at ease. But what about you? Do you listen to music while taking photos? And if songs are memories and moods wrapped in a few notes and sentences, how much do they affect the way we look at life through our lenses?

I can't wait to read your thoughts on this. And don't forget to share your images and songs in the comment section below.

breach

I don't know what it was that led me to check my Recent Activity tonight. It's what I used to call my 'under the radar' Flickr account - reserved for en masse shoots of other families, of personal gatherings. Birthday parties, family reunions. Chocolate on the faces of cousins, sandy toes at the beach, intimate moments post-christening.

These are not my children to share. Best keep these in a place that's not attached to the blog. Best keep these in a place that's a quiet needle in the biggest haystack anyone's ever known.

'Private' is an extra step that prevents internet-averse relatives and friends from finding the photos they want to see. And so I went everything but, restricting my photos from searches, refusing to use any manner of descriptive text, tags or any other mode of sharing.

No one untoward will ever find my images in the hugeness of the internet - especially not when there are so many dolts out there tagging their kids' photos with 'bathtime fun'. I do nothing to promote them, and only pass on the URL to people I've sat next to at dinner. Simple as that, right?

I've written elsewhere about my contempt for people who spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about sharing photos on the internet. You know, those who shriek smugly about how we've all got it coming to us, damn short of fire and brimstone, for being so dumb as to share images online. As if Flickr amounts to putting our children out on the front stoop wearing sandwich boards that say FREE FOR THE TAKING.

To say that sharing photos on the internet is a wholly bad thing is akin to saying that kissing is nothing more than a gateway for disease. It's a tragic overstatement that would have us all stifle joy and creativity and community.

And then tonight. Two recently-added Contacts, both of whom belong to several red-flag-raising groups - one of which was had a discussion topic called "We R Not Monsters!!!" which justified the stealing of child photography for avatars on sites such as Orkut.

How the hell did they find me? How is that possible?

Needless to say, I've now gone private on this account. Flickr allows you to share a 'guest pass' on private photos to people who are not Flickr members - a URL which, when emailed directly, allows access but not random browsing. This is news to me, and I'm grateful for it.

I do not believe in internet-birthed bogeymen. My squeamishness is simply because I want to share on my own terms. But how realistic it is to promise those terms when there are people out there who have no respect for image ownership nor any regard for the justified protectiveness of parents?

So tell me this, and forgive me for bringing up a potentially unsolvable conundrum. If this post generates a bunch of oh god that's it I'm done the sky is falling comments I will pelt you with rubber chickens. I want to hear measured thought and actions. I want to know how you feel, how you tackle this.

How do you share responsibly on the internet - especially photos of people and children who are not your own? How do you balance the need for self-promotion (for those of you who are professional) and creative sharing with the need to protect the moments you've captured?

teaching and learning

photo by John Balcer (during one of our photo walks)

Lately I've been spending some time teaching my husband how to use an SLR camera. He's got a very cool project coming up where his job will be to photograph an amazing experience (more on that later). The last couple of months have been a crash course in aperture, shutter speed, focusing, composition, lenses, AV mode versus TV mode, exposure and depth of field. I would never consider myself to be a photography expert or worthy of teaching someone else how to use a camera. But, I have noticed that the process of teaching him Photography 101 is a great refresher for me. The mere act of describing how to use a certain setting, or set up a good composition reminds me of the basics. In addition, it forced me to dig a little deeper when John asked me questions I couldn't answer. And the fact that my husband was my student took all the pressure off. I didn't feel like I needed to know ALL the answers and technical terms. I just explain things in simple terms as I understand them and then set him free to practice. We went on numerous photo walks, each with our own cameras. It was also fun to compare the photos later and see how we each interpreted the same subjects.