It's time to take flight once again...

It's been quite some time since I've posted an entry here... too long, in fact. To those of you who are back and reading this, I thank you. To those of you who have given me extra nudges to get me moving, an extra special THANK YOU!

While I need to have a regular job to help pay the bills, I must remember that it is just that, a "job", not a career, and its sole purpose is to provide some semblance of income. I am doing well at my new job, but that is a bit of a double-edge sword: it permitted me to become too comfortable with the sense of security it provides, and that, combined with the physical exhaustion I am experiencing due to it, gave me the reason (read "excuse") to lose track of, and neglect to follow and work towards that which means so much to me: my "career" as a professional photographer.

David duChemin posted an entry in his blog that provided the impetus to get my act in gear and resume my efforts to make a living from my photography. It's funny how things have worked in relation to David. He gave me some wonderful words of advice and encouragement early in the summer, and that really gave me a boost to seriously work towards my goal. Then, while attempting to learn how to navigate the social networking waters, I was a bit too much myself and made things a bit too personal, or at least that's what I sensed, and I felt that I had become a persona non grata. That had a great deal to do with my absence from this blog, email, Facebook... life. After doing my homework, I wrote to David, as he suggested, and that didn't go so well; that added to everything that I was feeling. Between everything that has happened in the past year, starting the new job and falling into that trap, and then feeling that I had sabotaged my photography career before I even got it off the ground, I found myself continually fighting a low-level depression, an unrelenting funk. It's time that I pick myself up (not forgetting those who are rooting for me), stop feeling sorry for myself, and continue the climb that began when I first picked up a 35mm camera many years ago in high school.

That being said, it's now time to get ready to go to my "job". I know it will be difficult to balance everything and do what I need to do, but it will be worth it; I just need to remind myself of that on occasion.

Thanks for reading and for your support.

Until next time (sooner than this time),

Sam

Learning to "play" is a critical element of photography, as it is during this time that concepts form, ideas gel, and you learn what works and what doesn't. "Play" also provides us with the equivalent of the artists' sketches; those images and ideas we know we want to shoot someday, but can't seem to convey it in a photograph just yet... << MORE >>

Don't give up on shots just because you may have someone's head partially in the image, and don't limit yourself and your photography by being hung up on the horizon being level; crop creatively.<< MORE >>

Hi All,

I hope everyone is well.

Boy, it's been a busy couple of days! I've been getting things ready for my trip into the city and Canon Expo 2010 tomorrow and Friday! Boy, am I jazzed about this!

I've done a bit of a crash course in learning Adobe Illustrator so I could have some business cards to take along with me. I have to give credit to my friend, Glyn, who provided me with the original logo; I just designed the cards and made some colour adjustments to the logo for each card.

Do me favour, if you would. I am including two versions of the black and white card. I'm wondering which style has a greater impact. If you would, please provide me with some feedback and let me know what you think. Thanks! There are two different colour cards that I'll be taking with me, but I'll include those in my next post (I don't want to inundate you with this stuff!).





Time to get more stuff done around here before tomorrow comes. I have to be in Port Jervis, NY at around 6:45 am so I can make to the Javits Center for the first seminar at 10am. Should be interesting...

Until next time...

Sam

Hi All!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend as we head towards the end of summer.

I've had a great weekend! It started out on Friday with a wonderful outing to my favourite park, Childs Park in Dingman Township, PA, with my friend, Joanna. We had a good hike and lots of exercise, and I stopped Joanna more than a few times with an "Ooh! Look at that!", as I prepared my tripod and camera for yet another round of photographs. With an abundance of waterfalls, like so many parks in the area, it's not difficult to find something that catches the eye and the imagination. With all this natural beauty comes people... naturally. Up until recently, I would have been frustrated with the presence of others, as I always felt that they marred the natural landscape; however, my focus has been shifting over the past several months, and as much as I love nature and wildlife, I am finding that it is not as fulfilling as it once was when it comes to photographing it. Nature and wildlife is great, but I've begun to think that "it's nice/beautiful/pretty"... whatever adjective you may choose, but that it doesn't move me as it once did. I still enjoy it, but it no longer resonates within my soul and doesn't give me the feeling I had when I first photographed someone and was able to capture something of their essence.


      
Out of everything I shot that day, this is the image that called to me and I had to work on first

The image above represents where I think I'm headed as a photographer. While I will always enjoy shooting nature and wildlife, I find images like this speak to me more than an image of a nature scene, unless it was one that captured interactions between animals and showed something of their lives and character. I shot this image just as we were rounding a turn heading towards the steps to go down to one of the falls. It was just a quick shot and I was shooting strictly in manual mode (all manual metering and focusing), and didn't have the time to make the image technically brilliant, but I find that there is something captured here that is more important than technical proficiency: human warmth, and the joy of family. I desaturated the colours so that certain highlights that had been blown out would not be quite so distracting from the primary focus of the photograph. As I was playing with the saturation levels, I also found myself drawn to the mood it was creating, in that it was beginning to have almost a hand-tinted look to it, bringing with it a sense of the innocence of bygone years.

Not to completely abandon the natural beauty and joy that I find in photographing that, here is another shot from our trek through Childs Park. As I think you may be able to tell, I'm feeling a bit torn about my direction.



Yesterday, Brent and I went to Lake Wallenpaupack for the first annual (perhaps last, it was was a bit of a bust) Lake Wally Fest. Regardless of turnout, it was a fantastic day! We rode our motorcycles there, and the weather was great for riding. Once there, we went for a scenic boat tour on Lake Wallenpaupack, and this was great fun, although I would have preferred it at another time of day when the light wasn't so harsh (we went on the 4pm tour). We're going to do it again someday and schedule it for better lighting. After that, we rode around and checked out a few things before going to our favourite restaurant, The Alpine , in Honesdale. They have excellent and very authentic German food, and it's a very special place for us in that it allows us to spend time with memories of my mother, and in that sense, to spend time with her. I always have mixed emotions about going there, but it always ends up being a very healing experience.

That's a wrap on this entry. It's time for me to start shooting some items to go up on eBay!

Until next time...

Sam

Just time for a short entry before I head off to bed. I'm still getting the hang of all this, and am waiting for my web site to become active.It's funny, but just last week I was saying that I had no interest ingoing back to computer IT work or learning more about the technology. So, what did I do? You got it! This brilliant, young (relatively speaking) man decided it was time to set up a web site, a blog and everything that goes with it... computer-related stuff that I know absolutely nothing about! So, besides working to hone my craft, I'm also working on learning the ins and outs of web stuff. I can't say I really mind, though, as it will all be worth it. This evening, I spoke with Rodney Washington, a marketing consultant who just released his first book, "Eye On Marketing: 41 Days From Struggle And Confusion to Clarity & Profits". He provided me with some great ideas for ways to get things moving, and getting some money coming in. I'm going to do a one month program with him as soon as I find a job, or have some money coming in from eBay or from my work. Other than that, I'm jazzed (that seems to be the hip word that my favourite photographers are using these days)about the upcoming by invitation only Canon Expo 2010 at the Javits Center in NYC on September 2 and 3. After that, it's the Canon EOS Immersion Seminar in Hartford, CT on September 11. Both events will provide me with tremendous learning opportunities, as well as the potential to network and make some important connections. So, yes... I'm jazzed! That's a wrap on this one. Until next time... Sam

Welcome to my blog. I hope you will join me in what will undoubtedly be quite an adventure as I follow my dream of becoming a professional photographer. Here, I hope to provide information to those interested in following the same path I have begun, and look forward to sharing whatever knowledge I may acquire along the way. In time, as I move further into my career (trying to keep it positive, while still remaining realistic), I will look forward to imparting whatever photographic tips, techniques, and lessons I may have learned along the journey, and during my time as a vocational photographer.The first bit of wisdom I can impart to anyone looking to follow this path is that provided to me by David duChemin: "First, take a breath. You have obviously been thinking about this for a while, but now is a good time to stop thinking abstractly and begin dreaming and planning. Is there a place you can go that will help you clear your head for a few days, sit down and map out the possibilities? Do you have friends you can bounce ideas off? Have you read VisionMongers and Dane Sanders' Fast Track Photographer? Do you have a sense for the kind of photographs you want to create and for whom you would like to create them? Listen to as many good and wise voices as possible, but make sure you listen to your heart in this. Go slow."THANK YOU, DAVID! I'm going slow, but I am working on it. To paraphrase Dane Sanders, you need to work as a professional photographer while you are becoming a professional photographer. Quite a conundrum! Read David's book, "VisionMongers," and read Dane Sanders' book, "Fast Track Photographer." They are both indispensable on this journey. The passion grows stronger everyday! Until next time...

Sam