Shutter Sisters

Reach

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My head is swimming. As photography starts taking over my life, I find that I can think of nothing else. Mostly it is the business side of things that consumes my thoughts. I am in the beginning stages of developing Spark Photo, and I feel like I am at the edge of the deep end, sticking one toe in the water. My thoughts can sway from fear to excitement in 3 seconds. One second I’m thinking, “Can I really make this work?” and the next, I’m sure of it. I am so inspired by what I see in the Shutter Sisters Flickr Group as well as a few others I frequent. Every amazing photograph I see pushes me a little further and makes me even more sure that this is what I need to be doing. It’s kind of funny that it has taken me this long to realize that a career photographing children, babies, and families might be what I’m passionate about. In fact, I’m not sure why I didn’t put two and two together in college when I was majoring in art and working part time at a preschool. I have always loved kids and visual arts. Now I realize that when I briefly considered majoring in art education I was so close to figuring out a way to combine the two.

But as happy as I am to have found something I am passionate about, I find that I have a constant stream of questions running through my head. And I am always making mental lists of things I need to learn, buy, or do to make Spark Photo a functioning business by summer. However, as daunting as it is, I am encouraged by the amount I have learned in a short amount of time. I’m approaching the point of no return and I’m ready to go for it.

January

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It’s January. If you are lucky enough to live in California, Texas, or any other perpetually warm location you can stop reading right now. I’m mad at you anyway. But, if you live somewhere where you just hear the word January and shiver, keep reading.

How am I supposed to take any mind-blowingly wonderful photographs when it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home? Even when the weekend rolls around it is gray and freezing. And I admit I am a bit of a wuss. I don’t like being outside when it is 12 degrees and windy. And snowy. And cold, did I mention cold? Inside, I have about 6 square feet of good, natural light in the living room, which doesn’t really afford me much freedom.

So if I want to break out the camera I have to keep my eyes peeled for any possibilities (and/or stop being a baby). Hence the above shot of the oranges. They were begging for a little photo session the minute I put them in that bowl. And I was craving some camera time.

I’m thinking my only other options for January are to brave the cold (not likely), use the flash more (no thanks), or book a couple tickets to the Bahamas. I’m thinking I like that last option.

Don’t even get me started on February…

The Plan

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The main reason I upgraded from a point-and-shoot to a digital SLR last March was that I was feeling limited and frustrated. I realized that I had hit a wall and wanted more. As I mentioned in my last post, photography for me is about capturing that moment or detail that I am seeing and making it “real”. My little Canon Powershot was doing all it could, but it wasn’t enough for me. By the time it actually took the picture, the moment was long gone and I was annoyed.

Having my Canon Rebel XT has freed things up for me a lot. It’s quicker and I can control things much better. But I am still learning…big time. There are endless amounts of topics I need to cover and plenty of information out there to help me. But it can be a bit overwhelming at times. There is just so much info out there and sometimes I find it difficult to sort through it all and find what’s best for my style. So I think my “plan for the new year” (not calling it a resolution) is to focus on learning one new thing a month. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’m talking about learning something and then putting it into practice for a month. For instance, I have asked for a reflector for Christmas. So my first month could be spent playing with it (if I am lucky enough to receive it) and really learning how to use it. The next month could be learning more about different lenses and figuring out which one might be on my list next Christmas.

Anyway, I’m hoping that since I wrote about my “plan for the new year” here, I will have to follow through with it. Right?
 

It’s Real Now

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While I am fairly new to the world of photography, I feel like I have been seeing things through a lens my whole life. I’ve always been content to quietly observe my surroundings, noticing things that others might not. When I was young most people thought I was just quiet and shy (true), but there was more to it than that. I was busy observing. I was noticing the swirling pattern in the shell buttons on someone’s shirt or the way the sunlight made a pattern on the floor as it filtered through the trees. I think that’s why photography is the perfect outlet for me. When the camera captures what my eye is seeing, I can finally relax. It’s real now.

I’m sure there are a lot of reasons that people become interested in photography. But I think that for most of us it is a way to capture what we’re afraid we’ll forget.