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College
Today was the first day of my Tuesday/ Thursday class, which is on digital photography. I consider it kind of frustrating that I have to take this class, not because I think I know everything there is to know about digital photo (far from it) but because 1. the class is very, very basic; as in, “what is a memory card,” and 2. because it’s required to complete my minor, but it’s in substitution of a much more fun class that I really wanted to take, which unfortunately isn’t being held this semester. That particular class was Alt Methods – all the crazy and outdated dangerously chemical methods that can be used to produce strange photographs. Part of me is really sad I missed out on that, but I have to admit too that a larger part of me is relieved not to have to be in the darkroom this semester. Last semester, between working there and completing my Ilfochrome portfolio, I spent at least 20 hours a week in that room. A break from it will be nice.
Anyhow, digital photo. Thank goodness I own a camera, since there are 15-odd people in the class, and they have to partner up and share. Thank goodness I own a computer and Photoshop, so I can get things done at home. I’m so much more productive at home.
The fire alarm went off during the second half of class, incidentally. If it was a joke, it was a cruel one, because it is precisely 20 below zero outside right now. That’s temperature, not wind chill. Luckily the professor was pretty much done anyhow so we were allowed to just split.
On today’s to-do list:
-Write proposal for photo independent study
-Work on fiction for fiction independent study
-Organize prints for Etsy (hopefully my portfolio comes today!)
-Clean office (I can’t think straight when it’s trashed in here)
-Read for Poetry Movements class
Re: the portfolio… I am trying to separate the prints I’m selling on Etsy from the ones I’m going to keep, and so I ordered a portfolio online to store the ones I want to hang onto. Specifically, I ordered The Itoya Evolution, and I’m hoping it gives me what I want, which is the ability to include prints that aren’t 8.5 x 11 size, although that’s how big the pages are. I’m hoping the glassine is tight enough so that you can slide in smaller prints without having them slide right back out. If not, I suppose what I can do is use a sheet of acid-free paper with some photo corners, “mount” the photo to the paper, then slide the paper into the portfolio. That sounds like a lot of work, to be honest, though!
Weddings. I keep getting an exorbitant amount of wedding requests for the weekends on and around May 16 2010. I might or might not have a very major event in my life happening that weekend, and afterwards, so unfortunately I have to keep it open. I’ve already seen five different leads (and had two separate requests to shoot) for that identical weekend. It would be less frustrating if I knew for sure whether or not that weekend was open, but better to be safe than sorry.
Today’s image brought to you by zero sleep, a new sweater, and a dirty bathroom mirror:
Happy Tuesday!
Tired
It’s so strange to be tired, even at 1:30 in the morning! I’m still in vacation mode and having Robert working at night is making it harder to get a normal schedule. I have ten o’clock classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, though, so I have to get some semblance of a schedule down.
End of vacation
This was a slow weekend. We always seem to talk about going out for drinks on weekend nights, but it never happens, which kind of makes sense when you consider the temperature. It’s supposed to be 25 below tomorrow night, and that’s not even counting windchill. That, plus the fact that there always seems to be something to do around the house (nothing fun, more like cleaning or work, but still) tends to make our plans fall apart at the last minute, which is fine with us. It’s been good to catch up on relaxation at home over this break.
School starts again tomorrow and I expect to be fairly busy, but busy with things like my two independent studies (photo and fiction) so it shouldn’t be too bad. I just need to get back into the mode of actually ‘getting things done’ and I really hope it’ll be good for me/ I can pull it off. Been feeling fairly lethargic and useless lately. Must get on that.
New photos at Etsy
I’m SO excited about this new printer I discovered. Their prices are ridiculously cheap and they offer metallic as well as linen-textured paper (which they call “silk,” but the cross-hatching to me looks like nothing so much as new bedsheets). Of course, since I realized how beautiful their prints are, I had to order a bunch of my favorites just to see what they’d look like on such marvelous paper, and now I have even more stock for my Etsy shop. You should really go buy something.
This and more at http://badpatch.etsy.com.
Sophomore slump
I’m not sure why, but it seems that booking the second wedding is ten times harder than booking the first. This seems a little ironic, since by the second one you’ve actually got an idea of what to do, as well as an actual wedding portfolio. But it’s the case nonetheless. I think part of the issue is that couples who are looking for photographers are in one of two camps: they either have decided they want a student or they want a professional, and someone who is walking the line, who has some experience but not much, doesn’t really appear on their radar. Them’s the breaks. What I’m doing at the moment is hitting up craigslist and various classifieds around the ‘net, touting myself as “newly experienced” and offering major discounts.
It’s complicated by the fact that we’re moving really soon, of course. I found a craigslist ad that kind of broke my heart, from a mom on a budget who is planning her daughter’s wedding and wants help from a photographer willing to give her a deal. I’d do it gladly if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s not until the fall, and by that time we’re going to be living quite some distance from here. I’ve already switched my advertising focus to our new city rather than this one. You know you’ve got a soft heart when a posting like that one makes you consider driving up here and shooting her wedding for free, but that’s not the way to run a business and I’m trying to hold myself back from doing it.
I also emailed the owner of a very popular wedding site the other day. She does wonderful advertising for wedding vendors, but you have to fit the “style” of the brides that visit her site, which is a bit quirky and unique. Personally, I think I fit right into it (in fact, every time I visit her site I spend hours daydreaming about my own wedding, let alone shooting other peoples’), but I don’t know that I’m going to be eligible to advertise with her thanks to the lack of experience. I did explain myself in my email and said that the truly adventurous brides may be willing to work with someone new for a serious savings in cost. We’ll see.
Will keep plugging away in the meantime!
I suppose I should start…
… at the beginning. My name is Brenda, and I’m a freelance writer and photographer. The writing part of my life is where I get the most income, since I own a small business that writes for commercial websites. As you can imagine, if you’ve ever spent any time reading content on the internet (hah), a lot of it is, well, pretty lousy. My company is trying to conquer the internet one website at a time and improve what’s out there. So, to answer the unasked question, yes, it’s very time consuming!
Regarding photography: from as early as I can remember I’ve always loved shooting photos. When I was a kid my dad used to tease me because I was absolutely terrible at it (I know, what a thing to admit here, right?) During one infamous childhood vacation, my dad gave me the camera and instructed me to take a picture out the car window as we drove over a bridge that spanned a famous lake. When the photos came back from the drugstore, my attempted lake picture showed a blurry passing car and a guardrail that filled the entire frame. Classic. You’ll be glad to know that I’ve since perfected the art of taking photos out car windows.
Anyhow, I took a multitude of photo classes throughout high school and college, and I spent years of my life practicing and teaching myself how to shoot (I call it the “Hey, what happens if I do THIS!?” school of photography). Nowadays I own a big fancy camera and I shoot as much as possible. I have stacks of prints all over the house, and I recently put some up on Etsy after realizing that I will never own enough wall space. I also shoot concerts and weddings.
To be clear, I’ve shot a FEW weddings. Two where I was a “shadow” shooter, and one all by my lonesome self. Starting out in the business has been kind of tough, but I’m becoming a constant presence on wedding classified boards, craigslist, and pretty much everywhere else I can think of where adventurous brides might be looking. I’d love to do this full time one day!
What else is there to know about me? I’m actually just finishing my senior semester at college, having taken about six years off in between my freshman and sophomore years. During that time, I moved to another state, met the love of my life, and had all sorts of adventures that may or may not have included working in cubicles. (What do you think drove me to go and finish my degree?) Today, I live in northern Minnesota but will be relocating soon. I’m far too busy, but I’m lucky enough to love everything that I do.
I guess that’s all for now. It’s now 3:30 am… I’ve got quite the schedule on my hands these days.
