[magkelly]

As a photographer that is....

1. Finally being officially done with the whole apprenticeship thing. I feel good knowing that I spent the last several years actually learning something useful for a change and that I didn't have to spend 48K to do that. College was a total waste. Design courses were a total waste. There was absolutely nothing that 48K I spent on a so called "formal education" that I couldn't have taught myself with a few books or videos. In fact that was all they did, put us in front of a video screen to watch videos I could have gotten online anytime. We had a pop quiz after usually but so what? I could have definitely saved myself the 48K. My real education did not come until I found my mentors and I started teaching myself via books and videos and practical application everything I needed to know to do the job I wanted to do. Okay, I'm not forever done. I still ask the odd question of them and I still watch videos and read any book I can get my hands on about photography, design etc. But I'm mostly on my own now, and working professionally a bit, actually getting paid now and again to do what I love.

2. Having the basics in terms of equipment and a space so that I don't have to always rent stuff to get the job done. Having my own lights and backdrops finally, priceless. My so called "studio" is about 6 feet of space in a screen room and often my client's homes, but that's okay. I can deal with that and with not having to cut into my bottom line so much to rent is terrific. The next goal is to get to the point where the roommates aren't so necessary. As much as I like my roommates I could use more space of my own, access to my whole house. Sharing a mobile home with 2 other people (and several pets) however well behaved sucks. I'm living in my own converted living room, trying to conduct business on a screened porch in a place where it gets to be 90 degrees plus for 3/4 of the year. It's absurd. I want to sleep in my own master bedroom. I want the second smaller bedroom for my office and I want to use the living room as my home studio. But I have to make at least $1500 a month after taxes to manage that consistently so for now, that's just how it goes. I'm on track though and it feels good.

3. Knowing my niche markets, seeing work finally starting to come in, that's great. It's definitely slow, typical of this area which is economically depressed, but I'm still getting definite interest and the odd paying gig, so I now know I was right to pick the markets I did. I have confidence now that I'm going to do just fine and I don't feel like I was just messing around wasting time on learning to be a photographer. Going to school and spending all that money only to end up still doing retail and office work for low pay was a complete ego killer. I'm still not making much more than a low paid office clerk, yet, but at least now I'm in control of my own income potential and I'm my own boss which is GREAT. I've actually made more doing photography so far this year than I did temping for the majority of last year. That's not to say much because I really wasn't getting any temp work at all hardly but still I'm making my rent and such and I'm not relying on a temp service to get me work.

4. Having the emotional support of my family, for once, and their approval of what I am doing. I've actually never really had that. My whole working career thus far has been so unstable that everyone in my family has really given me a hard time over it. It's not been on purpose. I've always worked my arse off only to end up losing a job because of stupid stuff like downsizing or failure of a business to survive. I don't admittedly have much luck at picking employers. Even the large corporations, the big names you should be able to trust to employ you long term? Inevitably I get hired, work, work, work, get laid off when they close a branch, go under, restructure, or whatever they chose to call failure to thrive these days. 95% of the people I've worked for in my life? They're simply GONE now. At first my family was like "Okay, here we go, she's making another dumb move..." like they said when I went back to college. But now that I'm really serious about what I am doing, running my own businesses, actually making my rent with it, I'm seeing some nods of approval. That could also be because I'm taking care of the whole world while doing it. It's kind of hard to argue with a person wearing as many hats as I do lately, I'm working way too hard not to get the credit due, but still it's nice. I feel like I've been an adult for practically my whole life, but this is the first time I'm actually being treated like one.

5. I feel some of the stuff I am doing really matters. The woman I did recently who'd had surgery for breast cancer it made a big difference in her attitude towards her body post surgery me doing a boudoir shoot with her. I've got a pre/post natal shoot coming up shortly here and that's cool too. That's a lovely process to be a part of and the mom to be involved is also having body issues because of being pregnant for the first time so I think this will really help her too. Make her see how beautiful she looks right now and why it's been worth it all going through this pregnancy.

6. Being able to give back as a photographer. I'm not really ready to mentor someone else, but I will when I am more experienced. Right now though I do have a couple of local charities that I am involved with, actually doing some pro bono photography for versus simply showing up and giving them a day doing whatever. I like that. It feels more useful than answering phones, cleaning, or whatever, which is what I've done more often than not.

7. With the exception of a true wide angle I now have every basic level of Takumar prime to play with. I have 50's. I have a portrait lens, my 105mm, I have a 200mm. Okay, I still want 300mm if you want to get picky. I really can't afford one anyway though so I'm not really all that concerned with the lack of one. I also want a 28-35mm Takumar but with the 35mm Lentar I've still got most of my range covered in primes, not just zooms. That's great. I like my zooms and I use them all the time but having a decent range of old primes is really going to be a huge plus to my photography.

8. My portfolio is looking a lot better. I have a ways to go before I can build a proper book and a show off web site, but still it's looking better and better with each job I do.

9. Photoshop CS6. I could kiss my friend for sending me a copy. I wasn't going to go there but the more I play with CS6 the more I realize that I am thrilled to have it. The content aware move tool, the wide angle tool, all the new presets in CR, wow. I was totally thrilled with Adobe when they finally added text on a path. I thought that was it, I couldn't get any happier than that. (I just totally love that feature. Cut my use of Illustrator WAY down, though I still do use Illustrator too sometimes...) Was I wrong. The more I play with this version the more I realize it was a killer upgrade. The only downside? I'll really need to get a new video card to really use PS6 well. They're barely supporting what's in the machine I have, sigh.....)

10. Last but not least, this place. I've never learned so much nor met a better group of people. Being able to come here and share and learn and chat every day? Major, major plus for me as a photographer, and no, I'm not just kissing arse here. I mean it. I'm on a few forums for photography but this one? I come every day, several times a day, usually have open in the browser when I am working at my computer.



That's it. Just counting my blessings a bit, I guess....You?

[Tonto]

Wow, inspiring- thats all I have to add.

[magkelly]

Wow, inspiring- thats all I have to add.

(MK blushes brilliant crimson...) AWW!!! That's too nice, but it's not the purpose of the post/question!!! I want you tell me what's working for YOU, k? I'm in a good place, finally, true, and I wanted to say so. But I want to hear about the things that make you all go all smiley lately as a shutterbug....

[Tonto]

Just a few that spring to mind.

My flash, has improved the way I shoot drastically- it also makes me think about light more even when I'm not using it.

Adobe Lightroom- just makes everything easier really. I helps me think about whats really important to get right in camera and what saves time later on.

Hitting more keepers and my Portrait/candid shots have dramatically improved over the last few months.