[batgirl]

I don’t bash her using magazines for inspiration I use books as well at times, but I dont carry them with me. I have no beef with her doing photography. What I did have an issue with was that she knew I did the special needs kids and that it was meaningful to me. I don’t post those pics on facebook unless the family truly wants me to and even those that have said its ok to, I havent yet and am back and forth on if I should or not. She was basically a little sister type to me for years. I taught her a few things about how to leave auto mode and how to shoot in raw etc.. I fixed a few of her “indians” (red people all over) for her and then she joined a local photography group that basically has a hierachy of standards, the top person’s rates can not be exceeded by anyone else in the group, its really kinda like a communist group from what I understand ::shrugging shoulders:: I did so much for her for free, she had zero willingness to cooperate, she wanted her man in pics yet he refused to shave or dress half decent, she brought me her baby at 6 weeks old, starving and in dire need of a nap with a bunch of stuff and outfits she wanted pics in (with no warning) and said will you take some pics, then that Christmas she does it again saying she needed them for her christmas gifts she was having photos on and she knew I was most likely to get the best shots. But overnight she decides I’m competition, I dont even do paid stuff I seriously dont! If someone I do offers a tip thats one thing but other than factoring in gas and stuff I mentioned above I dont say here’s my rates. Her and her group criticized my doing special needs kids and basically called a poker move by saying oh not only will they do special kids, but they will do cancer patients, military etc and that a few photogs would participate in each. Yes it upset me that all I want to actually do is work with the kids, thats it. And she had to do that crap. She assisted me (by carrying stuff and I paid her for it) with Amanda and Rickys wedding and I let her do a few pics. I posted maybe 3 of them for her so she felt special and as soon as she started her page up she grabbed a few from my page and put them on hers as her work (the ones she took werent) and then she posted her link on MY page saying that she knew i didnt like maternity or babies so she figured she’d offer herself to anyone wanting those types of pics and came across my page. THAT is why I am not cool with her. And she has said she wont invest in any additional gear because she sees no point. She’ll just do all her pics in wide open sunlight and she’ll be fine. Thats cool. I have the gear I have because I knew what I needed to do the best I wanted to do. I think its great to learn from others, I wish I had the free time to do so as well. Obviously with 5 kids, full time law school, working PRN at the hospital and dealing with lifes other crap, I hardly have time to breathe. Photography was my one thing that I felt was mine, I could do it with none of my kids interrupting me, I could focus on taking pictures of what I wanted to, play with the settings, learn how they work etc… I cant figure out the alien bee lights. I know that might sound stupid but I suppose I am missing something simple and just need to have an ah ha moment. So maybe I dont need more gear or i have too much gear for my lack of expertise, but I have the knowledge to know that skill and the lens can make or break a pic. Once you master lighting and the little camera tweaks yeah you can shoot with a kit lens and get good shots but I want the shots I get from my 50mm 1.2L and I miss my 24-70 :(((( I could cry just thinking about it. As far a having a group of photo friends to go work with, I sadly never meet the criteria for any sort of group activity. My life is way too busy and childcare is something I do not have the luxury of.

As for learning- I have all of Scott Kelby’s books on Digital Photography, I used to read up on the dps online page regularly for stuff but all I find are shortcuts I want the long method so I can develop the true way of doing it then I’ll find my own shortcuts that work for me. So does anyone suggest any books, (videos would be better lol) or sites that would be helpful that would be great.

 

And out of curiosity do any of you have links to your work? I would love to see some of it.

 

And my stupid random autocorrect moments are compliments of Apple and their ingenious sense of humor. 😉

[batgirl]

I think you totally missed my point in everything I last said… I did not discredit those who have a degree in photography   I was saying its not a super common thing. Graphic design etc seems to be a more common degree for those that have a related college degree in it.

I didn’t post my friend to poke fun. I posted it to show the one I mentioned a few posts ago about the bashing my post about special needs kids. Her posing is what it is because she carries magazines of pose ideas with her or tags along with ine of the folks in her little photo club and shoots exactky what they setup  i have my style and how i like to shoot, its  lt the sane as yours or his or hers etc  but its mine  im not being stubborn im just saying olan mills portrait studio work isnt what i want to do  And I don’t shoot to get the job done good or bad, but most people that aren’t paying top dollar and getting a free shoot basically usually don’t want to work with you on posing right, getting in a good balanced light area etc not from my experience. If I charge right now it’s seriously to cover gas, the DVD I give them their pics on and if they want me to print any out the cost of photo paper and ink.

 

In my little mini rant about you guys really only being negative was partly because just when I think I’m getting my techniques etc better, I ask for opinions from my husband or whoever and all anyone does is point out the flaws. I think sometimes people might want to at least know what they’re doing RIGHT. Because no one told me that much. I pushed my camera to the back of the closet for close to a year and only pulled it back out recently to try to start doing what I enjoy doing again. My confidence sucks I know my weaknesses believe it or not, and what I’m trying to learn is how to fix them. But I’d love to hear my strengths if I even posess any. I think I’ll put the camera back in my closet maybe later I’ll try again. Thanks anyway

[batgirl]

The one you liked of the riverfront was a snapshot taken with a higher end Canon point and shoot. A mix of what I have on my page is not totally here’s what I do daily but a recollection of what I have done. A LOT of my nature album pics were taken with a stupid xsi and an 18-55 no flash etc or a point n shoot . In most of those its not about natural look to me its about art, what can I do with it to make it look awesome (or at least to me) It seems everybody wants vintage/sepia these days or  color isolation. “make my babies eyes blue and the rest of the pic black and white because Sears did it on the proofs and it looked good”

I do appreciate the help ya’ll I truly do but some you only seem to look for the worst of the worst not just mine but I’ve read through alot of posts on here and its a trend. I guess constructive criticism like I hate fauxtography is doing is good. But I also wanted to say, I know the true pro’s look at fauxtogs as someone who doesnt do perfect work but gets paid. I also make jewelry and frames, I’m sure its not perfect, someone does it better etc but does that make me a fauxcrafter? Everyone starts somewhere, getting a college degree in pro photography is kinda rare.Resp Therapy and am finishing my pre law. But I’d still give it all up to take photos of sick kids. So all that aside if I keep working on this am I even capable of doing it to the high standards some of yall have?

And on another note, that “friend” I mentioned in a prior post, here’s her page. She’s convinced because she worked at walmart studio she is a pro… even I can laugh at these ones. http://www.facebook.com/MotherhoodMomentsPhotography?ref=ts

 

[batgirl]

Archy primarily Amanda and Ricky’s wedding and maybe the trading post thrift store or nature album.

I know I need to work on light. That’s the biggest challenge. I didn’t have my 7D until recently and shot with a t3i and 60D. T2i was my backup. I’m still learning the 7D. To be honest doing free sessions while I practice makes me worry more that in the future if someone wants Photo’s that I did a freebie for will expect that again. I prefer not to shoot people really, if I do I’d rather capture their natural expressions and personality not a formal pose. It’s just my style. Ringling was def a challenge. Shooting through glass in a dim area with a tour guide rushing us a long and my inlaws getting annoyed that I had to bring my camera along. I do want to get a good lens beyond my 50, what do you recommend that’s going to give a good balance of bokeh and clarity that is fast and basically has a good range that’s going to compare to the 24-70 but a bit more affordable? I can’t seem to get the quality I want from the 55-250 or 18-135. The 50 is awesome. But it’s limited since its fixed. And how do you use reflectors and such when you have no one to hold them?

[batgirl]

I’ll check those links thanks. I was typing war and peace novels 1-3 when you posted it lol.

[batgirl]

I have 2 alien bee lights. I just have one hell of a time dragging everything with me when I go do a shoot. Especially if I’m dping something that requires a lot of moving from spot to spot. My 24-70 was actually thrown down the steps onto ceramic tile by my autistic son. Talk about one very very upset mama! I got the 18-135 from a local commercial photog for a reasonable price as a sorta replacement for now. I haven’t updated my about me section lately. I am not at all happy with the most recent family ones posted period exclamation point etc. I would have postedwant but the few I was mediocriticly happy with but the girl begged me to. I’m making an “outakes” album and a lot of thosewill get moved to that album if not taken down once she gets her disc. I agreed to do the 1st birthday and a few of just the baby. Her dad ended up being a doctor my husband (he’s a respiratory therapist for a Homecare company) anyway the dad gives them referrals yadda yadda so I didn’t want to tick him off by saying no since I don’t want him potentially taking that out on my husband in some way. I explained the obstacles and that the pics would not be my best they said that was ok. Like I said I’m not happy with them. But we also had a potential hurricane giving us crap weather and wind, random rain etc. Sweet 16, I refused to take my expensive equipment to because of the nature of the situation (not knowing the people well enough or the bunch of teens there and risking something getting broken or stolen) it was unpaid and something I volunteered for that once knowing the whole situation I wouldn’t back out because I made a promise and I keep promises.

 

You have no idea how much Id love to do this as a career but I’d lean more toward working with foundations like the children’s miracle network and the w15h (Tim Tebow) foundation. Capturing the moments of what may be these kids last days and giving their family moments to have forever. I don’t like portraits. Give me an event, somewhere like the ringling museum (if you’ll look at those I’d appreciate it, no flash allowed horrible yellow cast lights through everything and my 24-70 and 50 were stellar considering the shooting circumstances  imo. All raw and lots of adjusting in Lightroom) Amanda and Rickys wedding has some of what I consider my best in it.

My husband won’t let me buy more equipment right now lol. I need a new laptop, so I’m saving for a new MacBook pro. My current MacBook is maxed out on hd memory So I have to do my uploading and stuff to the dell that I hate. I know I’m not the best by far but Gawd have I seen worse. But like I said I’d much rather be able to do what I do for something meaningful because to me that’s worth more than any amount of money ever could be to me. I wish the locals weren’t bloodsucking beasts and understood the power of working to help each other. Like so and so is good with babies, another with seniors etc then you could recommend someone to meet their needs if you can’t. I have a friend that’s a chicks and cars photog another that does postcard type stuff, and a very well known commercial photog. All locals.

I think I asked for y’all to give critique because recently I have a ‘friend’that I taught a few things about how to use a camera that couldn’t even get a clear shot with a Nikon coolpix get an outdated dslr off Craigslist and join a photo group locally to declare herself a pro and when I posted in a local yard sale grouptab out the free sessions for special needs and that summer was ending and anyone needing Photo’s that hadn’t confirmed a date with me to let me know. She commented on that post that she was also doing free sessions for breast cancer and military families and her little photo snapping friends starting saying how awesome she was etc all on MY post. Then she unliked my page and when I called her out for posting my work on her page she unfriended me. It all made me sit and say wow, I thought I did a half decent job. And I was getting to the point I was going to start charging more and doing more but now I’m just thinking why bother.

[batgirl]

Just a few things-

– I have a federal tax id yadda yadda… I still do a 1099 IF I do any sessions.

– logo across the center was requested by the owner of the Venue because she wanted me to get proper credit when others look at the shots

– I dont focus on business. Thus why I don’t advertise. I once did which was when I kept my site up… Then life happened. I have 5 1 that’s autistic and 1 that’s got a few other special needs. This consumed my life from 2008 on. I did things here and there but time isn’t something I have much of. In 2010 I myself was diagnosed with cancer, 7 surgeries in 9 months, chemo meds etc… Amanda and Ricky’s wedding was shot 2 weeks post op from surgery 5 and Erin and John who didn’twant formal pics just a recollection of the ceremony and a few vintage like ones for their walls. That was 2 days after a chemo treatment and a week before my final surgery.

– I don’t charge more for a few reasons, 1 being I haven’t had family pics done in 7 years because no one has the patience to work with my autistic son. 2. I do families with special needs kids free and always will. That was actually the only stuff I was planning to do at this point but was asked to do the other stuff. 3. I couldn’t afford a dedicated photographer for my wedding therefore I have nothing to remember my day. I don’t want others to have that issue. I tell them if they want fancy formal pics I can refer them to some local pros that do that. It’s not my style.

– as I said I’m self taught, I learn something new Everytime I take pictures.

– not $30k no but about $10k or so in gear.

– I am my own  worst critic I’m afraid to charge more to be honest and if I do charge it’s usually to cover gas to places that or 100 plus miles round trip. Yall validated my rationale within myself that my work isn’t worth paying for. Since all you’ve focused on is the shots I myself am not happy with but some of my favorite images I guess weren’t worth mentioning here.

 

I asked, thanks for the criticism. I wasn’t planning on trying to do this on a more regular basis due to life  but since I do take a lot of tips fromdigital photography school online and saw your site figured I’d ask.

 

[batgirl]

I used to have it much smaller but I had a few people  trying to claim my stuff as theirs. I do opt to use a simple one vs an image style. Sadly around here there are so many i got a camera off Craigslist and now I’m a pro types it makeshit hard for us that put our heart and soul into it to really succeed. I do charge for some stuff usually just enough to cover gas to get to wherever  and to help make my husband think I don’t just spend gobs of money on equipment for fun lol. So the biggest reasons I use the watermark are to keep people like the one fauxtog I know from claiming my work is theirs and foradvertisement on stuff I do totally free like the shots of the thrift store and flea market for her advertising. I did it because I thought her stuff looked fun to shoot she called me after age saw them and said I could have a month of vendor days free if I wanted them (for my other hobby crafts and stuff) the sweet 16 was free  because I felt bad that the dad lost his job and the only thing I could offer was my photo skills my logo on those pics led to a paid thing the next week the first birthday and the hey can you do a few family shots please. I don’t like doing outdoor family shots until after 4-5 pm here in Florid.  Lighting is so much more cooperative. When I had my own site up (25 a month and not doing much paid stuff can’t justify the cost but I own the domain when I’m ready to put it back up)I could disable copying  pics and posted them no logo. Facebook a straight up war anymore with local photogs. It’s sad really because I look at it as an art, we all have our own style and preference of what we want to shoot. We should network and support one another rather than being so competitive and degrading of others.  But that’s just my opinion lol.

 

So other than the logo, how are my pics?

 

[Author]

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