Filed under: Uncategorized
If you are just getting started, some classes on how to use lighting and composition and most importantly lessons on exposure and shutter speed will help. Though this could be the quickest way to gain knowledge, there are some self-service ways!
Start looking at other people’s work (I love looking at Flickr.com and can spending many hours at this site) and decide what you like and then research how they produced that shot. You will start to develop your own style once you feel confident about how to produce it.
Take a photograph everyday. Not just a quick snapshot, but a photo you have to think about: lighting, composition, etc. It will be hard to do it everyday…but it’s the practice you need to understand photography and get better.
Also, (and I wish I could have done this for myself) find a pro photographer in your area who might be willing to let you assist. You might get some no’s, however a real pro will not be annoyed by someone who wants to learn; they should be thrilled to share! I mentor someone and take her on sessions to explain and show techniques. As a pro, it helps keep me in check with my technical skills and it’s great to have someone helping me on more hectic jobs, like toddlers!
Research what you need the camera to do to achieve the type of photography you want to create. Keep in mind the photographer makes the great photos, not the camera! “Wow, that’s a great picture, you must have a nice camera!” It’s kind of like telling a writer, “wow, that’s a great book, you must have a nice pen!” You don’t have to have an expensive camera to make art someone will appreciate.
Watching my intern do her first 6 month year old session
Filed under: Business | Tags: .org, charity golf tournament, fort meade owc, nonprofit, photography, support, the arc of maryland
If you have checked out the US section on my website, you’ll see a place that lists the organizations I support. The key ingredient, “Helping Each Other.” Word of mouth has always been my number one marketing tool, but I never underestimate the power of positive karma! 🙂
I still offer FREE re-enlistment and retirement ceremony photographs to include a free CD to any military members as a small token of my appreciation. But I also recognize the value in helping out other organizations that don’t always have the funds, but definitely have the need for a professional photographer.
I’m proud to say I’m supporting the following organizations in the coming months. I have included their Facebook link as well for my social networking fans. These two organizations could use your support and/or volunteer time. They both give back to their community in very special ways and I’m thrilled I can do my part to help.
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In April, Wild Blue Bug Photography will the official photographer for the awards ceremony honoring businesses who have supported The Arc of Maryland. Please take a moment to check out their website and understand what The Arc of Maryland is all about!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Annapolis-MD/The-Arc-of-Maryland/40390372977
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On May 1st, Wild Blue Bug Photography will be a tee sponsor for the 4th Annual “Old Joe” Charity Golf Tournament benefitting the welfare and scholarship programs of the Fort George G. Meade OWC.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=51818458894
I will be photographing foursomes at my designated tee at the Courses at Fort Meade. Players will receive a digital image of their foursome as a free gift for participating at this charity event.
You can register for the event as a sponsor or player or just lunch…and you can donate for a soldier to play through the main website at http://www.fortmeadeowc.org
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I hope you find your passion and get to share it with others! Cheers! ~Jodi
I couldn’t have asked for a better day! Though if I do this again, I don’t think I’ll take on the challenge of cooking my own food. My skills are minimal, although I now know I can make a mean dip and salsa. I am glad it occurred to me to give the kiddos in the morning session something to occupy them for a bit. Blank paper, crayons, silly hats and juice boxes go a long way! I was lucky to have a budding photographer help me that day and she captured some great candids of the event and helped me with a few sessions when the kiddos were involved. And for the adults I had a mock game of Price is Right that included chocolate prizes and one cash prize game. My impression is they had a good time as all but two attendees for both sessions bought their photographs. I think everyone liked their “take-away” gift boxes that included a Union Street Soapworks Healing Bar, chocolate, Love charm, and rose scented votive. I’ll post a few of the portraits below…
And in other news..I started a Facebook Fan Page! I’m such a computer nerd and so addicted to social networking and media that I couldn’t help myself when I saw a fellow business owner start one. Hope to see you there! FAN PAGE
These were released to my Portrait Party attendees, but I thought I would pass these on to everyone! These are good thru the end of February! If you’re thinking about scheduling a future session, buy your session now and receive 20% off!
Good Thru February 28, 2009
Not all of the holiday parties are complete! I’m hosting my first Valentine Portrait Party at the end of the month. Folks can come to a morning or evening session, grab some munchies, make conversation, have fun, and most of all let me photograph them for a gift for their Valentine. The event is on January 30th…so after…folks will have a full two weeks to make their selections and get their present ready. I’m excited to see how things will turn out! I’m not worried about the photographs, just about how the actual party will turn out! I’m not charging any fees upfront…so no obligations to buy. They can just view their sessions online and decide from there! Below is the ad I’m putting in the local spouses club newsletter. The portraits are from a very recent session with family members. These lovely ladies are my Aunts…and my Mom aka Momo! I hope I don’t need a model release for them 🙂
By the way…Happy New Year! You know what you need to do to make it great.
A Valentine Portrait Party
It has been awhile since my last blog post! Where have I been? Lately, I’ve been learning how to run. For me, running closely resembles learning how to walk. I’m not naturally athletic…but I am stubborn. Somehow those two cancel each other out.
Before that…mostly lost in a dramatic pause. I’m sure you know the kind. It makes you hold your breath and not want to move a muscle so as not to affect the outcome. Though sometimes it feels like driving blind, I’ve realized that I just need to find the right gear.
And before that…I was traveling. First to San Antonio to reconnect with friends who helped remind me how much fun I am! And then on to a much larger adventure to Ireland with a travel companion I hadn’t seen in over a decade. It was here that I experienced every emotion available. I ended up taking well over 1400 photos…and still working through them. I think I finally finished day one of my ten day journey. So it may be a long while before I can consider the album complete. Ireland was a wonderful place…and I hope I can get back there one day.
Besides the photograph below…I have some of my Ireland trip completed at Ireland Photographs. Only 55 so far of the 1400 I took though. It will be awhile before I can call the album complete.
view from the bridge to County Tipperary in Ireland
Yesterday, I did something I had never done before…participated in a photo walk. This was out of the norm, as locations from around the world had a photo walk on the same day. http://www.photoshopuser.com/photowalk/
The weather was fantastic at Fells Point in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. We all met at Max’s, an eclectic restaurant that caters to gluttony in the form of food and beer. See the pic from my iphone below of a fellow photographers lunch. With 50 photographers on the walk, we were all keen to take a photograph of everything, including lunch, with much enthusiasm.
two foot longs
Most of us are hoping to make this a monthly event and become a photo walk club. I’m sure this will happen, as even after the 50 registrations cutoff, there was a waiting list.
What happens on a photo walk? A leader plots out a location, walking route and time to meet. We meet, take a group photo, set out to take photographs along the way, then meet for lunch afterwards to discuss. Quite a simple concept and a rewarding experience. Here’s a link to a photo that the walk leader, Stacie, took of the group. http://www.flickr.com/photos/staciephoto/2790275064/
And lastly, my favorite shot of the day is below. Fells Point is a unique location in the inner harbor with many colorful doors, quirky decor, and interesting architecture. To view more of the photos I took, visit Worldwide Photo Walk -….
see me sitting there
Filed under: Ramblings | Tags: quoted military spouse magazine photography light
I have been officially quoted in my first national publication…Military Spouse Magazine! I’m so thrilled. I don’t have the actual magazine yet, but I saw a copy of the September issue in the community center and made a photocopy.
I’m a moderator for a forum called To Work or Not To Work on Milspouse.com. I posted all the details behind my portable career, photography. This writer saw that I was a photographer and sent me a questionnaire to fill out…which lead to her published article and my quotes! Hooray! I especially love that she included the fact that I’m a military spouse. Hooray again!
I’m not really sure what it means for my business, but how many folks can say they have been quoted in a national magazine. Surely less than half the population?
I tried for several summers from ages 8-12 to get a quote into Readers Digest (my grandpa loves it), but to no avail. My jokes may not have been funny enough or my stories clever, but I kinda feel like this makes up for it.
I’ve had my photos on exhibit at Barnes and Noble, now a quote in a national magazine…what cool and wonderful things could happen next?
Maybe I should try Readers Digest again…
doing my happy dance...
…I said this to someone today…I’m wise.
“…in a holding pattern…I’m just trying to be patient and see if that gets me anywhere 🙂 Kinda like real airlines…when you get stuck on a plane that can’t take off…you can’t get off the plane unless you act like a crazy person (and that won’t get you where you want to go)…so you just wait and hope that it takes off soon and that the air condition continues to work so it’s at least comfortable and bearable.”
Of course I’m speaking of all things that I cannot control…the weather, my age (without lying), and more importantly…other people.
Wow…I’m wiser than myself two seconds ago.
In other news, I attended my Baltimore Photography MeetUp. The homework assignment was “old and new.” And because I’ve been engrossed with updating my website and other collateral, I put off doing this homework until about an hour before it was due. I was walking around my house trying to make the correlation with fruit (I only had old bananas), dishes (which were really more dirty than old), and a gallon of milk with a cheese partner. I never figured out the cheese correlation.
So anyhow, my husband is a home roaster. Meaning, he buys green (unroasted) coffee beans and roasts them at home. He has recently roasted using his air popper. This means the air is soaked in burnt cookie smell for the remainder of the week because of this “archaic” way of roasting (there is an expensive roaster in his future by the way). Yes, I said ‘burnt cookie’, not coffee. I believe it’s the chaff that causes the burnt cookie smell.
Long story, slightly longer…the burnt cookie smell makes me wonder if I dumped out the old coffee filter. And alas, I had not (go figure). So, I set up this shot in my kitchen of…you got it…OLD and NEW coffee filter art. I must say…it’s quite literal, but effective.
and once again…I’m now wiser than myself two seconds ago.
Wiser than coffee grounds
I had a “wine and say cheese” social at my house and the most beautiful light was shining on my brie! heehee! See my header for some cheesy goodness. I invited the neighbors over promising wine and cheese and a free, framed 5×7 in exchange for the opportunity to photograph them. I made the invites from a couple photographs I took of a wine glass and a wine holder I bought from Ikea. I did two different invites hoping to appeal to the masculine and feminine sides.
This was when I was trying to build my portfolio. Now almost a year has gone by and I feel like I’ve made some real progress. I have paid off my initial camera equipment investment, acquired more camera equipment, got a new logo and am now getting ready to unveil a new, and much improved website that I bought from bludomain.com. I’m hoping that will happen before the week is up! The old logo is on these photos by the way.
Here’s one of the framed images I gave away that night. It’s a 200mm shot in low light, so it’s not the sharpest. However, her mom loved it and hung it in their home…and her dad immediately used it as his computer wallpaper.
Oh! and I had some lovely fruit on display as well.
Perhaps I should hold a 2nd annual Wine and Say Cheese event.
Wild Blue Bug 