...In 3 Easy Steps - and 20 GAZILLION Practice Shots (good thing it's digital and not film)!
I guess this blog post is a bit of a mix of continuing to tell my story of how I came to decide to jump (or slide? maybe tumble headlong?) into photography as my primary source of income as well as a chronicle of the journey.
I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere on this website and/or blog that for the past half a decade I've been gardening for various clients as my primary income. And now my body is rebelling and shutting down the gardening-every-day part of my life. So I'm transitioning from gardening to photography, which has been my "secret dream job" my whole life!
(The mid-life crisis part of this story: if I don't take this plunge now, when will I do it?)
That's the nutshell.
Okay... now for the 3 easy steps to go from gardening to photography...
Got your pens ready?
The 3 Easy Steps
1. Put down the garden tools. (But not completely... I still get to tend my own garden!)
2. Pick up the camera - more than ever before. Take photos - more than ever before. Practice, practice, practice. Repeat this step- ad infinitum - until you have permanent one-eye squint, a permanent camera strap indentation in your neck, and a very sore "trigger" finger!
3. Find people who will pay you to do step two. Ad infinitum.
Presto! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Okay, that's the end of this blog post. Thanks for tuning in...
Ah, wait. That last sentence was definitely a dream. Wake up, Gina!
Yeah, so it's not really the end. Steps two and three are really just the beginning!
How? How do I do step three? Where? Where do I find these people?
These are the questions I've been asking myself... and asking other photographers.
And it really isn't the end of step 2 to just pick up the camera and take lots of photos. I'm discovering how important it is to pick up the RIGHT camera, or more importantly the right LENS! And those things aren't cheap! And then find the RIGHT settings, the RIGHT composition, the RIGHT lighting, the RIGHT posing, the RIGHT marketing techniques...
Why did I decide to make this leap?
Oh yeah, life-long dream and all of that stuff. Okay, so I guess I should stick with it, especially since my primary source of income (gardening) is on the way out the door SOON!
I think I'll leave step three for another blog post and talk more about where and how to find people willing to hire me after I have actually had that experience.
Back to Step 2 - Practice, Practice, Practice...
Today I want to focus a little bit on the story of the last few months of practicing with my new-to-me Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera which I bought used after trading in my 10-year old Canon 30D which was also bought used. I certainly have needed and appreciated practice using my new-to-me 50 mm f/1.8 prime lens (which I love) and my new-to-me 55-200 mm telephoto lens. Add in the countless hours of researching and trying to practice all the niches of photography that are fairly new to me, and you can understand why I haven't been getting much sleep the past few weeks.
I mentioned in my last blog post that I don't necessarily consider myself a portrait photographer, but after looking at some of my candid portrait shots over the years, perhaps I really can say that I know more about portrait photography than I thought. What I need to work on is lighting, camera settings, posing, and other such important details.
I am also interested in doing some real estate photography, which of course also demands experience and a good grasp of certain lighting techniques and composition basics.
And then there's pet/animal photography! I have always loved photographing my pets and animals in general...but that does not necessarily translate into the skills I need to make professional quality portraits of clients' pets!
The list of the types of photography I definitely have interest in also includes...
gardens & homes
travel
events
stock photography
photos for magazines
"My Local" photography for businesses, neighborhoods, Home Owner's Associations, organizations, communities, etc
promotional photography for website development, marketing, etc.
....And the list goes on!
Yet the question still remains - how do I get the experience needed to produce professional results?
Well, for me it all started with Digital Dolls.
I can just see the questioning and perplexed look on your face.
Let me explain.
Digital Dolls is a local photography group for women who are interested in learning more about photography. Any woman of any experience level in photography is welcome to join this group.
I found out about this group toward the end of the summer. I thought it sounded interesting and might be a fun way to get a bit more experience with my new-to-me camera. Not to mention, it's always fun to hang out with the girls. So I joined. I have met women who own and run their own photography companies, some who sell their photography, some who just want to be able to take better photos of their families and friends.
And it has turned into more than just a women's camera club!
I have so enjoyed the few meetings and outings I've been able to attend and look forward to many more. But even more than just enjoying the gatherings, I've also learned from the others and been able to practice several of the niches on my list of "want to be better at". Every time I attend an event, I bring home some new knowledge and a list of things I want to practice doing.
I mentioned in my last blog post, Sketches in Portraits, that I was hoping to learn a bit more about portrait photography in the near future. That "near future" photo session happened, and it was a great learning curve for me.
A few of my favorite photos from the "portrait practice" session are below. And that was even before I had traded my 10-year-old Canon 30D for the newer and better Canon 7D that I have now. I know the technical quality of these 2 photos is not that great, but the things I tried with settings and the things I learned about settings and light (and bouncy kids) are keepers for sure!
Just after this photo session, I upgraded to my Canon 7D, and I've been so busy with gardening that I haven't had time to break out the camera and get it broken in.
I intentionally made time for some Digital Dolls photo excursions so I would force myself to take the time to practice with my new camera.
It just happened that the next photo excursion was to watch (and photograph over the shoulder of) Pam Meyers of Imagine IF Photography in her monthly photo shoot for local pet rescue organizations.
What a fun evening! For pet lovers and photography lovers, this was euphoria! (Well, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration - I was so focused on which camera settings to use...no time for euphoria.)
Quite a few kittens, cats, and dogs of all varieties and descriptions came through the door to have their portraits made for various adoption websites.
Pam and her dog/cat-wrangler daughter make a great team. They have a wonderful set-up of lighting and background for beautiful pet portraits. And they have a plethora of tricks, toys, and noises (as well as heaps of patience!) to help get the best shot.
Here is a photo to show part of the backdrop set-up as well as part of the dog wrangler doing her job tirelessly.
This shot was taken from a vantage point to the right of where Pam was shooting the portraits. Heidi, the friendly young dog in need of a home, was focusing beautifully on Pam's noises, and the Dog Wrangler (whose job is never done) was there to re-position when necessary.
From Pam's shooting perspective, the leash would not be so visible and of course the wrangler disappears.
This photo of the cat shows a closer example of the portrait set-up with cushioned stool, lighting, and background. I was shooting over Pam's shoulder (as she was lying on the floor) for this shot. This is only a practice photo for my camera settings. The official (and infinitely better) portrait photo of this cute kitty was shot by Pam Meyers for an adoption website.
No time to fiddle with camera settings when Heidi is on the loose!
After her portrait "sitting" (which was really more of a half-sit, half-jump, half-stand, half-roll), she had the run of the place and jumped from lap to lap with boundless joy and endless friendly kisses.
Here Heidi is showing her gratitude to Pam (of Imagine If Photography) for all her hard work and help in finding so many loving homes for rescue pets with her great photos!
Not long after this great pet-portrait shooting experience with Pam, the Digital Dolls took an excursion to the beautiful area around Sulphur, Oklahoma. Our hope was to get great photos of fall color, but with our longer-than-usual summer warmth this year, we had only mostly green foliage with a few dots of yellow surrounding us.
So instead we went for shots of landscapes, waterfalls, and sunsets (and some deer, but I think they were too quick for anyone to get a decent shot)...
...and then we went for Mexican food!
What a great combination!
This was yet another opportunity to practice my settings for putting a little blur on moving water as well as some general light setting and depth of field practice.
The parting shot for this blog post is from the excursion in Sulphur.
Thanks for tagging along with me on my ever-increasingly exciting journey of photography as a profession!
Next blog post I hope to be able to discuss my first (and subsequent) hired-as-a-photographer experiences!