Busy, busy, busy

It's pretty crazy how much busy work there is to do to get ready for my "grand opening." I've been doing paperwork, figuring out bank accounts and how to accept credit cards, working on my website, sorting out marketing and pricing strategies. It's been a challenge to wrap my head around all of this, but I think it is going well and I'm enjoying working on something that is outside of my comfort zone.

As the final details are starting to sort themselves out, I've also been working on finalizing my portfolio and choosing people to model for me. I'm getting those dates worked out and I think I am still on track to make my official opening to "the public" to be on July 1st... well, technically I would have to start on the 2nd, because the 1st is my husband's birthday and I want to be able to celebrate with him!

Learning

Okay, I survived that first blog post. That's a good sign, right?

I've always liked taking pictures and going back and revisiting them later... especially from when I was young and skinny! Ah, the good old days...

When my son, who is now 4, was a baby, I discovered photo editing. I loved the idea of being able to take a photo that was okay and turning it into something that was better. I took that love and paired it with some tricks I knew from scrapbooking, and for a while, I ran a photo card and design business from my home. I've had lots of fun doing that, but I also started to notice that there was a big difference in the quality of the photos I worked with over the years. I wanted to learn why some photos were so much better than others, and I wanted to be able to take those kind of shots, rather than just wait for a few happy accidents. And so, a few years ago, when I wanted to learn more about photography, my husband bought me a DSLR camera. And... I kept it on auto! I tried a few times to switch to other modes and, since I had no idea what anything meant, the pictures did not turn out very well! So, I got frustrated and switched back to auto mode. My camera was basically a fancy, more expensive point and shoot.

I finally gritted my teeth and started trying to understand what things meant. I learned about scary sounding things like aperture and f/stops, shutter speed, iso and started to practice and practice until things started to click. I learned about things like posing and composition and lights and shadows and anything else I could find. And as I have practiced, I've noticed changes in how things are coming together. I'm not where I want to be... and I hope I never am. I hope that I am always seeing room for improvement and finding new things to learn. But, I'm also at the point where I can see a big difference in where I was, and that sure is a good feeling.

Dusting off dreams...

Busy, busy, busy... this is how I have been lately.

For so long, I have had the dream of doing photography. Being a photographer... something about that phrase puts such a thrill in my heart. It's always been a dream I have had at arm's length, too scared to really examine it. It was better to keep it in the corner, shiny and dust free, than it was to really take a close look at it. And so, that dream just sat there and did nothing.

Earlier this year, my husband and I were talking about our goals for the upcoming year. I took a deep breath and pulled my dream off the shelf, and said I would like to "do something with my photography." Actually, I kind of bumbled through that statement, because it was such a scary thing to say out loud and put it out there in the open.

And, so here I am... taking the baby steps I need to do to see my dream come to life. Where will it go? I don't know. It might fly high through the air, or it might crash and burn... probably it will be somewhere between those two extremes. But I'll never know if I keep it on the shelf, so it's time to see what I can do.

And, one of those baby steps means pushing the "publish post" button on this very first blog post... Here I go!