Well, it’s been pretty busy lately, and learning quite a few things in the photography area. Mainly from the business side of things.  Especially when it comes to approaching future projects.   I also got to spend time with my boy John recently and pick his brain in some areas of studio photography.  For those that don’t know, he’s sort of my mentor in the photography area.  Most of my stuff is self taught, but I’m always open for guidance and critism from my peers.  We ended up talking and planning for over 2 hours, so I was able to come away with quite a bit.

One of the reasons for this is that I’ve finally put in my order for some studio equipment.   Right now, I’m starting off with 3 lights and a variety of “light modifiers” which should really give me a great start in getting going with my creativity and some of the things that I’ve been wanting to do in the areas of studio photography.  It will also allow me to be able to do even more for the people that I photograph.  Doing work with just a reflector and flash really helps you to learn to work with what you got, but I’ve been itching to move on for quite a while now.   I won’t have the equipment until next week, so this weekend and beginning of next week just might be the longest ever.

 Things are going to be a bit more complicated now that I’ll have to deal with lighting ratios, the understanding of watts per second, metering, and all of the other terminology and math behind it, but I’m definitely looking forward to it with much enthusiam.   Hopefully, Jason will be able to get his pretty soon as well so we’ll be able to trade off on ideas, techniques and the things that we’ve learned.   Would be nice to have a studio, but I have a LONG way income wise before I’m ready to start plopping down rent for permanent studio space, so for right now, I just made sure that my equipment will be mobile for shooting in various locations in order to make up for the lack of having a studio.   And if push comes to shove, I can always rent some temporary space if needed.

I predict that the year 2008 is going to kick plenty of butt!  Look for plenty of pictures to start showing up throughout the weeks.

Found this particular blog entry through dpreview.  Didn’t even realize this guy was from Kansas City until I saw the KCFD photos.  Small world, I tell you.  But this particular quote caught my eye, because honestly, I’m going through the same kind of rut. 

I hate every photograph I shoot. Nothing seems worthy of being photographed, and I can barely stand the thought of pressing the shutter release on another photograph, only to be disappointed with how it will look.

Chris’ Photography Journey

It seems that once you get to a certain point in your photography, you’re wanting to hit the next level, and until you feel that you have gotten to that level, you really despise the shots that you’re currently shooting.  Even though they may look good to others, we’re constantly seeing the flaws in our work rather than the good.  We become overly critical of ourselves. 

A friend pointed out that perhaps I was reliving what mom always told me when I was a kid.  That I was never good enough, I was going to fail, etc.. etc..   But in my opinion, I think that we just realize that we can do much better.  Yea, the shots are technically good, but we strive for something better than what we’ve been doing.  We feel as if our creative wisdom has been drained.

I’ve thought about this for a while, and just made the decision to just keep shooting for the original reason I shot.  To have fun and to express myself.  Eventually, my creativity will kick back in, and I’ll pull off shots that I feel are up to my own standards.  But until then, I’m trying not to forget that I love photography, and to refrain from working so hard at it, whether it’s for myself, or for someone else.

Speaking of which, I think I’m about due for another trip to the Kansas City Zoo.