Patience

Hmmm.

If you read this then you know that I'm trying to start a photography business of some type on the side. It'll be a long road to reach any level of professionalism with artistic merit (I mean I could go shoot kids at different events but that doesn't take much of an eye to produce something that Mom&Dad and the grandparents will buy). I'm interested in producing commercially viable artistic photos. That means models and still lifes and studios and portraits. To help me on the way I've joined a model/photographer meeting place (OneModelPlace.com) and setup several shoots with models. This week alone I scheduled three shoots: one in Murfreesboro, one in Knoxville and one in Huntsville. The Murfreesboro and Knoxville sessions were canceled as I couldn't get a confirmation from the models. Each had valid reasons for canceling but this is just to point out that starting a business and shooting TFP is an exercise in patience. So far I've scheduled somewhere around 10 photo shoots and actually made 2. I've never scheduled a photo shoot and gone to it the first time; its always been rescheduled. This isn't a problem in the big scheme of things and I hope to increase both my portfolio and several models' portfolios with high quality shots that we can both be proud of. I'm not ranting or angry. Just commenting on the nature of this experiment. My tendancy is to shoot landscapes for a week or two, shoot fauna (animals and insects) for another week or so and then need to setup a photo shoot so that I can get some variety. I'm trying to build some habits and some skills for studio shoots as I hope to build an in-home studio over the next few years. I'm already happier with the shots I take than I was a few months ago. I've gotten some of my eye back for panoramic or nature shots but as this is my first real attempt at learning to shoot models as well as learning to compose creative shots (especially for DPC) I'm finding several facets of this challenging.

This weekend Cindee and I went down to Atlanta and I got to hold the Canon 1D. I never thought I'd want a camera that advanced or that heavy (that thing is like 2 or 3 bricks strapped together but ITS SOLID). Now I know that I would really enjoy setting up some flashes with umbrellas and softboxes, hooking up a sync and shooting until I just wanted to pass out. That camera was just awesome to hold. I love my 10D with its servo and its 6.3 megapixels but the 1D is impressive. Maybe someday I can afford to retire and travel with Cindee shooting beautiful landscapes with whatever passes as the next generation (or maybe two or three generations removed) from the 1D.

'til then,

Kev