one year....new beginnings

One day for someone can be completely different to another. I have seen two points of view of Weddings but it never occurred to me, until now, that there is in fact a third. I have been thinking about it recently, as this time next year my sister will be getting married. None of my immediate family has been married yet, only some of my cousins so this really exciting for all the family. I have my bridesmaids dress and Sarah has her ivory gown and it made me realize that a couple getting married have their own view point of the day. Of course that is obvious but philosophical moments just are.

They have been engaged for seven months now, since Christmas day and it will be interesting going to a wedding where I can just relax. I remember at my cousin's wedding last year where my Photography dream was concieved and it is defintly a different story to what I know about it now. I'm happy with it though, even though I have to keep reminding myself that it will take time to know all the in's and out's.

I get impatient about progress and I've probably mentioned before about how I am a perfectionist and want to be able to do things without too much learning. I know for a fact that doesn't help at all and practise does really make perfect and that is the boring part. It shouldn't be boring but whenever you see people doing their perfessions, such as a Photographer they make it look so easy, when in fact they have probably learned a lot too. This is probably why I would never want to be a dentist or surgeon who have to work years on courses to earn that status. It is not just this hobby that I feel impatience about progress, it is almost everything I try. I'm learning how to cook at the moment and bought a student cook book the other week. It has definitely been useful and my Mum has been guiding me through. Every week I pick out a few recipes, write them down and buy the ingredients. I then come to recognise the techniques and the order of sequences and it seems easier. I think there is more to learn with the Photography and I have been disappointed that I haven't been able to use my camera at Wedding Shoots with Stuart. I need to use the learnings skills from the cooking and transfer it to the Photography.

Is life ever fair?

[Photos from the Engagement Photo shoot]

Epiphany

Hmm I think I know what my problem is. I look at these photos I have taken and feel proud but that is because I have been on my own control and used my own ideas. I hate being told what to do but I the thing is I need to listen to Stuart so I can be better than I already am.

Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/

Magazines and Competitions

As a beginner I only really knew the simple things about photography but in May I decided why I don't I collect a photography magazine. I sort of felt lost about what I was doing and had no idea about some things in photography at all until I came acorss Practical Photography Magazine'.

There were many magazines to choose from on the stand but they didn't seem right to me. I would look on the covers and think they may be too complicated right now or thats not what I am looking for, but Practical Photography I felt that I could easily understand what was being showed and that I could learn efficently.


So I read and found some useful tips abot shoots, types of cameras, photoshop ideas and ways to enhance your photography that have really helped. Annoyingly I don't have enough money to buy a professional looking camera, so when I read about "shooting raw" etc I can't use that with my tiny digital camera. Although I am keeping each months magazine for when do eventually own one and can use the tools to my advantage.

One thing that bothered me when I began photogprahy was the lack of views and comments on my Flickr page. I wanted feedback and to be noticed. I began to feel that no one wanted to look at my photos, as if they wern't important. The thing was, they hadn't been discovered. Even so after 14 months of Flickr, comments, feedback and views are on the gradual increase. It is a good feeling to be noticed, so I put my photography to the test and have entered two competitions in my magazine.
The first one was the topic of Action with the photo oppersite. I didn't win or become a runner up, but out of the seven stages i got to the fifth, with a feedback card. "Technically good but lacks impact". I was slightlly dissapointed as I thought maybe i had the chance of winning, but i had no idea of the range of photography there was, so in last months competition "Creative Colour" I sent in this photo. I havn't got any feedback yet as the closing date is on the 15th of August so next month i will found out. I am not getting my hopes up too much but i tried to add some more depth into my work so hope it goes well.

Competitions are an acheivement, whether you win or not. You never know what impact it will have on your career. So have you entered any photography competitions? Get very far? Or do you read a photography magazine. I would be interesting to see which ones you do read.



[both photos used are for competiton use only and cannot be re-entered into any other competition]




Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/