f.Light Photography

Last week I had a real bummer of a day. And I mean a truly awful, horrendously bad, ultra uncool day. My mood was out the window, I was crying about the tiniest thing and my poor husband got to hear all my pent up tantrums about my crappy life, my sucky blog, my inability to take photos and my permanent writer’s and photographer’s block (Me, exaggerate? Never!). I think hormones had something to do with it, cuz let’s face it, I’m a woman. But that didn’t make it any more pleasant to be around me.

Anyways, my meltdown sparked some new ideas for my blog, which I want to implement as time goes by. One is a very common theme among blogs and I’ve seen it in various forms already. So I wanted to create my own version and just get into it. My personal highs and lows of the week, or the month or the fortnight, whichever fits best into my current schedule. So in various irregularities I will write about things that make me want to jump up and down and hug the world and those things that should never have crawled out from under the rug where they came from.

Because this is the first one of my high ‘n’ low posts it’s not as refined as it may become over time. Bear with me while I figure this out. So, now onto this week’s “Sweet” and “Lows”:

Sweet

• My husband and his endless patience with me when I have my meltdowns
• Finally coming up with a design for a client’s website that I don’t hate
• The smell of morning coffee (even though I don’t drink it, I adore the smell)

Lows

• Meltdowns and insomnia (they do often go hand-in-hand)
• Cravings for unhealthy food that won’t go away
• Being behind in my 52-week project
• Ants. Seriously, why do they have to live EVERYWHERE?

I have a confession to make. And I aint gonna like it (ahh…that sounded so lovely American, like in the movies and cheesy rap songs!). My confession: I’m already 3 weeks behind in posting my 52-week project. I know, I know, it’s a disgrace. But somehow life doesn’t seem to play along with my ideas all the time. No worries, I will catch up. Eventually. I can’t promise the exact time and date, but I will find my photos and I will spread the love. Or the self-portraits. Whichever comes first.

So, meanwhile I’ve been having a look through all my old photos and getting extremely nostalgic about London and all the great photo opportunities I had there. But, no use crying over what was. It’s time to look forward and get into the things I can do here. Like my self-portraits. I wish I had ideas though…lately I’ve been too blank. Wiped clean of ideas. The photographic alternative to writer’s block.

I did however redo my blog design (which I’m quite happy about!). I was getting kinda fed up with the old design, so this is a step into a new era of blogging. At least for me. I also found time to work on an entry for Calvin’s New York Contest, which was alot of fun. I’m quite excited to see some of the other entries (if he posts them).

My newest toy is my new computer. I finally got the much needed upgrade from my really slow PC with a crap graphics card. Now that I’ve upgraded to a quad core processor and 4GB RAM with an awesome graphics card, it’s been a dream working on my stuff. Things load faster, process better and browsing through my photos doesn’t take all day. This will hopefully also increase my productivity and thus my output…so here’s hoping I can show you new photos soon. Above I’ve included some older ones to tide you over until I’ve caught up – if the Windows 7 Bubbles screensaver doesn’t distract me too much! :)

See what I mean?

I’ve had the awesome opportunity to spend some time assisting a professional photographer at weddings. So far I’ve attended two weddings with him and both times I’ve learned alot. Mainly what to look out for when scoping the location for potential “shooting places” but also how to aim the reflectors and the flashes and what poses work well. The one wedding was in the middle of the day with extreme brightness and almost no shade, but in the end we found a few nice spots (although the ants where crawling all over us within seconds). The other wedding almost rained out, but luckily it let up just before the ceremony and held off until the reception, so we did get some lovely pictures with a dramatic sky. It’s always great when the weather suddenly does play along.

At the first wedding I got to shoot some of the reception detail and at the second wedding I had the opportunity to focus on the personal items of the bride. In both cases I got to experiment a bit and I did get some nice pictures. I’ve created two collages, one for each wedding. I also experimented a bit with a new way of branding my photos. Any feedback in that regard is also welcome.

The best part was being allowed to take a few photos with the photographer’s equipment as well – but obviously I don’t have those photos. I love how every little bit of experience teaches me something and how shadowing someone can give me so much benefit as well. And of course it feels good to help someone out.

I don’t know yet whether I’m cut out for the stress of being a wedding photographer, or whether I’m more the assistant/second shooter type, but I’m learning and I’m definitely enjoying it alot. Now if only I had a better lens to work with! I’m still dreaming of owning the 70-200mm Nikon VR lens. Until then my nifty fifty will have to hold down the fort.