Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Here we go!

You may notice a new blog background. I'd love to say that some day I'll decide on one look, but anyone who knows me knows that's not likely. I like change. I'm probably the rare human on the earth that actually looks forward to change. And I've learned when something BIG is taking too long to change, and I need immediate satisfaction, smaller things change. I rearrange furniture (or move as I've been known to do), I re-organize a cabinet/shelf/room etc, or I redesign my blogs.

And if you don't believe that will you believe the other background expired and so I had no choice?

ahem!

So here we go. New look, same old yammering. Its just a mask.

Things this week have been interesting. One interesting lunch yesterday has led to some serious contemplation. And as if that wasn't enough to think about I now have to think about where this ink on my fingers came from AND how did I get this massive bruise on my leg.

I had lunch yesterday with Mrs. HuskyFanatic (formally known as Mrs. Newlywed). With their new addition into their family, the Newlyweds and I rarely get a chance to get caught up. But Mrs. HuskyFanatic works just a down from me, so she and I can get caught up a lot more. Mr. HuskyFanatic has been known to be jealous, but he'll get over it.

Right, back to lunch. Mrs. HuskyFanatic told me that they all just got some family photos taken. They met the photographer at a location and then 2 hours later they had 300+ photos that the said photographer would then go and "fix" and give them a DVD with the good photos. A significant fee was passed to the photographer. Mrs. HF (short for HuskyFanatic in case you're not keeping up) said the entire time she thought, and said out loud to Mr. HF that Jenn should be doing this.

First I was taken back by their apparent appreciation of a talent I seem to have. Then I was immediately overwhelmed by a lack of confidence I can't even explain. I've seen these photos and I knew I could never do anything like that. Not even close. I expressed this to Mrs. HF and since she has given this some thought, she all but convinced me I could do this. We bartered on an agreement that come October they will be my guinea pigs. I can use them as the first run of potential clients to photograph.

Huh. Me? A family photographer?

I'm still not convinced I've got that kind of talent. Since my lunch though I've been seriously thinking about the possibility. What if? After I realized those photos have, in fact, been manipulated and thus look fantastic, I realized I must get into a Photoshop class so I too can manipulate into gorgeous.

Then the research began. I polled a few friends who have really cute kids (you can't take a bad picture of beautiful people) and all of them are on board to be guinea pigs.

Now, to work on the business plan. What would a small side business mean to me? Could I actually make this work? It would combine a love I have of taking pictures (though I tend to really like taking flower photos over people cuz flowers rarely have a temper tantrum) with making $$. I could start with a small fee, take the photos, put them on a DVD and give them to the subjects. Then hopefully the word of mouth will kick in and friends of friends of friends will ask me to take their photos. After awhile, assuming all goes well, I could raise my rates and quite my 9-5 job.

The possibilities are endless.

I'm not naive enough to think this could be easy. In fact, I'm sure it would be the exact opposite. But what if I put in all the sweat and tears and end up spending the rest of my work life doing something I absolutely love?

After all the contemplation and all the research I'm ready to go. I want to do this. I no longer doubt I can do this, I can and I will. There is still this little nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "you're not that good." and while I agree with that voice to a certain degree, I do have my moments of being that good. I won't ever be an Ansel Adams, but I don't want to be. I don't want to be someone that has already made a name for themselves. I want to be genuinely me.

Now I have to get out there and start shooting people (which my new 300mm lens will help with), learn from those shots, improve, learn to fix in photoshop and voila - a photographer is born.

Oh and start thinking of really clever names. My new business needs a sweet, catchy name.

Fasten your seatbelts...it's gonna be a scary ride.

2 comments:

BigBro said...

How about using "Photo-Jenn-ic" in your name??

e.g. "Totally Photo-Jenn-ic"

Sub
Famously
Completely
U-R-
"....." Creations
"....." Expressions

Al & Jo said...

Great Idea Big Bro

As for you missy...give yourself a big swift kick in the rear...you are very good, get going!