Something I've never been told before - until today.

"Tom, I think you missed your calling."

- "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, you should have been in a funk band."

- "....thanks."

Does "at wit's end" mean anything to you people?

Today I've written at least 5 scathing emails to people I am working with, and then at the last minute chickened out and deleted them without sending them.

It's yet another one of THOSE days, and I've had a whole year of them.

A minor, DAILY annoyance

Ok, here's one I think everyone can relate to.

Every single morning on my way to work I pass two people in their cars. One is an old man, the other is a woman who appears to be in her late 50's.

Every single morning they both look absolutely terrified to be driving their cars.

The woman is always found at 8:15 on the highway, white knuckles gripping the steering wheel for life, going 45 miles per hour in a clearly marked 65 MPH zone. Today I passed her right as we both passed the big sign that said 65 MPH, and I wanted to roll down the window and politely tell her to check out that sign, and that she is in danger of killing us all with her stupidity.

The old man is my personal favorite. He drives the speed limit on 16th street, which is 35, but he takes forever to get to 35, and he slows down for every light - regardless of its color. Now, I am all for cautious driving, especially in the city. I mean, there are pedestrians out there man, you gotta be on your game! But this guy is a little overboard.

Then, if the light is red, he stops a full block ahead of the light (I'm not exaggerating this...) and then creeeeeps up to the line. I swear to you, it's the most annoying thing I've ever endured. More annoying even than a slow water leak, just dripping in the sink all night...drip, drip, drip....

Oh, and when the light turns green he creeeeps back up to the speed limit...but then a block goes by and it's another light..so back down to 20 we go. I usually get stuck behind him for a good 6 blocks because traffic literally backs up around him. People are afraid to pass him because they think he sees something about to run into the road. So I sit behind this guy and watch drivers inch past him, afraid of this imaginary force that might kill them, or at least dent their bumper.

It happens every single day.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from my travels this fall, so far.

- Another view from the AT, in the Smokey Mountains. This was the field we camped in.


- Joe, in camp, wondering what I am doing with the camera. "You know how to operate that thing?"

- Me, in camp scratching my 3 day old beard. You can't really see it here...but it was annoying me! Could have been the gnats, or mosquitoes, or chiggers too.


- Inside the Sprecher Brewing Company, on a tour. Milwaukee, WI


- "The Bier Garden", Sprecher Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI


- "The Bier Garten", Sprecher Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI


- Pigeons on a statue. Downtown Indianapolis.

First Wedding Assist

Last night was my first attempt at professional wedding photography! It was GREAT! I was assisting Debby (Debby's Photography - website to be launched soon...), who is actually Patrick's (see link to the side) mother-in-law. I couldn't ask for a better person to learn from. She's been doing weddings for 20 years, and has basically taught herself everything. She says that she started out just shooting photos of her children, saw great results with that, and decided to try to make a career of it. She, like me, started apprenticing for other photographers to learn the ins and outs of the craft, and within 6 months of shadowing - she started doing it for herself.

She says she learned mostly "what not to do" from her mentors. I, on the other hand, and learning exactly what TO DO from her.

Things I learned yesterday:

• Show up early!
• Debby had been to the venue where the wedding and reception would be held previously for a different wedding, but this wedding was different, and would be a whole new ballgame.
• Scout a location to shoot formals and set up there first. Check everything (strobe, camera, tripod, stands, power, lighting, set....)
• Get all equipment in the venue and in locations that will be easy to get to in the heat of the moment.
• 35MM for reception should be in the reception area
• Medium Format for formals should be in the formals area
• On this shoot, the reception was on one floor, and the formals were on another, so running back and forth would have been a problem
• It takes a lot of equipment to cover everything - and it takes at least 2 of everything to do it properly
• Sometimes, despite how hard you try, a shot will be blocked by a pole, someone's head, bad lighting, or all of the forementioned!
• Don't take photos of people while they are eating or praying - with one exception. During this ceremony the bride and groom knelt down to be blessed by the minister. This is a must have shot...and therefore and exception to the rule.
• Bring food for yourself. Luckily I had eaten a large lunch before we went. I didn't even think to pack a dinner, but even if I had there wouldn't have been time to eat it. When you're working a wedding, any time you don't have a camera in your hands could mean a missed photo op...so bring quick snacks like a powerbar or granola bar and water.
• I need another 35mm body. Since I have 2 very good lenses and only one body, I have to switch back and forth - something that takes a bit of time. A second body would mean not having to switch lenses. Also, I shot too much film during beginning of the ceremony and had to conserve big time through the rest of it to avoid my noisy camera rewinding the film, and then having to change it. Had I had another body, I could have just swapped lenses quickly and kept shooting.
• I need a power-pack for my flash. The recycle time for my flash, with fresh batteries, in the dark reception area, was 5-8 seconds. When shooting candids I like to fire two shots quickly - this wasn't possible when I had to wait for my flash.
• Make an emergency supply kit and have it with you all the time. Not just medical supplies, but supplies to keep the show running (basically anything that can break, be forgotten, or go wrong - have a quick remedy for)
• This not only includes the photography equipment, but supplies for the ceremony, bride and groom's clothes...everything!
  

There was so much more I learned in just this one trip to list. Things about the business side of things, the client relations side of things, and things that I had read about - but wasn't sure if people actually did or not. I learned all of this and more from just one night out. I have another scheduled with Debby in December, and hopefully she'll allow me to continue with her a few more times next year. It was a lot of fun, and a huge learning experience for me. I can't wait to see what the next one brings!

Patrick's Blog

Hey

Check out my buddy Patrick's new blog. He's just getting it underway, but it's sure to be awesome. His work is amazing. I can't wait until he gets more up...but this is a taste!

http://relish-creative.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Voyeurism?

Today I went downtown, got out of my truck with my trusty old Canon A1 and a 135mm, a 50mm, and a 24mm. My mission: photograph people.

An odd thing happened, though, when I tried.

I got scared.

These people were strangers, just walking down the street, and I wanted to photograph them. I pulled up the camera, began focusing (it's all manual on the A1...so it takes a little bit longer than autofocus) and they would look at me. Down went the camera. I couldn't do it.

Now, I've shot events before without a problem. I've shot friends and family without a problem. If I'm SUPPOSED to be photographing people I have no issues with it, just point and click away. But for some reason I wasn't able to photograph a stranger on the street today. Something in my head kept stopping me.

What was my problem? I was getting frustrated with myself, because everyone and everything in public is fair game according to the "ethics" of photography. Most street photographers try to avoid shooting people who have no control over their current state, such as homeless people or the mentally ill. I wasn't trying to photograph these people, though. I was trying to photograph ANYONE, and I couldn't.

Finally, I stumbled upon a little rally going on around Monument Circle. Applebee's "Apple Fest", benefiting the Salvation Army. "This is it," I told myself, "now take some damn photos!" So I pointed my camera at some people taking money, focused and "click". Ok, there's one. Alright...not too hard. They didn't even look at me funny.

So I walked around some more.

"Oooh, that's cool." Click!
"That would look nice." Click!
"Interesting!" Click!
"Maybe if I shot this with a different lens it would be even more interesting." Click!

I started seeing things I wouldn't normally shoot and wanting to shoot them. A woman was sitting and eating a sandwich on the steps of the monument with pigeons practically swarming her. I wanted to switch lenses, and by the time I had the lady had gone...pigeons left to fend for themselves. I was too slow. Oh well...next time. I looked over and one of the statues had become a roost for a whole flock of birds, so I snapped a few frames of that instead.

Now, nothing I shot today will win an award. It probably won't even go up here...well, maybe it will, but it wasn't spectacular. It was just me trying to get over a newly discovered fear of shooting photos of strangers. I guess I have a lot of work to do before I'm completely over it!

Apocolypse....now?

I heard on the news this morning that religious officials are fearing the apocalypse may be near.

This in the wake of the tragedies caused by hurricanes in the USA, as well as the earlier natural disasters in Asia, and recently the earthquake in Kashmir. Hundreds of thousands of people have died this year from unavoidable natural disasters - many times striking without warning.

But the apocalypse? The end of the world? I doubt it. What about you?

Hurry up and wait.

Seems like everything work related in my life right now comes in waves. I come into work, get overwhelmed with requests from clients, and then around lunch time it's all done, and I'm left sitting here, scratching my head wondering what the last 4 hours accomplished.

Oh well. That leaves me time to eat my lunch, surf the photography sites and blogs I visit every day to catch up on the latest news, and relax before the afternoon onslaught begins.

Today's nice, though. I'm working on a couple new web designs and fielding the occasional request for a CD-ROM dub or website update. Pretty laid back.

This weekend I have a wedding to attend (as a guest, not a photographer) and an engagement portrait session to shoot on Sunday down on the Canal. Hopefully we'll get a couple nice days. The Weather Channel is calling for two identically beautiful days....but what do they know! It's Indiana in the fall...almost as unpredictable as the spring! Either way, we'll make the most of it, though. Because that's what we do.