What’s Your Preference?

pricephoto · #1 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 03:53 PM

I can't express enough how thankful I am to have found this site. It could NOT have come at a more opportune time for me. I have been into photography since I was about 10? maybe? I was in 4-H! I didn't live on a farm or have any animals, so I did the arts and crafts, the baking, the sewing and the photography...stuff that didn't require scooping poop in a barn. Most of my photos won red ribbons (which was a nice way of saying 'you suck' to a child), but as I grew so did my pictures and eventually blue and purple ribbons soon followed. I took photography/darkroom in high school and was on the yearbook staff, and in college I was the photographer for the college magazine. Keep in mind, this was WAY before digital cameras came out. It took a great deal of film and alot of praying to get a great photo. Thinking back, I honestly don't know how I ever did it and it floors me when I start thinking about how much money I spent on 35mm film and crappy pictures.

I got married and a year and a half later had baby #1. I took about a thousand pictures of her just sleeping. I took her to Sears every 3 months and spent a fortune on pictures of her sleeping just like the ones I had already taken in our living room, only without the frilly angel wing prop that gave her a rash on her butt. Baby #2 soon followed and so did more pictures...and more trips to Sears and more money dished out for silly teddy bear, germ infested props. And then years later, they pissed this mama off! Kid #1 is autistic, non-verbal, uncooperative at times and the photographers treated her as if she were a dog...a deaf dog...and once I informed them of her disability they treated her as if she were a deaf dog with rabies and ticks. That''s how Sears ended and I started. Nothing major, just an outing every so often to take pictures of my friends and their families, my extended family and their families, annual Christmas cards, my kids, my neices and nephews, other peoples kids, and I've just kept going. It's only been in the last year and a half that I've started to accept money for the work. I will never refer to this as a job....work, yes...job, no. It's too fun for me to call it a job. Baby #3 arrived 21 months ago and I have to admit that the pictures I've done with her are 100x better than the other two kids at those stages and ages done by Sears. Wish I knew then what I know now. I literally have been observing life behind the lens of a camera for 24 years. Does that make me a professional photographer? I don't think so, but I'm sure it gives me a firm leg to stand on.

It's still a little strange to refer to myself as a photographer, let alone a professional photographer, or to even be called one. Yes, photographer is what I am "technically", but I am just a girl with a camera and a good eye. I have no formal training and I didn't go to school to study the art, I don't have a fancy camera or lighting...I will always prefer natural light to artificial as the world is my studio, but will admit that having the equipment would make me feel a bit closer to the title of "professional photographer".

Photography is more than a hobby for me and it's more than just taking a picture. It's having beauty right in front of you, being a witness to it, and connecting yourself to it for a split second when... Click. It's more than just a picture. It's proof that that second of time, that moment ever existed. So I'm here...willing to learn and absorb everything I can to better myself and my photos. Looking for friends who share this same passion for it. I'm not sure how this works, so "friend me" if you would like to.

Sorry this got so wordy.

SusanH1970 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 03:57 PM

Welcome to DPS, looking forward to seeing some of your work!

zona5101 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 05:11 PM

Hello and welcome!

docxnoel · #4 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 05:25 PM

Welcome to DPS and let's learn together!

NgaiHill · #5 (**permalink**) 03-30-2011, 06:59 PM

Hello and welcome to DPS. I too remember that moment when I looked at the department store/school class photos of my kids and realised I could do better myself. Not a professional here either, just enjoying the hobby.
Am sure you will learn heaps here, its a great community.