When you get a new camera, it is similar to the start of a new love affair. There’s the shock and awe of obtaining your wish, the delight of feeling through things, getting to know each other, getting frustrated from stupid misunderstandings – and then finally finding peace in compromising and communication. Such began my weekend study of my new Canon 50D digital SLR camera.
With my 20D, I never really felt camera envy of other photographers. And yes, among the photo groups in Los Angeles, there is a lot of camera and lens, cock shop talk like comparisons. However, I don’t know if it was my female nature, but I never really cared to lust after other people’s objects. I felt comfortable with my sense of photography style, filter usage, shot visions and methods. I would see a little of everything, camera wise, when I would visit Descanso Gardens or Bolsa Chica Wildlife Preserve. From 15k prime Canon lenses to point and shoots, I was a proponent of working with what tools you have to get the shot that completes your vision.
However, something changed within me when I received my 50D.
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In the world of photography, there are a variety of loyal camera patrons. From Pentax, Panasonic, Lecia to Sony, camera devotes are as varied as the camera manufactures themselves. But, what creates a loyal consumer? What makes a person a “Canon Lover” vs. a “Nikonite”? More importantly, what keeps a person connected with the essence of the brand – regardless of product updates, new releases and extensive marketing campaigns of other market competition?
After recently experiencing various Canon Technical Representatives and recently participating in Canon’s Loyalty Program, I pondered what exactly has kept me with the brand over the years. An artist’s camera retrospective is as unique to an individual as a shooting vision.
This is digital retrospective.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
It took 4,579 miles, driving through 9 states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Nevada) for 2.5 weeks with one happy and adventure seeking puppy for me to realign with my sense of self, my direction and my foundation in life.
The road was filled with strange interactions with relatives, a speeding ticket in Phoenix while driving to Sedona, managing my sanity while listening to awful audio books (and many good ones, as I’m an audio book junkie) and text messages to loved ones. But, through it all, I made it through smarter, with a better photography portfolio and a deeper sense of who I am and what I want.
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"I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.!""
The Big Lebowski" (c) 1998 Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Sometimes, it’s best to look at certain conflicts in life as an opportunity to grow as a human being and as an event organizer. In my case, it was a rather interesting email from a hike participant and reading the comments regarding the heat during last weekend’s Malibu Creek State Park hike.
The member and I exchanged emails, resulting in me understanding that new members and current members, unfamiliar with the logistics and how I run things, might experience a rather sharp different between their projected expectations of group participation and what would be offered and expected of individual participation.
As a result and to eliminate future situations that may occur from misdirected intentions, I wrote the following email -defining the difference between personal responsibility, event organizer responsibility and individual involvement. Judging from the positive emails and feedback I received from group members, I hit the problem on the nail and sunk it flush with the board.
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Call it an active assessment of my post birthday life. Or, call it a full realization of how much, on a larger scale, the unpaid work I do. There comes a time in one’s life in which they suddenly open their eyes and see things for the way things are. For me, that time is now.
One of the hardest things that I’ve come to terms with is how to be properly compensated for the energy and time exchanged for work. Turning yet another year older, I’ve made a few new and surprising decisions in my life.
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The Creative For Kids annual art auction, hosted by the Young Philanthropist Project, received two of my prints – Amen and Peacock Feathers for their annual 2009 mixer and auction. The event benefited CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) programs in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area. This year, it was held at the Mynt mojito lounge in lower downtown Denver.
Speaking with one of the organizers, Traci Tisserat (http://www.tisserat.com/), I received some fantastic information concerning my donated artwork and the overall success of the event.
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Having an over planned out weekend is extremely common for me. What is not common? Having a fire in Santa Barbara ruin my overly planned mini vacation weekend and leave me with a free Saturday with nothing planned. Such was the conundrum I faced one particular Friday in May.
So, when I received an email from the Photographers and Digital Artists of Los Angeles group stating that the Friends of the Los Angeles River needs a few photographers for their planned Great LA River Clean Up the next day, I was intrigued. After contacting the volunteer organizer, I was set.
But, nothing could prepare me for the intense learning experience that was in store.
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From SmugMug to Zenfolio, I have been there and done that with online photography sales websites. Both sites have their share of benefits and challenges. Both are fantastic for what most people are looking for. But, in all logic, SmugMug should have been my end all, be all. Fully customizable, a great web forum and various helpful resources and products – it should be perfect. But, why wasn’t it?
Even though I had spent hours upon hours customizing my SmugMug page over two years, I felt annoyed and angry when looking at my SmugMug online store. I had flawlessly customized it, become a CSS maven (even more than usual) – but after a year and a half, I felt irrationally angry at the limitations I felt within the SmugMug system with what I needed to do to get what I wanted done.
I couldn’t help but wonder – what other quality online photography fulfillment services were available?
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So, I actually decided to create a blog area. This way, I can post any upcoming hikes, trips, new photos, ideas and musings that I come across. You just never know where inspiration may strike or take you.
But, please be assured. There will be no Twittering, Tweeting, or any of that BS.
So, enjoy!
