Spark

This post is starting out the way that most of my text posts have: untitled. I usually figure that getting out what I need to say will spark something. =)

I am nearly done with my third week of training for my "real" job; next week I 'graduate' from training, and the week after that, I will be answering phones! o.o (I feel so unprepared.)
...though, today, my trainer observed me navigating through our systems, and she said I performed pretty well at that.

(Kids: if your parents ever tell you that spending time on your computer is a bad thing, they may not be telling you the real reason they want you to log off.)

Adjusting my schedule back to nights has been difficult. I'm glad for that. I miss my mornings. =( The light is just so fresh and new and gorgeous at the start of a new day.
(Thankfully, Bailey does get me up early every day.)

I am not finding myself to be too motivated for photography during the week. (Getting out of work at 11:30 pm doesn't make it easy to schedule any photo shoots, either.) And, on the weekends, I'm usually so busy with family that I just use my camera phone and Instagram everything.

...but that's going to change.

I am second shooting a third wedding on September 8th. My amazing photographer and I have two additional weddings on our calendar to shoot this year: one in October and one in December.
Personally, I have three maternity shoots coming up. One in the next couple months (Mama A's due in December!) and the other two probably early next year (Mama C is due in March and Mama K is due in April). I also have a family shoot and a few love sessions on my peripheral calendar.
It will be so nice to know what my semi-permanent schedule will be, so I can hopefully get these shoots ironed out and calendarized. (Yep, I just made that word up.) =p

In preparation for these shoots, to update my camera bag, and as a way of celebrating having a job, I purchased a lens today. (Well, I ordered it on Thursday, which is still technically the day I'm operating under.) I am so excited to play around with it...I can hardly wait until Saturday.

I do need to buy some new work clothes, too, so I don't have to keep doing laundry every two days.

That's what's going on in the photography part of my life right now. =) I am trying to schedule some impromptu shoots for this upcoming three day weekend, so if I have caught interested parties in time, I will definitely show you the work my new lens can do.

Otherwise, have a great Labor Day and see you in a few weeks.

Aquarius | The Water Bearer

Aquarius | The Water Bearer, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

I should have started this series off with either Aries or Capricorn --since Aries is what the Zodiac calendar starts with and Capricorn is what the Greco-Roman calendar starts with-- but I just now thought of that.

So oh well.
Aquarius comes first alphabetically.
...at least that's the logic that I'm claiming.
It has nothing to do with the props we had available at the time, alright? =)

This is one of the shots out of my head from the zodiac shoot.
There are several versions of each sign swimming around in my head, and I don't know when (or if) I'll ever get them all out and into the camera.

I will surely try, though.

The ideas exist on paper, if that counts for anything! =P

This photo has a different editing style for me.
Very muted colors, almost a desaturation gradient as it goes down the photo. It almost (!) looks like I used a fancy-shmancy preset or Photoshop action on this photo. The only thing I did in Photoshop was a bit of hair fly-away touch up (since Lightroom's clone stamp tool is mediocre and good really only for skin touch ups) and add in the watermark.
I used MCP Action's "Remember When" preset in Lightroom, but then I played around with individual color saturation sliders and this is what you get.

And, if you came over from Flickr, you may remember that I mentioned that every photo so far from this series has taken on a different voice -- Libra, for example, is black and white, but I didn't just hit the "grayscale" button or pull the saturation all the way back. I like that each photo has taken on a different voice in post-processing; each sign is different, so why shouldn't each photo be?
It's almost like having several mini photo sessions to edit. When I first got Lightroom and was building up my own personalized collection of presets, each photo session that I shot created its own preset, not by intention, but just the way that each session had its own personality, voice, and environment / condition.
Most of the shoots that I've done since have not really allowed for much in the way of creativity when it comes to editing; I may go overboard-crazy with editing someone's family session, but if I am not 100% happy with the result, no one else will see it. (Chances are, the photo will be either color or monotone, not appearing to be half and half like this photo seems to be doing.)
An artistic session like this one got the ball rolling again.
So, in a way, this series is nostalgic for me, taking me back.

There are several other shots coming from this; I might just blog them instead of Flickr them. We'll see. Or maybe I'll just Facebook them. It's 3am; please forgive me if my brain is all over the place!

Also, one final word about this photo: I am not crazy about my water mark. Any feedback on that would be great. (And any feedback on the photo / concept would be great, too.)

Almost Over

Almost Over, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

For over two years now, I have been without employment.

Sure, sure, I left work for a good reason: to finish my degree. I tried doing the school-and-work thing for three semesters, but I couldn't handle both of them at full-time capacity. I applied for a few positions while I was a student, but none of them worked out.

Well, I graduated in May (huzzah!) and, two and a half months later, I have great news: I will be re-entering the workforce!

I was offered a full time position at a local company. The position has everything that I've been looking for (and some things I didn't really realize I wanted). It has a more professional dresscode than any position I've previously held. (Funny how offices encourage business casual!) It comes complete with benefits (401k, health, vision, dental, PTO, etc). And, when I went in for my pre-employment test / interview, I had to check in with security. (I'll get my own photo ID on my first day!)

This new job feels like a right fit for me; I've always wanted an office-oriented job.

There is only one bad side to accepting this position: the facility I will be working at is a 24/7 facility, and I am not guaranteed to have weekends off. Those two things mean that my photo availability will be diminished.
I will still be doing photography, both for myself and for others, though.
I hope that the photographer I have been second-shooting for will give me the dates of upcoming weddings with enough advance that I can sufficiently request time off in order to attend them with her.
(So far, so good: none of the already-scheduled weddings fall in my first 45 days, when attendance is mandatory!)

One plus side? I can buy myself some new photography equipment. My bag has been pretty much untouched for over two years. (Mama's in need of at least one new lens and a flash or two!)
There are other things that I need to invest my money on, too, like student loans, savings, and transportation.

Which is one reason why the lyrics I chose for the photo --from The Eagles' "Waiting In the Weeds"-- is appropriate. It says, "I've been waiting in the weeds / waiting for my time to come around again" and I believe that my time has come again.

The first four weeks are nights, from 3-11:30pm. The next two weeks are "nesting" weeks, and after that, I will be able to put a bid in for my desired schedule, so I retain hope that I will still be able to offer some tempting photo times for clients.

But yay! Work! Income! Health plan! Moving forward! Goal achievement! These are all things I am looking forward to. =)