Once I heard a photo of mine was going to be published in a magazine, I immediately updated the resume I give to people thinking of hiring me. I knew it was going to give me confidence I had never had.
It would have been really nice if I were published in some kind of a wedding magazine, as I could have gotten into specifics and really wowed potentional clients. As that wasn't the case, I purposely left that part of it vague. Somehow I felt "Published in skateboarding magazine 'Thrasher'" might turn people off.
They might get scared I would "thrash" them. Whatever that means.
My first meetings with potentional clients were today and all of them went off without a hitch. In fact, they all went better than expected.
The first couple brought it up fairly quickly "Wow, out of all the photographers we met with, you were the first one that was published!". They went on to tell me how after they saw that, they brought it up to other photographers who had to respond with "No.". Except one. One said he had been published and when they asked for proof, he couldn't provide it. They knew he was lying and almost immediately cut the meeting short. I don't blame them.
After that I almost expected what was coming next. It almost scared me, but I kept my cool.
"So, if you don't mind us asking, can you PROVE that you were actually published?".
I panicked.
Just a little, but then I remembered 6 months ago I was working a shitty job and now I have the potentional to be doing what I love for the rest of my life. Here we go.
I so happened to have my laptop with me, and I leeched off the free Wi-Fi from the McDonalds next door to show them the e-mail from the editor as well as the page that would be published. I warned them first. These aren't wedding photos.
"Hey, I used to skateboard! Is "Birdhouse" still a thing? Do skaters still all love "Tony Hawk"? Isn't that guy from MTV a skater? Do kids still play 'Tony Hawk Pro Skater"? I loved that game!". For the next five minutes, this guy wouldn't stop reliving his glory days about an old skate park we both used to frequent, back when indoor paid skate parks were actually thing.
Dammmnn, I nailed this one.
I explained to him that skateboarding was the reason I got into photography, but that doesn't mean that's all I wanted to take pictures. Then he said it.
"Well, that makes me feel good because I know how quick you'd have to be to be a skateboard photographer. You only get one chance, and that chance flies by in a second. You can't screw it up.", he said.
"Just like.."
"WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY", we all said, in unison. Man. this is going better than I expected.
I always knew that skateboarding photography would help me stay on my toes, and ultimately help me as a wedding photographer, I just never thought to bring it up to potential clients. I figured that mentioning skating spots that had "NO SKATEBOARDING" signs plastered all over the place would make me look like a criminal. I didn't want to be a criminal in front of potential clients, so I left it out.
In the skateboard world, "skate park photos and video" are generally frowned apon, and the "Does park footage count?" question gets thrown around a lot. You'd almost never see skate park photos in an ad for Baker Skateboards with Andrew Reynolds blasting a front side flip over a pyramid, but potential clients don't know that.
Hopefully in the coming months I can nab some park photos to help show off that side of my work without making it look like we vandalized the place after. That's my next order of business.
That doesn't mean I'm going to submit those photos to Thrasher.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
That Didn't Last Long
Well, I'm already back to Windows. I would have stuck to Ubuntu, but I wanted to play some video games that weren't on Steam. I'll give you one guess, since it is the topic of my other blog. ;)
I got hired on for three jobs this upcoming summer, plus a few more that might go through as soon as tomorrow. I'm excited.
To top it all off, I got a royalty check from a magazine that will remain nameless due to the NDA I "signed" (electronically, anyway).
I decided to treat myself to a new keyboard. I was getting sick of the one I had, so I went out and purchased a Razer Deathstalker. (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-deathstalker)
I figured that this would encourage me to write more, and it already inspired this post, so we are off to a good start.
I always get like that when I purchase a new peripheral keyboards even more so. I've gone through a lot of keyboards in my day. It's not that they break, or even that they are bad keyboards. I just get bored with them, and find it's a pretty easy way to spice up my computing experience. Most of the time it can be fairly inexpensive, but not this time. Even though it's not Razer's top of the line keyboard, it was still a pretty penny. I'm happy with it so far. Razer has always made quality gear, and I've been using their mice for over 10 years.
I was one of the first 100 people to buy their "Boomslang" gaming mouse (http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Boomslang-Collectors-Edition-Gaming/dp/B0010XR33I) which was back before gaming mice were even a thing. I had to wait 3 months to get it.
When that day came, I couldn't have been more excited. Not only was it my first high end piece of equipment, it was my first online purchase. Needless to say I was a little worried since back then no one had even heard of Razer and it could have quite possibly been a scam. I'm glad it wasn't. They had an anniversary edition of the Boomslang which was optical instead of a ball mouse, which I thought was awesome. I was already using and very, very happy with my Razer Naga (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga) but I wanted to order a Boomslang for nostalgia sake. I never did, and I'm pretty upset that I didn't Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some.
So far the typing experience on the board is nothing but aces. I'm fudging a few keys, but that's only because I'm getting used to it. Not the keyboards fault! So FPS doug, stay away! (Golly I hope someone gets that reference).
I hope in the coming months this keyboard serves well as my steed into the wild blue open that is the internet.
The new website is already generating a lot of traffic. I might actually have to plunk down the money to get my own domain/hosting space so my Aunt doesn't feel the effect. Shhh, don't tell her I'm using her webspace!
It only clocks in at 12MB, so I doubt she'll notice. If everything goes according to plan, I should be posting peoples private galleries with their own unique username and password, and order prints through there.
It's still only in the planning stages, and I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to test it, but one mountain at a time.
If you're into PC gaming at all I highly recommend Razer's product. Even if you're not, they look pretty sharp sitting on your desk. You should go buy something. They glowwwwww!
I will say this, I sure am glad to have Chrome's spellcheck back. The one in Chromium for Ubuntu worked pretty well, but sometimes when I right clicked the word nothing would show up. And if it really wanted to be a pain in my ass, it would delete everything I wrote.
I had two fully written blog posts (about 500 words each) deleted because Chrome felt like being stupid. Oh well.
May the flow be with you
~s
I got hired on for three jobs this upcoming summer, plus a few more that might go through as soon as tomorrow. I'm excited.
To top it all off, I got a royalty check from a magazine that will remain nameless due to the NDA I "signed" (electronically, anyway).
I decided to treat myself to a new keyboard. I was getting sick of the one I had, so I went out and purchased a Razer Deathstalker. (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-deathstalker)
I figured that this would encourage me to write more, and it already inspired this post, so we are off to a good start.
I always get like that when I purchase a new peripheral keyboards even more so. I've gone through a lot of keyboards in my day. It's not that they break, or even that they are bad keyboards. I just get bored with them, and find it's a pretty easy way to spice up my computing experience. Most of the time it can be fairly inexpensive, but not this time. Even though it's not Razer's top of the line keyboard, it was still a pretty penny. I'm happy with it so far. Razer has always made quality gear, and I've been using their mice for over 10 years.
I was one of the first 100 people to buy their "Boomslang" gaming mouse (http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Boomslang-Collectors-Edition-Gaming/dp/B0010XR33I) which was back before gaming mice were even a thing. I had to wait 3 months to get it.
When that day came, I couldn't have been more excited. Not only was it my first high end piece of equipment, it was my first online purchase. Needless to say I was a little worried since back then no one had even heard of Razer and it could have quite possibly been a scam. I'm glad it wasn't. They had an anniversary edition of the Boomslang which was optical instead of a ball mouse, which I thought was awesome. I was already using and very, very happy with my Razer Naga (http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga) but I wanted to order a Boomslang for nostalgia sake. I never did, and I'm pretty upset that I didn't Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some.
So far the typing experience on the board is nothing but aces. I'm fudging a few keys, but that's only because I'm getting used to it. Not the keyboards fault! So FPS doug, stay away! (Golly I hope someone gets that reference).
I hope in the coming months this keyboard serves well as my steed into the wild blue open that is the internet.
The new website is already generating a lot of traffic. I might actually have to plunk down the money to get my own domain/hosting space so my Aunt doesn't feel the effect. Shhh, don't tell her I'm using her webspace!
It only clocks in at 12MB, so I doubt she'll notice. If everything goes according to plan, I should be posting peoples private galleries with their own unique username and password, and order prints through there.
It's still only in the planning stages, and I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to test it, but one mountain at a time.
If you're into PC gaming at all I highly recommend Razer's product. Even if you're not, they look pretty sharp sitting on your desk. You should go buy something. They glowwwwww!
I will say this, I sure am glad to have Chrome's spellcheck back. The one in Chromium for Ubuntu worked pretty well, but sometimes when I right clicked the word nothing would show up. And if it really wanted to be a pain in my ass, it would delete everything I wrote.
I had two fully written blog posts (about 500 words each) deleted because Chrome felt like being stupid. Oh well.
May the flow be with you
~s
First Things First: Research!
Well, it's late. Luckily my current schedule dictates that I need to be up at this hour, so I don't feel so guilty.
Night owl.
That's what they like to call us. It seems so negative. People always frown upon the late nighters. I could never understand that.
Years before I would understand that a majority of my "brothers" were night owls, I was still up late at night, reviewing thousands of lines of code. Searching for something I missed. It had been a few days, and still no progress. I was working in between classes in the quad. Sometimes at night, into the wee hours of the morning. I was often late to class.
After a while my schedule became so exhausting that it was near impossible for me to stay awake past 7pm. I was never a "heavy sleeper" (years later I found sleep apnea to be the culprit) but during this time I'd stay asleep til my alarm woke me.
I found myself jealous of my past self. Waking a few times a night, panicking that I was late, only to find I had a few hours of sleep left.
"Hooray!", I'd think, roll over, and drift back to sleep.
It was always very hard for me to wake in the morning. Groggy and clumsy until I found some coffee. Then it was go time! For a short while at least, it never lasted. My school work was crumbling apart, and I didn't have much ground to stand on. I hated it.
I hated any job that forced me to wake early. It just wasn't me. Not only was I sleepy, but I could get absolutely no work done. Coincidence? For a while, I thought so. I was young and stupid, and didn't know any better. More importantly, I was too tired to care.
It took me a few years before I realized I did better work between the hours of 4pm and 6am. Not only that, but I was more motivated. (like I am right now, at the time of this writing, its 3:30am)
I got shit DONE. In the morning, exhausted from all the work I had just put in, I'd take a "nap".
I would awake 5-6 hours later, more refreshed than if I'd slept for 12 hours on a "normal" sleep cycle. Yes, yes, I know the more you sleep the worse you feel but often I could barely get out of bed.
If I'm more productive on this cycle, why not stick to it? Not only do I feel better, but if I have meetings or appointments, scheduling them at noon or so puts them at the end of my day. It makes me feel better.
Hopefully as the years go on, I'll be able to indulge myself and keep a schedule that fits me.
Night owl.
That's what they like to call us. It seems so negative. People always frown upon the late nighters. I could never understand that.
Years before I would understand that a majority of my "brothers" were night owls, I was still up late at night, reviewing thousands of lines of code. Searching for something I missed. It had been a few days, and still no progress. I was working in between classes in the quad. Sometimes at night, into the wee hours of the morning. I was often late to class.
After a while my schedule became so exhausting that it was near impossible for me to stay awake past 7pm. I was never a "heavy sleeper" (years later I found sleep apnea to be the culprit) but during this time I'd stay asleep til my alarm woke me.
I found myself jealous of my past self. Waking a few times a night, panicking that I was late, only to find I had a few hours of sleep left.
"Hooray!", I'd think, roll over, and drift back to sleep.
It was always very hard for me to wake in the morning. Groggy and clumsy until I found some coffee. Then it was go time! For a short while at least, it never lasted. My school work was crumbling apart, and I didn't have much ground to stand on. I hated it.
I hated any job that forced me to wake early. It just wasn't me. Not only was I sleepy, but I could get absolutely no work done. Coincidence? For a while, I thought so. I was young and stupid, and didn't know any better. More importantly, I was too tired to care.
It took me a few years before I realized I did better work between the hours of 4pm and 6am. Not only that, but I was more motivated. (like I am right now, at the time of this writing, its 3:30am)
I got shit DONE. In the morning, exhausted from all the work I had just put in, I'd take a "nap".
I would awake 5-6 hours later, more refreshed than if I'd slept for 12 hours on a "normal" sleep cycle. Yes, yes, I know the more you sleep the worse you feel but often I could barely get out of bed.
If I'm more productive on this cycle, why not stick to it? Not only do I feel better, but if I have meetings or appointments, scheduling them at noon or so puts them at the end of my day. It makes me feel better.
Hopefully as the years go on, I'll be able to indulge myself and keep a schedule that fits me.
New blog! Sure, why not?
It's been a while since I've had a blog I've maintained. Not sure what will come of this. I expect it'll be photography related.
I've made some big changes in my life recently, and hopefully this place will help me reflect on that. I'm going to try to post as much as possible. Let's see what happens.
I've recently made the switch to Ubuntu, and I'm kind of curious to how it will change my workflow. I'm going to document it as much as possible.
From RAW file management to editing and publishing. I've always toyed around with Linux, but I've never used it as a work machine. Here we go. Blast off.
May the flow be with you.
~s
I've made some big changes in my life recently, and hopefully this place will help me reflect on that. I'm going to try to post as much as possible. Let's see what happens.
I've recently made the switch to Ubuntu, and I'm kind of curious to how it will change my workflow. I'm going to document it as much as possible.
From RAW file management to editing and publishing. I've always toyed around with Linux, but I've never used it as a work machine. Here we go. Blast off.
May the flow be with you.
~s
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