Faux vs. Pro and What You Know

Here is a simple test to determine how obsessed you are with photography!  I am always so aware of all-things photography and I just love being able to talk the talk now amongst professionals and even about myself as an emerging photographer building a career plan, submitting contributor queries to publications.  Photography has consumed me, how 'bout you?

Read over this list and see how many indicate your obsession:

Top 10 Signs You're Obsessed With Photography

10. You actively look and can actually tell what kind of camera someone is using from over 30 feet away.

9. You have explained “Photoshop” as a medical expense because it’s good therapy.

8. When planning a vacation, your concerned about finding a hotel with wifi so you’ll be able to upload your photos to the web.

7. You own more than one camera bag even though you only have one camera, and, strangely, if you have 2 cameras you still have 3 or more bags...

6. You find yourself calculating exposure settings when you're out 'n about, and you don't even have your camera.

5. You admire at least one of the historic processes, or, have at least tried to pronounce "Daguerreotype"out loud.  (Relax, there's several ways: \də-ˈge-rō-ˌtīp, -rə-; -ˈger-ō-, -ə- also də-ˈge-rē-ō-ˌtīp, -ˈger-ē-) (merriam-webster)

4. When attending a wedding or other celebrations, you are more interested in what the photographer is doing than the event itself.

3. When you see a photo of a model, you find yourself more interested in what lighting was used and what kind of processing may have been done.

2. You understand that 22 is actually smaller than 5.6


1. When admiring a beautiful landscape you think to yourself, “Now that's lovely, but imagine what it will look like when I bump up the contrast and sharpness and clone out that spot there!”

Well, how did you do?  Are you pretty obsessed?  Hold your head high as this mentality separates you from fauxtographers.

We operate in a pretty crowded market and it feels futile to differentiate yourself, but there are actually fewer true professionals than you know.  Fauxtographers have no idea how to actually offer a professional service or market themselves properly.  They cramp our style but you have to stay dedicated to your calling and embrace the crazy obsession you have with photography.

Do you have any signs to add to the list?  I can't be the only one......can I??  Leave me some feedback in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Works Cited

Anderson, Mark. "photographer-many-cameras." Photograph. markforminneapolis. Mark Anderson Wedding Photography, 5 March 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.markforminneapolis.com/>

"Daguerreotype." merriam-webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/daguerreotype>

"[exposure meter view]" Photograph. nikonmag. Nikon Corp, 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://nikonmag.com/talk/dx/how-to-see-the-exposure-meter-on-the-nikon-d5100-in.html>

Lourens, Nolte. "tongue-twister." Photograph. comtranslations. ComTranslations,  26 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.comtranslations.com/translation-blog/improve-your-english-with-these-diction-exercises/>

"Top 10 Signs You Are Obsessed With Photography." photographybb. PhotographyBB,  <http://www.photographybb.com/camera-and-gear/top-10-signs-addicted-to-photography/ >

What I Have Learned vs. What School Can't Teach You

When I made the decision to go back to school I had absolutely no knowledge of DSLR cameras, I didn't know what they meant when pro's talked about "glass", I had no idea why you use umbrellas in the studio, and what's even more embarrassing was that I had no clue about just how a photograph was taken--for all I knew it was some mysterious magic that went *poof* as soon as you pushed the button.  Silly, right?  Well, after less than two years I now know so much about photography that I work part-time as a digital photography and Adobe software tutor while I finish up my degree.  I have come such a long way in a short amount of time; while I owe much of the credit to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh-Online Division for teaching me, there were two things that school never taught me that helped me excel as much as I have.

1. Passion

The textbook definition of passion is " a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something." 

I have always loved taking photos and my dream job, for as long as I can remember, has been to be a National Geographic photographer.  I mention this often in my posts and use it as criteria for many assignments because it is definitely one of my strongest passions.  You can often answer your own questions sometimes by listening to yourself and discovering a passion you had never considered before.  Without these strong feelings of enthusiasm for photography and becoming a photographer, I would not have pursued going back to school nor would I have done so well thus far (I have a 4.0 GPA with four classes left).  When you feel so strongly about something you stop making excuses and "can't" is not an option; and when you have a passion for success, there is nothing that is impossible, no obstacle too difficult to overcome.  School can not teach you passion.  It has to come from within.  Realizing your passion is only half the battle; pursuing it 100% makes it achievable.

2. Curiosity

Like passion, the textbook definition of curiosity is "the desire to learn or know more about something or someone."

Without curiosity it is likely that I would never learn as much as I have.  It takes both passion and curiosity to learn and grow as well as improve.  For example, it takes serious passion to but in 100% effort and it takes just as much curiosity to exceed standards and expectations.  This is because you're not only pushing yourself to do better than what is expected, but you're also challenging your curiosity to "see what else I can learn about this subject." 

So, school will teach you how to shoot in manual mode on a DSLR, but it does not necessarily insert the information into your brain; it takes curiosity to learn what acronyms, such as DSLR, stands for, what exactly "single lens reflex" means, and how you can take what you have learned and use your knowledge to set you apart from your competition.  You may think to yourself, "wait, I need to set myself apart?  How do I establish my own unique brand from what is already out there??"  That curiosity, my friend, will drive you to always do better, always be better, and get you closer to your dreams than only learning the basics. 

The Photography program can teach you the basics and get you to the door of opportunity, but you have to have passion and curiosity within yourself to want to see what's on the other side of that door.

Do you have the passion and curiosity to open that door and see what opportunities are out there?

Tell me about your experiences in school and how curiosity and passion have led you to success!

Works Cited

"A young man mountain climbing the classic north west ridge of Mt." Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 23 Jun 2014.
<http://quest-preview.eb.com/#/search/167_4015375/1/167_4015375/cite>

"Curiosity."  Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curiosity>

"Passion." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passion>

"Show Them the Door." Photograph. ccm. Christ Church Manchester, 12 June 2013. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://www.ccm.org.uk/academy/entry/show_them_the_door/ >

Your New Tuesday Ambassador is Here!

Hello, everyone!  I am Abby, your new Tuesday Ambassador bringing you insight and inspiration as well as answering your questions from the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  I have been attending AIPOD for almost two years and am preparing to graduate this December.  I went to college the first time right after high school but just wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a career.  Of course I had aspirations of becoming a dental hygienist and even major in Philosophy, but they were all lacking something that I needed in a career.  I have had jobs in which I have excelled and done well at, but they were never going to make me happy because I couldn't explore my artistry.

Like many other photographers, I got my first camera for my 10th birthday and my passion for capturing photos became an integral part of my being though I had never had any experience with photography beyond the two point-and-shoot cameras.  Growing up I was fascinated by National Geographic magazines and they served to illustrate the world as I had never seen it.  It inspired a desire to take a deeper interest in the splendors and mysteries of Earth and nature.  It was not until after my son was born that I stopped making excuses for not following my dreams of working for National Geographic; I needed to set a good example for him and teach him that hard work pays off--your dreams don't come true if you don't pursue them.  He is my reason for going back to school, he why I work so hard at everything I do.

I may not be a National Geographic photographer yet, but I have come a long way since I began school at AIPOD and the level of accomplishment and success I have achieved thus far is only a confirmation that with time, dedication, persistence, passion, and determination you have the power to make your dreams a reality.  Are you pursuing a dream?  What are your career aspirations? 



What Am I Doing?

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley, here welcoming you to another Tuesday.  It has been a good six, maybe seven, weeks since I started writing Tuesday blogs and I think it is about time to let my readers know what I have been up to lately in school. As I am nearing the end of another set of courses, I will be met with new classes to which I am sure will take its toll on me in the coming weeks. So what classes will I be leaving within the week you ask? Well Studio Photography and Marketing are the two classes I will be departing from and to be quite honest, I did not find those classes to be quite as hard or time consuming as I had been told by many. However, I guess not having a full-time job can leave a person to have boat loads of time to do whatever they desire.

Yes, I know I should have taken Studio Photography earlier in my studies but having financial stress prevented me from taking that class in the order recommended by The Art Institute. The out of order class did not stop me from continuing with my studies though, so that is one big plus on my part. However, that is the story of my life. Usually when something does not go right I just have pay not mind to it and move on to the next. If the opportunity arises again then I should know what to do for the next time. Right?

With that said, I am sure you are itching to see some photos of my prior work in Studio Photography. Keep in strict mind that I am a person that has to learn to crawl before walking as you can clearly see in my photos. You will see how much different these images have changed over the course of five and half weeks. Now these assignments were basically exercises for our final project, which by the way will be posted by the time the course ends. For the last shot in this series you will see a multi light scenario where we had to initially freeze our subject and move it all in the same frame. It’s a very cool technique that I am sure I will exploit later on in my career.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3
 

Week 3

Week 4

Week 4

Week 5

In a previous blog of mine I mentioned the need to test your equipment and make sure everything is working as intended in order to prevent any unfortunate circumstances with school. What I did not mention is that it if you do test your equipment, not only do you prevent situations that could bar you from class, but you prevent unfortunate situations when it comes to your job, if you have one, even yourself. I figure that if you are in school for something that you enjoy doing, then it should help to drive that passion even further. So the next time you receive that sexy piece of glass, or a boat load of lights, maybe literally, then test that equipment out that you love so much! I know I do. And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Oh ya, my next classes will be Editorial Photography and Portraiture I. Now I do not have a good feeling about timelines with these classes. Let's hope I can keep up with the blogs in the coming weeks. 0_0 Please leave any questions and

comments below.