Exercises for week of May 5th, 2008

Task #1......

Why do I want to take pictures?

I'll be honest, I wasn't always interested in photography.....until I had Tyson 4 years ago. We were given a point and shoot digital camera and I fell in love with what I was able to capture. I became an addict of taking pictures.
These are the reasons why I take pictures and why I want to continue to learn and improve...

-Capturing a Brief moment in time:
Being able to capture a moment in time in a snapshot is priceless. I think the best pictures are ones that contain emotion and really say something to the person viewing them. I want to be able to take pictures that take a person (or even just myself) back to the moment....to really recreate the feeling they had when the pictures were taken. (ie, a birth, a concert...lol)

-Events:
For the past 10 years (minus a lapse while having babies) I've been involved in helping planning events, whether it be the flowers, the decorating, the lighting of the candles, and making sure everything is perfect, to actually planning the whole event, it seems like events have always called to me. I love the chaos, and the emotion and energy that come with events. I love the final dash to pull everything together. Now, I would like to capture these emotions and the choas with my camera. I want to document all of the little details that truly make an event spectacular.

-Challenge:
Photography can be so challenging to me. Sometimes I just really, really get it and am so overwhelmed with how I can make my camera operate, and other times I have to put my camera down and walk away as it is proving to be such a challenge.
I love being challenged. I love learning something new every time I pick it up, I love seeing things through the lens. I think that even when I reach the height of where I want to be with photography (taking other people's pictures and truly being happy with my results, technically and creatively), I will still face challenges, and the thought excites me.

-Creative Outlet
I've always needed a creative outlet whether it be through floral design, sketching or gardening. But floral design (while I miss it dearly) doesn't pay the bills for me to keep it as a part time job (eventually I'll own my own shop...ahhh the dream!). But photography is something I can do while playing with my kids. It lets me try to be creative with compostion, just like floral design would. I see tons of creative potential and ultimatley I think it'll be never ending.

Eventually I think I'd like to make money from taking photographs, I don't know about an income, but for sure a little bit of money, so I can continue to buy equipment and take awesome workshops! I don't see myself as a studio photographer at all. I've thought, maybe I should set something up so I can take pics if that's the type of pics people want....but then I thought, if I'm only doing it because that's what they want, they won't be good pics.
I love candid pics.....I love pictures that can grasp the viewer and evoke emotion.
I want to be able to help people have great photographs without making them shell out their lifesavings.