week four.

Ok, I don't just randomly put band-aids on my fingers with smiley faces. I had a legitimate excuse for this one. That day in Forensics class we were doing blood typing and we had to test our blood. Therefore I had to cover the "wound" with a band-aid.

The pink socks are my socks and the argyle ones are my mom's socks. When I don't know what to take pictures of I have a tendency to take pictures of feet. This one actually worked too. :)

This week I struggled with what I wanted to take pictures of. I like taking pictures of nature, but there are only so many snowy mountains I can take pictures of. Also, in order to take nature pictures it requires me to be outside, and it is negative degree weather outside! I took pictures at a bridge in Eagle River and I was only outside for about 10 minutes when I had to go home. Luckily things turned around on Monday and Tuesday. Instead of moping around not knowing what to take pictures of I decided to try to take some still-life (not nature) pictures. When I went into Dan's studio and he looked at my pictures he liked the still-life ones the best. One of them I didn't even mean to put on the thumbdrive because it was just a picture of my band-aid with a smiley face on it. I think I was just thinking too hard about what makes a good picture. Now I know that the daily little things in life are the most interesting things.
Today I went to my first PPA meeting. PPA stands for Professional Photographers of America. The photographers in Alaska come together on most Tuesday nights and talk about the different aspects of photography. Tonight we went to a fellow PPA member's house and when we got there there was a room full of people, probably about 16. When Dan and I stepped into the room they were discussing how they all price their Christmas cards. It was mind boggling to think that if I pursue this career further and when I'm older open a studio, I'm going to have to price everything and deal with the financial things. One piece of advice they gave to a new photographer was to start with prices low when you first start your business, then as it grows raise the prices. I think it is so cool that they have an organization that allows photographers new and experienced to come together and share advice with each other. They have Show and Tell during thier meetings where some of the photographers can choose to bring in a piece of work that they are most proud. After they show thier work and everyone praises it, it is time for the critiques. There was this one photographer there who, from my impression is a newbie. He thanked everyone for thier praises about his work, but he really wanted them to critique it so he can grow as a photographer. I absolutely loved his picture. It reminded me of Twilight. He took a family portrait down at some port in Anchorage. The family wanted something different and crazy, which is exactly what they got. One of the critiques he got was to make sure that other people know the story of the picture. They said if he was to enter that piece into a competition the judges wouldn't understand the story like he does. The parents had thier backs to the camera while the children looked as if they were walking away and leaving the "nest". The meeting lasted about an hour and a half from the time Dan and I got there. It was a really great experience to see how it all works. I want to go back to another one sometime, because it gives me a better idea of how the whole photography business works in a larger scale with competition.