Keeping Warm on Cold Days

I found this pic of Dan the other day - I'd forgotten I'd taken it. It's such a weird experience when that happens. It's like a "Hey, did I do that? That's pretty good!" There's this delayed recognition which I always enjoy. A moment of seeing before the filters kick in. There's a similar thing that happens when I'm out and I see Dan when I don't expect to. It always makes me smile because I'll be minding my own busniness and be vaguely aware of thinking: "Mmmm . . . he's really sexy" and then realise that I'm looking at my own husband. It's good to know that my man still has that magic spark. Dan, who's never put Modesty on his invitation list, loves it when I tell him this.

Inspiration for the wee hours.

I recently read an interview with Eric Clausen where he lists some of his favourite wedding photographers . . . Wow. And wow again. Old Eric's no couch potatoe himself, and I had seen some of Huy Nguyen's work before - courtesy of WPJA - but Justin Demers' work just blew me away. His snow scenes . . . ! And how uncommercial most of his work is. And finally Ben Chrisman's work! What a feast.

I forget - when I'm all busy and wrapped up in deadlines - how important it is to look at other photographer's work - how much inspiration I draw from them; and how much seeing their work makes me want to go out and shoot again!

Some R&R

Definitely much needed after moving, getting boomerang flu, helping out part time at the little primary school down the road, and getting the new puppy! Now that I'm 'on leave' I'd forgotten just how much I love my own space!

A good few months ago a friend of mine's Dad - who teaches at the little primary school down the road - got hold of me and asked me if I didn't want to help out while they looked for a full time drama / art teacher. I said no. Clearly. And look where I am now. I've been there a term. I'm loving it. And I don't think they're really looking for a full time teacher!

When I went in to help them out they'd been looking, unsuccessfully, for two terms (six months!) for an art / drama teacher. It's pretty scary how few suitably quilified teachers are left in the country - though who can blame them when you can go to Dubai or the UK and earn SO MUCH more money. Teachers are really undervalued in this country. Which makes so little sense to me - they're one of the first things I'd pump money into if I were trying to fix our woes.

So, soap box aside, now I'm teaching art 15 hours a week. It's great to combat being on my own for almost all my time (which is what happens when you work from home I'm afraid - the glamorous part of doing shoots only occupies about a fifth of my time!) but I'd forgotten how much energy you need to teach - even for the brief time that I'm there. And then . . . wonder of wonders . . . the term ended and I'm now on holiday! Feels kind of weird having so much time to myself (well, I do spend most of my time working - processing, getting quotes out, seeing clients - but when you work for yourself you can do the work whenever you want to . . . like after that afternoon nap, or after taking the puppy for a walk on the beach ;)

Next term I'll have to see how I go with the teaching though. For me teaching's a commitment that you make to the kids - its not about walking in and telling kids to do the random stuff that the syllabus dictates (anyone could do that), it's about building people up. And you can only do that if the kids trust you. And if they think you're leaving in a term's time, well then, from their perspective, what's the point of them waisting their time? It's horrible leaving in the middle of the year. So I'll probably stay on till the end of this year, but it'll be tough when season hits! Though I have to say that the staff at the school are just fantastic and they really help each other out, which makes such a difference if things get a bit rough.

Anywho, now that the couch is catching the afternoon light, and the puppy has settled down and is no longer trying to use the cat as a chew toy, I think I shall adjourn to the lounge for that nap!

On the band wagon!

Wow! I'm floored by how some service providers (venues in particular) charge for every little damn thing, and then some. I've just been trying to arrange an engagement shoot with a client of mine - her and her partner wanted to do the shoot at Zevenwacht in the Stellenbosch wine route. They love the farm. They go there often for picnics and lunches. So I duly phone Zevenwacht to find out if it's ok that we go and shoot there (doing the polite responsible thing here and making sure that we can do it without getting in their way) only to be told that it costs R1500 to do an E-shoot on their grounds! Holy crap! The E-shoot would take an hour at most. And my hourly rate is R650. And we weren't even asking if we could shoot inside . . .

I even went a step further and phoned Zevenwacht back to explain to them how opportunistic that charge appears. I don't think I got through to them though. And of course the saddest part is that a venue that held huge sentimental value for my clients has lost almost all of that.

I know that we're all in this to make money (myself included) but at what cost?

I did this a while ago

I did this a while back and found it again while looking through my 'filing system'. It's titled but I want to fly, and the original, which is about 60cm wide, says, "Down below is an open window. And a flat line." It's not quite as morose as the "flat line" suggests. I like the dream of it. The desire to fly beyond the impossiblity of it.

Focus

I took portrait pics of Jimmy and Patricia and their little daughter Pearl a while back. Patricia's not so keen on having her photo taken. Can't blame her, neither am I. She did this thing almost every time I took a shot where she'd look down at Pearl and away from the camera. A modern day Madonna and child. So when I got this one of her looking straight at the camera and got the focus on Pearl and not on her I wasn't sure whether to be delighted or distraught: when I look at just the image I want her face to be in focus, but when I think of Patricia, and how she slipped out of my focus (metaphorically) through out the shoot, it's fitting that she's not in focus here. And I have to say that I quite enjoy the play between her direct gaze and the soft focus on her, and Pearl's looking away and the sharp focus on Pearl.

To Freebie or Not To Freebie

It's such a tricky question this one . . . should you offer friends or family freebies on photography? I've chatted to some other photographers about this and they've given me some stern advice on this score: people tend to think that all you're doing is 'taking photos'; they don't realise that there's skill and time and training and effort involved. The advice that I was given is that it's our job as photographers to make them aware of that skill and time and training and effort. That it's not just a simple matter of clicking the shutter and then handing over the digital negatives, especially not when it comes to the hours of post processing that we often get into. I know one photographer who gives a 30% discount for friends and family, which I initially thought was quite harsh, but now am beginning to think is quite reasonable as I've sudeently discovered 'friends' smooging around angling for a freebie. I've given freebies in the past, and I'll probably give them again in the future, but I'm really of the opinion that people shouldn't ask for a freebie, that a freebie is that once in a while freely given spontaneous thing. Something that's given because its a joy to give. Or because you feel like helping out a friend. So the advice that I now want is how to deal with those that just don't seem to get that and who, in the process, make the act of giving something vaguely unpleasant . . . like visiting the dentist! And me being the person I am, I still sit and agonise over not giving them the freebie! Bugger!