The Thirtieth Random Discussion for (TPB)M (and may they R.I.P.)

DoodleBunz wrote in post #8784739
Indeed on the beer goggles....how'd the yelling go? Was it fun?

Yep. I also informed his advisor and she was planning on having a little chat with him.

He didn't seem phased though.

How's your day going?

Pete wrote in post #8784744
H.A.R.T. Homeless Animal Rescue Team St George, UT 84790

Done! I'll try to do it as often as possible until december

Pete wrote in post #8784762
Woo hoo for new bears....!

The bear is actually as old as me.. She was my favorite as I was a kid (she still is) Look at her eye which fell off and was glued back

G'morning.

I've been having WEIRD sci-fi dreams for the last two nights. I'm ready to stop. I don't like sci-fi! Z...if you are messing with my dreams, time to put them on a regular schedule.

BearLeeAlive wrote in post #8783273
Good Morning All

Got my 5 votes in already. Sure wish we could bump H.A.R.T. up another notch soon.


'tis a girly book. The seventh in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone

I voted too...and still can't get us past the Basset group.

I've never heard of those books. *looks suspiciously* are they...sci-fi?

Pete wrote in post #8783290
And pretty it is. Perfectly exposed and framed...

thanks

Becky N wrote in post #8783471
Gorgeously pretty.

I think you should draft up the proposal and begin the process of declaring a "Just cuz" day. Let us know when you have jumped through all the hoops and got all the signatures to make it so.


G'MAE all. Except for waking up when we went to bed, Bax was cough/gag free last night. He let me shove the pill into the back of his mouth like a champ this morning too. First time he has had to have that done.

It would be really hard to do an annual just cuz. I find myself doing it a couple times a week. kwim?

Becky N wrote in post #8783563
Side note on the insignia Dan drew. Three stripes now are given to Senior Airmen. The rank of Sargent is no longer in the structure. When I went in it was Airmen Basic - no insignia; Airman - 1 stripe; Airman 1st Class-2 stripes; Sargent - 3 stripes; Staff Sargent - 4 stripes. While still in they added Senior Airman which took over 2 stripes, Airman lost their star and Airman 1st Class was 1 stripe with a star. I think the brass were bored and had nothing better to do then to mess with the ranks and make it take longer to reach NCO status.

There is your trivia for the day.

As a medic we wore our rank as tack pins on the lapels of our white uniforms. I achieved the rank of Sargent when my parents came to visit while I was at George AFB. They were able to be there when our CO presented me with the rank and my Dad pinned on my new stripes. It was our, "you've reached adulthood" moment that each of us kids had at some significant point in our early 20's with our dad. *wipes leaky eyes*

Sure wish I could find the pictures. I'm sure I have them, somewhere.

aww, cool piece of trivia Sarge!

monkeygirl wrote in post #8784137
Good morning Deb. How are you feeling today.

TIme to get off the computer before my boss comes in. See you all later.

NONSQUISHED ALERT - I am leaving tonight to take a friend up to Disneyland, the Diane comes in Saturday - so I may not be on much for the next week.

Have a good time

cfpackerfan wrote in post #8784235
You know what? Yeah, there are shadows. YOu were in full sun, which sucks.
BUT... that is a great concept, and a really great shot for what you were going for. They will LOVE it, and not even see the shadows. You are looking at it with a photographer's eyes.... look at it from their perspective. I bet every single one of them loves it.

PONTIFICATION TIME!

Okay, so we're all photographers. And I am probably worst than most about nitpicking my work to death. Seriously, sometimes I make myself physically sick over it. I just want everything to be perfect.

I want the shots to be perfect so I don't have to do much pp work on them if I don't want to. I want the feel to be perfect so the client will love them. I want the look to be perfect so my other photographer friends will love them.

At the bottom of the pile somewhere is me the photographer, beginning to hate my job.

Yesterday I was looking at Jeff Ascough's work. I truly do love his stuff. If you watched the videos, you'll know that he NEVER uses flash. Ever. He's excellent with natural lighting. And he uses 3 1.2L lenses and one F2...so he's got the tools to work in natural light. But he goes against the grain. I would be scared to death not to use flash. In the few photos I did of Nichole (where it was not possible to use flash from where I was, the shadows on her eyes were nearly impenetrable). The photos had to be effect shots.

Another thing he does...he uses 4 primes. That's it. the 24L, 50L for 80% of his work and the 85L & 135L for backup. He also keeps the 35L around but rarely uses it...only if one of his other two short primes fails.

Now, nobody does that. Primes for portraits...zooms for the ceremony. We do what he calls "rapid firing" the event in hopes of the full coverage. I love what he does though.

Now I'm NOT aspiring to be him. I need flash. I need the zooms. But I am saying that his shots are heavily dramatic & sometimes have very strong shadows. He's is one of the highest paid photogs in the UK. And very sought after. Why, because he makes sure to get "that moment". He talked about it in the videos. And he does every time. It's the thing that makes people stop and look at his photos.

We pick things to death. We pick the technical things to pieces, we pick the clients to pieces...I'm not just talking about yesterday...one of Fafa's clients comes to mind as well. I know I did. I had a hard time getting past her prominent features to enjoy the photos. But the parents obviously did. To the tune of $700.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get better. I do. Badly. I hate making mistakes that take me hours to correct, if I can correct them at all.

But I think we have forgotten the reason we got into photography in the first place.

Forgive me for being too harsh a critic. For those of you that shoot for pay, if you client is happy that's all that matters.

[END Pontification] And thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read what I was thinking about.

short5 wrote in post #8784360
Jinx had a thing for leather. She ate several bridals including an entire hunt bridal, reins and all That is like 8 pounds of extra thick leather. The cost around $300 dollars too. Then there was the time she ate Leyla's Cartier heirloom watch for the calves skin band it had.. That was a priceless piece sentimentally but if you put dollars on it, it was in the 10k range

I remember that. I think about that often when I am cleaning up and lamenting another Kona destruction.

Jon wrote in post #8784387
You think right . . .

thanks

cfpackerfan wrote in post #8784425
LOL. I'm dressed as Kona.

and you look so cute too!

short5 wrote in post #8784464
Kit, who are these basset people and animal angels that we just can't seem to get above in the voting?? I bet they cheat

I was wondering that!

cfpackerfan wrote in post #8784467
I wish MY avatar was as big as LISA'S avatar. *pout*

I got visited by the avatar fairy. Put your avi under your pillow

oh nice red lumix Didier!

Permie, excellent pontification.

I agree so much with what you said.

I'm really trying to train myself to see the picture more than the technical aspects even though I know compared to some I focus on the technical aspects less.

Sometimes I think the "rules" can really suck the fun out of something. And, sometimes breaking them or bending them can feel so liberating and get some killer results.

Permagrin wrote in post #8784788
PONTIFICATION TIME!

Okay, so we're all photographers. And I am probably worst than most about nitpicking my work to death. Seriously, sometimes I make myself physically sick over it. I just want everything to be perfect.

I want the shots to be perfect so I don't have to do much pp work on them if I don't want to. I want the feel to be perfect so the client will love them. I want the look to be perfect so my other photographer friends will love them.

At the bottom of the pile somewhere is me the photographer, beginning to hate my job.

Yesterday I was looking at Jeff Ascough's work. I truly do love his stuff. If you watched the videos, you'll know that he NEVER uses flash. Ever. He's excellent with natural lighting. And he uses 3 1.2L lenses and one F2...so he's got the tools to work in natural light. But he goes against the grain. I would be scared to death not to use flash. In the few photos I did of Nichole (where it was not possible to use flash from where I was, the shadows on her eyes were nearly impenetrable). The photos had to be effect shots.

Another thing he does...he uses 4 primes. That's it. the 24L, 50L for 80% of his work and the 85L & 135L for backup. He also keeps the 35L around but rarely uses it...only if one of his other two short primes fails.

Now, nobody does that. Primes for portraits...zooms for the ceremony. We do what he calls "rapid firing" the event in hopes of the full coverage. I love what he does though.

Now I'm NOT aspiring to be him. I need flash. I need the zooms. But I am saying that his shots are heavily dramatic & sometimes have very strong shadows. He's is one of the highest paid photogs in the UK. And very sought after. Why, because he makes sure to get "that moment". He talked about it in the videos. And he does every time. It's the thing that makes people stop and look at his photos.

We pick things to death. We pick the technical things to pieces, we pick the clients to pieces...I'm not just talking about yesterday...one of Fafa's clients comes to mind as well. I know I did. I had a hard time getting past her prominent features to enjoy the photos. But the parents obviously did. To the tune of $700.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get better. I do. Badly. I hate making mistakes that take me hours to correct, if I can correct them at all.

But I think we have forgotten the reason we got into photography in the first place.

Forgive me for being too harsh a critic. For those of you that shoot for pay, if you client is happy that's all that matters.

[END Pontification] And thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read what I was thinking about.

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I got visited by the avatar fairy. Put your avi under your pillow

Re: pontification.. I totally agree with you Lisa. I've NEVER shot for pay, but am still nitpicking my shots. If I take for example the 2 weddings I shot. There are many shots I'm not happy with. I'm not 100% happy with the book either (probably not 50% on the first wedding). BUT, I'm fine with it because both couple are happy with the shots. That is the most important thing to me.

I may be unhappy with my shots (or anything else I do in life), but as long as I make the customer/friend/..... happy, that is the most important to me. It is also the best gratification I can get.

This is why I critic my own shots to improve, but try to be ok with them. Anyway, I can't redo them, so why spend hours lamenting on them, it won't change anything...


Re. avatar fairy, I'm still waiting for the TF to come back from her holidays and finish her work

Permagrin wrote in post #8784810
oh nice red lumix Didier!

Thanks Lisa. It is the ZX1 (ZR1 in the States - why can't they use the same name everywhere??). I've been wanting to buy a compact camera for years. But what I want doesn't exist. (GXX, LX3 and so on are too big). I finally decided to take the plunge even if it isn't perfct as what I want will likely not exist for at least the 10 next years There were too many missed photo ops because I didn't have a camera to continue like that for years

sevillafox wrote in post #8784765
Yep. I also informed his advisor and she was planning on having a little chat with him.

He didn't seem phased though.

How's your day going?

LOL, its alright. Toddler=whiny. Have to go to the store for a few things...which in this case entails fighting Hershey traffic. Not so thrilled about that...I'll deal though.

Permagrin wrote in post #8784788
PONTIFICATION TIME!

Okay, so we're all photographers. And I am probably worst than most about nitpicking my work to death. Seriously, sometimes I make myself physically sick over it. I just want everything to be perfect.

I want the shots to be perfect so I don't have to do much pp work on them if I don't want to. I want the feel to be perfect so the client will love them. I want the look to be perfect so my other photographer friends will love them.

At the bottom of the pile somewhere is me the photographer, beginning to hate my job.

Yesterday I was looking at Jeff Ascough's work. I truly do love his stuff. If you watched the videos, you'll know that he NEVER uses flash. Ever. He's excellent with natural lighting. And he uses 3 1.2L lenses and one F2...so he's got the tools to work in natural light. But he goes against the grain. I would be scared to death not to use flash. In the few photos I did of Nichole (where it was not possible to use flash from where I was, the shadows on her eyes were nearly impenetrable). The photos had to be effect shots.

Another thing he does...he uses 4 primes. That's it. the 24L, 50L for 80% of his work and the 85L & 135L for backup. He also keeps the 35L around but rarely uses it...only if one of his other two short primes fails.

Now, nobody does that. Primes for portraits...zooms for the ceremony. We do what he calls "rapid firing" the event in hopes of the full coverage. I love what he does though.

Now I'm NOT aspiring to be him. I need flash. I need the zooms. But I am saying that his shots are heavily dramatic & sometimes have very strong shadows. He's is one of the highest paid photogs in the UK. And very sought after. Why, because he makes sure to get "that moment". He talked about it in the videos. And he does every time. It's the thing that makes people stop and look at his photos.

We pick things to death. We pick the technical things to pieces, we pick the clients to pieces...I'm not just talking about yesterday...one of Fafa's clients comes to mind as well. I know I did. I had a hard time getting past her prominent features to enjoy the photos. But the parents obviously did. To the tune of $700.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get better. I do. Badly. I hate making mistakes that take me hours to correct, if I can correct them at all.

But I think we have forgotten the reason we got into photography in the first place.

Forgive me for being too harsh a critic. For those of you that shoot for pay, if you client is happy that's all that matters.

[END Pontification] And thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read what I was thinking about.

I got visited by the avatar fairy. Put your avi under your pillow

Wholeheartedly agree with you....tried to tell you the same thing the other day when you were stressing over a particular set of shots.

sevillafox wrote in post #8784845
Permie, excellent pontification.

I agree so much with what you said.

I'm really trying to train myself to see the picture more than the technical aspects even though I know compared to some I focus on the technical aspects less.

Sometimes I think the "rules" can really suck the fun out of something. And, sometimes breaking them or bending them can feel so liberating and get some killer results.

I'm awfully good at focusing too much on technical stuff, for sure. Not entirely sure how to change that thinking...guess just a little at a time.

DoodleBunz wrote in post #8784886
I'm awfully good at taking wonderful pictures.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, and you're not the only one around here

Permagrin wrote in post #8784788
PONTIFICATION TIME!

Okay, so we're all photographers. And I am probably worst than most about nitpicking my work to death. Seriously, sometimes I make myself physically sick over it. I just want everything to be perfect.

I want the shots to be perfect so I don't have to do much pp work on them if I don't want to. I want the feel to be perfect so the client will love them. I want the look to be perfect so my other photographer friends will love them.

At the bottom of the pile somewhere is me the photographer, beginning to hate my job.

Yesterday I was looking at Jeff Ascough's work. I truly do love his stuff. If you watched the videos, you'll know that he NEVER uses flash. Ever. He's excellent with natural lighting. And he uses 3 1.2L lenses and one F2...so he's got the tools to work in natural light. But he goes against the grain. I would be scared to death not to use flash. In the few photos I did of Nichole (where it was not possible to use flash from where I was, the shadows on her eyes were nearly impenetrable). The photos had to be effect shots.

Another thing he does...he uses 4 primes. That's it. the 24L, 50L for 80% of his work and the 85L & 135L for backup. He also keeps the 35L around but rarely uses it...only if one of his other two short primes fails.

Now, nobody does that. Primes for portraits...zooms for the ceremony. We do what he calls "rapid firing" the event in hopes of the full coverage. I love what he does though.

Now I'm NOT aspiring to be him. I need flash. I need the zooms. But I am saying that his shots are heavily dramatic & sometimes have very strong shadows. He's is one of the highest paid photogs in the UK. And very sought after. Why, because he makes sure to get "that moment". He talked about it in the videos. And he does every time. It's the thing that makes people stop and look at his photos.

We pick things to death. We pick the technical things to pieces, we pick the clients to pieces...I'm not just talking about yesterday...one of Fafa's clients comes to mind as well. I know I did. I had a hard time getting past her prominent features to enjoy the photos. But the parents obviously did. To the tune of $700.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get better. I do. Badly. I hate making mistakes that take me hours to correct, if I can correct them at all.

But I think we have forgotten the reason we got into photography in the first place.

Forgive me for being too harsh a critic. For those of you that shoot for pay, if you client is happy that's all that matters.

[END Pontification] And thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read what I was thinking about.

I read it all.. nice comments. My nomination for best post of the day so far....

DDA wrote in post #8784899
I wholeheartedly agree with you, and you're not the only one around here

:p You so changed what I wrote. Thank you very much though....

the thing is, I truly do not know how to balance out the technical with the rest.

I see what's wrong in every shot. I don't know how to let it go. I get so mad at myself for missing it at the time.

Then I go through the whole "I really do suck as a photographer. Whatever good shots happen, are just because I was lucky. People with skill, do it right in the tough situations."

I'm not looking for accolades. I really do think I'm lucky. Great light makes all the difference in a shoot for me. Even good light. Dappled light, like I had up at silver falls, really presented a challenge for me. I'm used to having about 50% of my shots to choose from after a shoot. On this last shoot, it was more like 20% That really threw me.

I wondered what I would do, if that happened at a wedding. Then I pretty much got beside myself.

DoodleBunz wrote in post #8784927
:p You so changed what I wrote.

Me? *whistling as an innocent man* I wouldn't dare!!


Lisa. Even if you think you suck, we here KNOW you are a great photog!!!!

Permagrin wrote in post #8784788
PONTIFICATION TIME!

Okay, so we're all photographers. And I am probably worst than most about nitpicking my work to death. Seriously, sometimes I make myself physically sick over it. I just want everything to be perfect.

I want the shots to be perfect so I don't have to do much pp work on them if I don't want to. I want the feel to be perfect so the client will love them. I want the look to be perfect so my other photographer friends will love them.

At the bottom of the pile somewhere is me the photographer, beginning to hate my job.

Yesterday I was looking at Jeff Ascough's work. I truly do love his stuff. If you watched the videos, you'll know that he NEVER uses flash. Ever. He's excellent with natural lighting. And he uses 3 1.2L lenses and one F2...so he's got the tools to work in natural light. But he goes against the grain. I would be scared to death not to use flash. In the few photos I did of Nichole (where it was not possible to use flash from where I was, the shadows on her eyes were nearly impenetrable). The photos had to be effect shots.

Another thing he does...he uses 4 primes. That's it. the 24L, 50L for 80% of his work and the 85L & 135L for backup. He also keeps the 35L around but rarely uses it...only if one of his other two short primes fails.

Now, nobody does that. Primes for portraits...zooms for the ceremony. We do what he calls "rapid firing" the event in hopes of the full coverage. I love what he does though.

Now I'm NOT aspiring to be him. I need flash. I need the zooms. But I am saying that his shots are heavily dramatic & sometimes have very strong shadows. He's is one of the highest paid photogs in the UK. And very sought after. Why, because he makes sure to get "that moment". He talked about it in the videos. And he does every time. It's the thing that makes people stop and look at his photos.

We pick things to death. We pick the technical things to pieces, we pick the clients to pieces...I'm not just talking about yesterday...one of Fafa's clients comes to mind as well. I know I did. I had a hard time getting past her prominent features to enjoy the photos. But the parents obviously did. To the tune of $700.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to get better. I do. Badly. I hate making mistakes that take me hours to correct, if I can correct them at all.

But I think we have forgotten the reason we got into photography in the first place.

Forgive me for being too harsh a critic. For those of you that shoot for pay, if you client is happy that's all that matters.

[END Pontification] And thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read what I was thinking about.

Yep, I read and understood all of it. But I'll bet that Jeff used to be where you are now - frustrated and over self-critical. He got where he is now through a long and hard process of self-discovery and learning.

Lisa, you're a long way toward that goal, and your wedding photography has truly been as good as other "good" pros I've seen here.

Don't ever feel dismay by the work of more experienced photographer, be inspired by them.

You're getting there, Lisa. Perseverance belief in yourself will see you through.