'Cuz I'm gangster like that...

Tattoos. tattoo's. tattoo's. People have some strong opinions on tattoos... Here's mine: You live once, if you ever have the itch to do something, you should do it. (ok, that's a broad statement... but as long as you're not hurting yourself or someone else, I think you should be good to go). I have 3 tattoo's and I don't regret a single one of them but then again, I try pretty hard to live without regrets.

This tattoo is extra special to me. My parents are my heroes; by far the most amazing individuals I know. I wanted to do something for them to show them just how much they mean to me. But don't get me wrong, it's just as much for me as it is for them.

"Laugh" is written by mom. "Often" is written by my dad. The heart is drawn by mom. For the rest of my life I can look down and see my parents. They are with me wherever I go, whatever I do, delivering me a message of positivity, reminding me to embrace the joys life has to offer - After all, to me, that's what my parents represent, pure happiness.

Family, joy, laughter, love, happiness... That is what life is about.

Psssh... Routines Shmoutines

As I am preparing for my first final in photography school. I decided to sit back for a minute and think a little bit about the last 2 months.

My life has changed SO much. I used to have simple routines while working in the business world - Monday thru Friday work 8am-6pm, Starbucks everyday (yes, they knew me by name), squeezed in a happy hour here or there and perhaps even a soccer game and pretty much did whatever I wanted on the weekends (which meant two full days of playtime with the love of my life).

Today, it's a little different. The closest things I have to a routine these days are sleeping in my bed, watching The Bachelorette every Monday night (which has now ended) and walking my dog. I'm either in class or at work and when I am not doing either of those I am doing assignments for class, working on my blog or post-processing my bajillion photo's that I have taken - And no, there is no rhyme or reason to the madness. My schedule is different every week so I basically just hang out on my toes, ready for whatever. Weekends don't exist. That's probably the hardest part of all of this, I miss my precious free-time with my honey. But don't get me wrong, he's 150% supportive and we figure it out. I am the luckiest girl the world to have him.

I've learned a lot about the art and business of photography over this time period too. I've spent hours upon hours sitting behind my camera and my computer figuring out different techniques to make my pictures look the way I want them to look. I've had some frustrations, some major headaches, a couple *light-bulb* moments and many many moments of.... hmmm... (how do I explain this?)... Well, moments of 100% joy and excitement, feelings of fulfillment... times where I take a picture and it turns out exactly how I wanted it to and it's beautiful and it's perfect and I literally can feel little elfs in purple and gold jumpsuits prancing for joy inside my belly - and that giant, child-like smile on my face, yeah, I can't help it. Those moments, that happen time and time again, those are the moments that assure me I have made the right choice.

So to finish this post up I want to pass on some of my biggest lessons from this semester:

• The first is that if you're thinking about taking photography more seriously, know that it is a HUGE commitment. Everything about it takes time and patience so be prepared to really dedicate the time to it that it deserves.
• Figure out a process for downloading and editing your images. Without a process you will find yourself losing photo's that you so desperately need. The first thing I always do with a new set of pictures is copy the raw, original images directly to a DVD to store in a safe place. That way if anything happens to my computer of the files on my computer, I still have the source files to fall back on.
• A tri-pod can be very helpful. My teacher goes as far as to say that it's the most important purchase after you get set up with a camera. So far, I love working with my tri-pod... what I don't like about it is dragging it around everywhere. You can get a shoulder strap or a carrying case for it though so I highly suggest taking that route. It's amazing how much a tri-pod can improve your photo's.
• Take time to fully understand resolution and pixels and how they effect each other and your image. It's a major headache at first but it's imperative to your success as a photographer.
• Always return your camera settings to their starting point when you're done shooting for the day. It's inevitable that one day you will forget that they still need to be adjusted and will end up doing something like taking a whole batch of photos with your ISO set at 1400.  Wah waah.
• Adobe TV is a great (free) resource for learning tips and tricks on editing your photo's in Photoshop
• It's ok to buy an off label lens - I've never really been a brand girl anyways... Why spend more on a name when you can get the same thing somewhere else for a much cheaper price? I'm sure plenty would be happy to debate on this topic but I bought my first professional grade lens for 1/3 the cost of the equivalent Nikon lens and you know what, I love it.
• This one is from my dad - "It takes money to make money." Between school and equipment, I'm in the 'taking' money stage and more broke then I have ever been in my adult life. But that just motivates me even more to keep working hard - I know one day it will pay off and I will be a successful entrepreneur like my pops. :)