My best critique

I posted the raw images (not to be confused with RAW images... just the unedited) from Saturday's Thrive performance on a photography site to be critiqued. Right now, as hard as it is for me to take, I like for people to critique.

Anyway, I got this critique on the site, and I thought it was pretty great. For the first time, it wasn't about f-stops or ISO's, it was about how to really shoot.

"... The fact that it was a Christian band was your goal. Highlight their clothing, the emotion of the singer, and even the crowd enjoy the praise and worship. That would have been my mission. You can do it. You understand exposure, atleast enough to pull this off. (just don't know if you know much about studio work or not.. that's all) Make sure to go in looking for a common thread, and not a hard drive full of pictures. You pics are good, but I'm sure you have much more in you to convey through your camera. Thinking about the sincerity of the people singing for God. Think about the passion they have. Not doing it for the money or the fame but to praise and worship. I'm writing a small essay, but this is what you want to think about the next go around. Don't sweat pixel peeping..(people do entirely too much of that.. I personally don't want to see another 100% crop!!! please), but what's your job. I had a great boss that would tell me that I didn't have anything to shoot, then don't shoot it. What are you trying to say with your camera? How are you using the elements involved to do that? What are the small details that will make people say "I never thought of that"? Composition and camera settings will be second nature after a while and your doing good job at it now."

Birth Order

As a middle child, things always look a little different. There have been many studies about birth order in life, but I haven't read any of them. So here's my take on things. Being a middle child means that you have to find your way to be special. The oldest is the oldest and the leader. They were around before anyone else, so they got the "alone time" with the parents (even though, in our case, it was only 3 years). The youngest is the last chance. They get the parents holding on to every memory. Graduation will be the final graduation, the wedding will be the final wedding (hopefully!), so they get that aspect of it.

From what I can tell (since my extensive research includes myself and one other friend), being the middle child means that you are extremely independent, but you also are constantly wanting attention and force your way into getting it.

But here's the thing that sticks out in my mind about growing up a middle child. I remember never picking the restaurant. Even when the whole, "It's Amy's turn" came up, I was always very tentative about it. I usually let Kelly and Megan decide, and hoped it would be something I could stand.

I remember this driving my college boyfriend nuts, because I did the same thing with him. I told him that it was because I would rather myself be miserable with the decision, because that was something I could control, rather than making someone else unhappy.

It seems as if I have carried this over into adulthood. In a lot of things I do, I get walked on because I'm afraid of making someone else unhappy. At a cookout, I calculate out carefully how much food or beverage I will eat and multiply it by three to cover others. I never take charge and plan events in case someone else doesn't want to do it. And decisions in general have become increasingly hard.

But lately, it's been more detrimental to my dating life than anywhere else. I'll meet a great guy, and immediately try to think of people for him to date, friends of mine who are single. I have dated a couple of guys that I didn't see things developing with, only to stick with it because they seemed more sure than me (yeah, ask me how that worked...), and most of all, I will step back when a friend says they're interested, because I would rather myself be miserable than for her to be.

Now, let me go ahead and put in a disclaimer. Many of you already know that my plan since about May has been to not date until I get back from Africa. This wasn't because I thought that going on a 10-day trip with a boyfriend back home would be hard, but because it put a finite timeline on getting everything ready and healed in my heart before I could move forward. I've already ignored that once which meant failure, so I won't ignore it again.

But I can still look back and see my mistakes. I can still see where I let others opinions get to my head, and stopped leading with my heart.

The definition of insanity is this... one who keeps doing the same thing expecting different results.

Photoshopping Fun

Kind of cool actions. I'm not the biggest fan of these, but it was fun to play. :-)

I am NOT a photographer

Saturday night, after my hands had been itching all night, I finally couldn't stand it anymore. I remember sitting beside my friend Mike one night when he kept talking about how his hands were itching for a camera, and I thought he was insane. I now understand what he was feeling. I reached under the table, grabbed the camera, and began to shoot.






Someone came up to me and was checking out the camera. They asked if I had been hired to shoot the party. I couldn't help but crack up. (Although, I will confess now that it took every bit of restraint to not rent a flash)


Some of my favorite people are photographers. Mike Comer, Audrey Mann, and David Johnson to name a few. Not to mention the fact that I am a professional blog stalker of one Cheyenne Schultz and Scarlett Lillian (be forewarned... these two ladies' sites are a window drug to photography).



But me? I am not a photographer. Just a poser.



A couple of years ago, I was the marketing director for River Hills Country Club in Lake Wylie. We were on a shoestring budget, so my love of great graphic design and photography got put on the back burner, and I had to figure out a way to get around it. So, I have a great eye, right? I'll be able to do it.

So, I downloaded Adobe Illustrator, sat down with my idea for a brochure, and started working.

The only thing was, I had never used Illustrator.

The guy that I was dating at the time was a graphic designer, so I called him up. "Ok, what are you trying to do?" he asked. I explained. "Ok, find the pen tool." "The WHAT?" Big heavy sigh from him. "Amy..."

Here I am again, some of my favorite people photographers. They've been wonderful. David stole my camera one night to show me low lighting techniques (which ended with "your lens is crap" and "just use the flash and deal with it"), Mike has put up with my endless shooting at parties, usually followed with, "Miiiike, how do I...???" Becky has given me shopping tips which led me to Biggs Camera (wonderful, nice people!)

So, here's my public "thank you" to all the professional and semi-professional photographers who have put up with me. And here's to a future filled with me being a poser...

Thrive Band 2008

A couple of nights ago, I decided to get some high-light practice in at the GSUMC Thrive concert in Rivergate. While I can see room for improvement (a little blurriness, some of the composition slightly off), I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Fireworks...

I realized I never posted about my first fireworks experience.

So, Thursday, I sat down and read up on shooting fireworks. I did everything it said. MV-Shutter speed-2, aperture-8, turn flash off, bring tripod, etc...

Well, then it came time for fireworks, and I happened to have a professional photographer sitting next to me. Funny how that happens in Amy world. So, after I had spent all day researching the "to do", he took the camera and made his own adjustments. And of course those came out a thousand times better. Here was our best one from that night:



The next night, I tried it again. I took out my camera and tripod, and realized that I had absolutely no idea how to work the tripod:



If you look closely, you can see Mike staring in the distance on my left hand side. I think he was a little sick of trying to help me. ;-)

Here was my best shot from that night:

Signs that you have become an adult

So, I was talking to someone at the pool today, and all of the sudden I felt old. Here are signs that you are now officially an adult:

• You realize that having a mortgage isn't scary, it's a way of life
• You feel the air conditioner and think, "I wonder how much this is costing me right now?"
• The new retail chain going up in your neighborhood isn't exciting because it's fun to shop there, but because you know it will make the value of your house go up
• You start calculating in your head the earliest it will be before you have kids, and save accordingly
• Your conversations with your best friend turn from "That guy is so cute" or "That party was so awesome" to "I did ____ at work" or "I saved this much money by..."
• "Parties" on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are now "Networking opportunities"
• An hour and a half drive is considered close by
• "Boys suck" cakes are replaced in number by wedding registries (only funny to the Delta Gamma girls of South Tower '03)