Have You Ever Lost Your Photo Mojo?

 Just Life, Photography  5 Responses »
Aug 202010
 

Everywhere I went in my 20s, my beloved manual film camera came along.  Everything I saw was filtered through a photographer’s eye, with attention to small details, to light, to how a sweeping real-life scene might translate in the tiny rectangle of a viewfinder.  Travel helped, but it wasn’t required — my camera also accompanied walks around the neighborhood or visits with friends and family.  I read photography books and magazines.  I even collected vintage cameras and experimented with developing, handcoloring, and altered Polaroids.

And then … I lost my mojo. On travel, at home, even faced with our adorable and ever-changing baby … nothing brings back the old joy.

(Baby-with-a-pickle. Just because.)

Two weekends ago, I spent 4 days in the most visually vibrant city in America.  During that time, I took the Times Square photo from my last post, two photos of some mini-cupcakes, and four photos of the baby with a pickle.  That is my complete visual record of my first time at BlogHer and baby’s first trip to NYC.

I looooooove our current camera (an Olympus EP-1), so that’s not the problem.  I’ve wondered whether it could be the age of digital (too immediate? too easy to snap-and-delete?), the pressure from constant exposure to pro-level photographers on the Web, maybe just the constant fatigue of being chronically ill….  But whatever it is, I want my mojo back!

Have you ever lost your photo mojo?  What did you do to get it back?  Any advice??!?

 Posted by Tara at 7:46 pm

Inauguration … The View from Our Couch

 DC Life, Photography  No Responses »
Jan 202009
 

This week marks an exciting time to be a proud resident of DC.  But it’s strange to be surrounded by historic events when you’re not allowed out of your house!  Most of my exposure to this weekend’s Inaugural events has come from TV and the Web, just like for everybody else.


I do get the occasional man-on-the-street update from Mr. T.  He returned from walking Zoe late last night with tales of National Guard members guarding our block.  Earlier, he reported lots of frantic people trying to catch cabs in the cold.  Revelers pass our front door loudly at all hours (we have a convenient-but-not-quiet location between the building’s front door and elevator), including a few hearty souls who left at 4:00 this morning to reserve a spot for the day’s festivities.


Although we live a mere 5 blocks from the Capitol, Mr. T and I watched the swearing-in on TV.  We did hear the cannon salute, and the Bush helicopter leaving after the ceremony.  So there’s that.  (Now the sounds outside are almost entirely emergency vehicle sirens.  Mr. T’s theory is that today’s estimated 2 million visitors are starting to succumb to exhaustion and cold.)

The Capitol looked fantastically red-white-and-blue this morning.  But I figure we’ve all seen the same photos, so here are a few from Inaugurations past.  Here’s hoping that when we look back on archive photos of this Inauguration, some 30 or 40 years hence, we will remember today as the start of a flourishing period in this Nation’s history.



How are you marking today’s historic events?
 Posted by Tara at 2:59 pm

Photography Dilemma — Help!!!

 Photography, Wedding  No Responses »
Sep 072007
 

Margaret_2

When we first started wedding planning, I knew from the get-go that choosing a photographer would be a problem.  I’m always the one snapping away at friends’ weddings, and it makes me crazy that I’m doomed to spend our own wedding day without a camera in hand.  And I’m very picky about photographers.  I took a grad school class in Documentary Photography that taught us to view photos with a critical eye — interesting and fun, but something of a handicap when looking for a wedding photographer on a low budget!

After many sleepless nights reviewing online galleries, poring over Craigslist posts from inexpensive photographers, and reading discussion board threads about various options, last week I found The One.  They say finding The One is like finding your perfect dress, or even your groom:  “When it happens, you’ll know.”  It was exactly like that for me — I was so overjoyed to find a great photographer within my price range, I actually cried.

Alyssa_2

But over the next few days, I started thinking about the real cost of her fee, and I’m seriously wavering.  The money could buy a whole list of items we’ve been dreaming of for ages.  As much as my heart yearns for beautiful photos of our big day, I just don’t know that we can justify that kind of expense.  It doesn’t help that married friends all say after a while they never look at their wedding photos.

I still believe my photographer is The One and that she’s more than worth her fees in relation to the wedding market.  If it’s a question of which photographer to hire, there’s no question.  But we’re not sure it’s a question of “which,” but of “whether”….

Heidi

We see 3 options:

1.  Skip the pro.  Use family and friends.  This has to produce at least a passable record of the day.  I took the 3 photos featured here at friends’ weddings, and 2 of them with the very basic manual camera I got when I was 15.  With all the fancy, high-megapixel, zoom-lens, point-and-shoot digitals everyone is sporting these days, we’ve got to get at least a few good shots, right?

2.  Hire a different, cheaper pro.  But what worries me most is that the photos won’t meet my high standards and I’ll cringe every time I look at them. 

3.  Go with the family/friend option for the big day, but hire “The One” for an engagement or trash-the-dress type session so that we have at least a few fancy photos to mark the event.  She’s willing to do this for about 1/4 the price of a full wedding shoot.  And we’re leaning this way.  But should we just suck it up and pay the whole thing for the whole wedding? 

Does anyone have advice for us?  Has anyone else made a choice to skip the photos, or found a creative way to approach the issue?  (Thanks!!)

 Posted by Tara at 2:52 am
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