Stretched Thin

I started writing TV-related articles for examiner.com a few weeks ago. They like for you to write at least 2-3 articles a week. I don't think i can cut the mustard though! I feel stretched thin... overworked & under (way under) paid.

It's just too much like work. I can't come up with interesting articles that involve both TV & Richmond. Small city-living Richmond? Not to mention, several 'big' shows are winding up their regular seasons... doesn't equate to tons of material to write about.

So i feel that i am at a crossroads... to keep or not to keep... Do i give it the old college try & work on more articles? Or do i shrug my shoulders, call it a loss & do other things with my time?

It's not a hard decision to tell you the truth. I'd rather get paid nada & use my time to add content to my bloggy here and take photos with my new toy. With the spring season just around the corner (spring back on your clocks this weekend!), it's calling me for more outdoor activities. Of course, this is only after having taken the appropriate allergy precautions.

I saw the beginnings of perinnials in the yard this weekend... those little blades of green signaling the renewal we all look forward to after a long, cold (very snowy) winter. I'm excited at the prospect of shooting more pics of scenes that aren't covered in snow or hibernating for the winter. My camera is anxious to show it's stuff!

I wonder if i should read the manual first...

Tricks of the Trade

As part of the ongoing completion of the New Year's Resolution, I am trying to learn new Photoshop tricks. I'm hoping to take my photos to a 'new level'. I watched a few tutorials online, but I am not all that sure of how this newly acquired knowledge is going to be put to use. I have tried out a few things... here are the results:

Not too shabby for a few 'tricks'...

New Toys are Fun!

Some say i really didn't need it... I didn't listen to them. I jumped on it. I bought a new camera. That shiny new Nikon D-3000 is ALL MINE. This camera is just a prop for my New Year's Resolution (see my last entry for more info). I am going to, if it kills me, be more creative! I have a minor in photography - it's time to dust off those skills & see what I'm made off.

I keep seeing all these gorgeous pictures on people's blogs - full of color, life & depth of field. For those of you who don't know "depth of field," that would be when your photo  has a clear subject and a blurry background or vice versa. You just can't get that with a point & shoot, so I'm moving up in the world to a DSLR (digital single lens reflex).

I guess technically this is a move back up to a SLR. After all, i used one in college - it's how i learned to shoot and create with a camera. I didn't realize how much i missed it until i saw what other people were doing. I'm sure that's some sort of jealousy, right?? Or maybe it's the knowledge that i KNOW i can do it! I can take those pics too! I can shoot something other than what everyone else out there with a point & shoot can do!

So, i'm practicing... relearning what 'aperture', 'shutter speed', 'f-stop' -- the list goes on -- means.

i don't have too many willing subjects, so i have to MAKE people sit for a second. This would be Cop'er, Sister Fantanimal and nephew Ry-guy.

Then we have those models who won't sit still, won't keep their eyes open, won't sit, lay, roll over or beg.

Syd-ums

Lil' Guy

Jakester

Then we have an even more impossible grouping of models...

Moodles

Roxy Ann

Eventually I tired of chasing these guys around the house. They were not having any parts of this new "toy" & wanted the flashing light to stop blinding them. Hey, that's fine... I'll find other things to shoot.

See... SOME things don't mind when i make them the center of my attention.

I won't lie... there are about 100 other images that i didn't post in this blog, but a girl's gotta start somewhere, right? I'm getting a little better, dusting the cobwebs off and exercising my pointer finger.

I have a feeling this toy is going to be around for a while.