What Photography Means to Me?

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I thought I would write down some of my thoughts about photography and photographs, and what they mean to me and how they make me feel. I have actually split it into two articles because it was too long as one! In this article I talk about what I get out of taking photographs.

The Hobby

For me photography is a life long hobby that I started when I was young and have always enjoyed doing, and learning about. It’s more than a hobby it’s a love for learning the skills required, and constantly updating them as technology moves on. Like moving from film to digital photography, and the new opportunities that has created. I like learning how to use the new software that is available for editing photographs and seeing what you can do with them. Having the ability to change the photograph post production has given me a new way to enjoy taking photographs, and to play about with them and how they are presented.

I love gadgets so I get a blast out of looking at and using photography equipment. The different designs, styles and specifications of cameras are great to look at. I always want the camera that is just out of reach! Let alone all the other accessories available like flashes, lens and filters, the list is endless and the companies know how to draw you in!

What would I like to see in this photo?

I love the challenge when taking photographs. It gives me a great feeling of satisfaction when I bring together what I know about the camera with my choice of subject, and the result is a good photograph (well what I think is good anyway). And when there are mistakes which is often, then I want to learn from it and it urges me on to do better next time, and learn a bit more.

It’s a very creative process and an individual expression of how you see the subject whether it’s a landscape, flower, food or animal. So that makes it exciting, trying different techniques to produce different results. And when I create something that is completely my own and has turned out well, then that is the pay off for all the hard work - seeing the result. I love putting my photographs on my computer and having a proper look at them and being proud of what I have created and produced. Especially now the digital age has made that process pretty much instant instead of waiting for the developers to process the film. Ah the good old days!

What does photography mean to you?

Photography will be different for everyone as it is very individual. What you are creating is individual to you the photographer. If we all took a photograph of the same landscape then they would all be different, as everyone would capture something different about the landscape through their own eyes.

What does photography mean to you and how does it make you feel? Is it a job, hobby, passion or something else? Let me know what you think in the comments…

More in part 2 coming tomorrow…

Thanks

Mandy

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What The Heck Is RSS And How Does It Work?

I had no idea what an RSS feed was a couple of months ago, but you can learn quick.

But why should I care?

Good question. First, here’s why you should care. Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”

One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click. Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool! Umm… So what the heck is RSS?

Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest. As you surf around the internet you may find there’s lots of useful blogs and information that you would like to follow. So if you’re anything like me you have a long list of bookmarks. Which is all well and good, but you have to keep checking back to each blog checking for updates and that’s very time consuming.

That’s where ‘Subscribing to a Feed’ comes in. When you subscribe to a feed you are sent the posts every time the blog is updated, whether you choose email or feed readers. But the main point is, it keeps everything in the one place so it’s easy to track what the different blogs that you are interested in are doing. You can be reading any amount of blogs through their feeds and every time the blogs are posted to, they are updated in your feed reader. And that cuts out all the surfing around checking the blogs individually, a great time saver.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. Some of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point are Bloglines, Google and Yahoo amongst others and they are free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not.

So how do I Subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like The Photographer Blog and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. For instance I use the Google feed reader. This is the standard RSS icon:

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter. Click Here to Subscribe to The Photographer Blog

100% “NO-SPAM” Guarantee

But if you do prefer to have your blog updates sent to you via email then you can have the convenience of your fresh Photographer Blog content being sent straight to your email inbox.

A service called Feedburner handles all my RSS feed and email updates and it is 100% safe and spam free! Myself or Feedburner will never share, trade, sell, deliver, reveal, publicize, or market your email address in any way, shape, or form. Period. You will receive a confirmation email with an activation link that you will need to click and that’s it. Whenever the blog you are following has new content, you will find the posts from your feed in your inbox. Click Here to Subscribe to The Photographer Blog by Email

It’s just up to you and which type of subscription you prefer?

If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please leave a comment or email me and I’ll be happy to help!

“Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this RSS mini-tutorial.”

Thanks

Mandy

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The Journey So Far… part 3

Previously in this series: The Journey So Far… Part 1,
The Journey So Far… Part 2

2006 - Present

Hard Decisions

My husband and I now had two children, and it soon became clear that it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought, having children and working long hours for the advertising agency. There were going to be some hard decisions to make, the agency were unable to make my hours more flexible. So I made the hard decision to give up working full time and try to find a way to work from home, which was the ideal solution. I wanted to actually see my children sometimes! Nobody said parenthood was going to be easy.

So What Did I Do?

But working from home isn’t as easy as it sounds, how and what could I do? It was now or never, could I start and run a business from home and be there for the kids? Being self employed and running a business had been a long time ambition of mine. But I had always pushed it to the back of my mind and never committed to it. But now I was being presented with the chance to actually put my dream into action as a solution to a my problem. It’s like it was hitting me in the face and saying here’s your chance. But by now I was not that naive and I knew it wasn’t that simple. Working from home and starting a business is one thing, but doing it with 2 small children in tow and trying to work around them was a totally different proposition.

So How Did I Get Here Writing This Blog?

So with that in mind I started to look at what I could do. Could I make money through using what I had learned over the past 15 years plus. At first I looked at my experiences and what I was qualified in, like proofreading which I had done while at the advertising agency. But that didn’t really get anywhere because I didn’t love it. I only chose it because I had experience, but I should have known that doing a job you don’t love will get you nowhere fast. It was then that I realized if self employment was going to work for me, I would have to let my guard down and go for what I loved to do (and actually listen to my own advice).

The scariest part about this was failure and the fear of. The reason I had never attempted it before, was the thought of failing at working from home doing something creative that I really wanted to do. Like photography that was a hobby that is close to my heart, and this was my biggest stumbling block.

Taking The Leap

But I realized that if I didn’t give it a go (even if I failed) then I would regret it, you don’t get anywhere without trying. Writing was something new that I had got into and enjoyed, and I knew a lot about publications from working at the advertising agency. So I started looking into making money through writing and photography. I heard through a newsletter about making money on the internet. And seeing as there were not many doors opening for me I looked into it. So that’s how I started trying to make money on the internet, I kind of fell into it. The first thing I noticed was that it was a lot harder than it was made out to be, by other internet marketers. And after a few failed attempts I felt I wanted to be a bit more creative with my online activities, so I started looking at what else I could do on the internet to make a living.

What is blogging?

It was then that I first heard about blogs, and I was really intrigued because I could incorporate my writing into blogs as well as my photos and photography. They have huge potential and are ideal for what I wanted to do, so I started trying out blogs and writing them. I really enjoyed writing blogs and I found them exciting and fulfilling from the creative point of view. Blogs or Weblogs as they are sometimes known suited me well as a communication method for sharing my ideas and thoughts, which is what they were originally used for. Build a Blog is my 4th blog about my experiences of blogs and blogging, and the culmination of trial and error and experience that I gained from producing and writing my first 3 blogs. My blogging is still in its infancy and growing slowly, but it has given me the chance to explore photography and more. I am really enjoying it and it’s exciting to see where it goes.

So my next project was launching the photography side of my blogging by starting this blog, The Photographer Blog. Which I am very excited about because as you know this is the part that has been close to my heart for a long time, and I am eager to see how it turns out - stay tuned!

So far with blogging I have mainly wrote about blogs and what I have learned about them. So I am looking forward to enjoying blogging in a new way through this photographer blog, writing about something I have a passion for. I am also excited to learn more about photography and talking to other photographers about their experiences, likes and dislikes. I think blogs are great communication channels and I have got some goals that I would like this blog to achieve, and I am looking forward to seeing how they go. But most of all I want to enjoy this blog, writing it, learning from it and last but not least sharing my photographs on it.

Here’s to the future!

Thanks

Mandy

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The Journey So Far… part 2

Previously in this series: The Journey So Far… Part 1

1990 - 2006.

Although I never had any intention of becoming a Dental Nurse I did enjoy the job, and all my experiences and the people I met. I was a Dental Nurse for 10 years, but it wasn’t my passion and I had a nagging feeling that I should take another look at what I should do for a job.

Could I follow a dream?

Should I try and change my career and how difficult would that be? Would I be able to retrain in a different area completely? I decided to sit down and write what I enjoyed doing most, to see if I could do a course to retrain in that area. I came up with:

• Photography
• Computers
• Art

So I went to night school and enrolled on a course that I found covering all 3. It was Apple Mac Training in Quark, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Computers and technology have moved on hugely since I have left school and there was a lot of courses on offer. This course suited me down to the ground. I really enjoyed it, and although it was hard to work and find time to study (I had to take holidays to be able to attend the lessons) what I was learning was extremely rewarding. It was so easy to manipulate the photos and create whatever image or illustration I wanted, it really fulfilled my creative side and what I wanted to do. I also became a fan of Apple Mac computers.

I qualified, and I was lucky enough in 2000 to be able to get a job in an Advertising Agency, creating recruitment adverts for various clients. This was a huge step, I had never done anything like this before, it was a complete change and everything was new to me.

I was growing with my photography

Even with all this going on I was really enjoying my photography. I was starting to refine and learn more about what photographs I enjoyed taking. Like landscape photography and architecture. Landscapes reflect my love for the countryside, the sea and travelling. I love to visit places as well as being able to take photos of them. I really like architecture and it’s different lines, shapes and forms, buildings can look great in photos and really tell a story.

That along with my Photoshop skills was taking photography to another level for me, and I was appreciating it more.

Find out more in part 3!

Thanks

Mandy

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The Journey So Far… part 1

I thought it would be a good idea to give you some background information on me. To give you a little idea on where I am coming from and who I am. So here is a brief look at my journey with photography and how I have come to be writing this blog.

1973 - 1990.

I was born on the Wirral in the North West of England (UK) in 1973 and I am the eldest of 2 children. If your not sure where the Wirral is (and not many people are), then have you ever heard of Liverpool, and the song ‘Ferry Across The Mersey’, well you may have wondered where you were ferrying from in the song! The answer is the Wirral.

I was a 70’s child and yes I had some very dodgy haircuts and clothes. Which have strangely come back into fashion!

Childhood

I wasn’t the typical girl, I didn’t want to learn to dance and I wasn’t into horses etc.. I was a bit of a tomboy, I liked making things and learning how they worked, I loved gadgets. I remember from an early age being interested in cameras and taking photographs. A lot of my family were ‘into’ photography and I have a feeling I nagged them to death to have a go. But cameras were expensive back then so I didn’t get a go. I did end up with an old hand me down 35 mm camera that was the simplest thing you have ever seen, with absolutely no settings and a flash cube! Showing my age now!

I clearly remember being taught how to take a photograph, looking through the view finder, aiming and pressing the button without moving the camera or the picture would be blurred. I used to concentrate really hard with every photo I took to make sure I wasn’t moving the camera. I did really well and my pictures turned out well. I was made up. It was nice to be good at something that I wanted to do, rather than being dragged to my sisters dance classes in the hope I may want a turn. So I took to it well and had several different cameras while I was young. I just loved taking photographs, experimenting and thinking of what pictures I could take. Then the thrill of seeing if it had worked, or not.

So What Career Did I Pick?

My favourite subject in school was art and design. When I got to the sixth form I had a chance to take photography as part of my art and design course, so I jumped at it. I loved it. It included learning about the darkroom, developing film and using everything from enlargers through to cameras, and projects for photographs that we later used in graphic design. That was my favourite ever part of school and I was sad that I couldn’t have taken it as a singular subject. It was my hobby but when it came to career time, I didn’t want to make it a contender for a career.

At the time there was fierce competition for graphic designers and photographers. It was the 80’s and as a women it was really hard, to make it you had to be really good. I didn’t have the conviction or determination needed at the time to make it in those fields. But that has come with time and experience of working life, in different industries and with different people. I have had a lot of experiences which has shaped me and let my photography grow with me, which comes with maturity. A harder route to take finding out slowly and by yourself, but I didn’t have the confidence or back up to do it straight off. A very interesting learning curve though.

So in summary sadly when it came time to leave school I didn’t follow what I really wanted to do for a career. Instead I took a job as a trainee dental nurse? I suppose if you count all the X-rays I have developed over 10 years as a dental nurse, as a job in photography then I did!

Look out for part 2…

Thanks

Mandy

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My Vision for The Photographer Blog

My vision, desire or plan?

In my first post I talked about what this blog is going to be about. This time I’d like to talk a bit about why I am writing it, and where I would like it to be in a couple of years. In other words what vision, desire or plan have I got for it and for me!

This all seems a bit heavy and unnecessary at this point, but it is all part of my journey and how I am trying to get there. So I thought I would tackle it now and say straight off what I am going to do.

I am starting this blog off by talking a little bit about me. Now you may think this a little strange and self centred as this blog is about photography. Surely I should be talking about that. It’s strange for me as well because I am not one for seeking the limelight. But I am going to be talking about me as a photographer. I think it is important to explain how I have come to this point with photography and what it means to me, before I go any further.

So the next three posts will look at my journey so far and how I have come to this point. I want to form a good base for the blog and to explain why I want to talk about photography in the first place.

My goals for this blog?

I want and will be working towards making this blog into an information source on stock photography, and my own journey with photography and what I am doing. I also want to learn more as I go, and share what I have learned. As learning is best as a sharing experience, where more than one person can help others to move forward and enjoy photography more and more.

I want to work towards becoming a successful stock photographer, in that I can submit and sell my photographs through stock agencies. Which is something I have always wanted to do.

I would like to foster a community where photographers can come and share their love of the topic and talk to each other.

Ultimate Dream…

As with most photographers and artists my ultimate dream would be to have my photographs in an exhibition! Hey everybody has to have dreams, and if you don’t try to reach out and grab them then you will never have a chance of it coming true.

Conclusion

Now that’s set out everything from starting to grow this blog into a useful information source to my ultimate dream! These are my goals, inspiration and plan to follow and work towards. Whether they happen, well, follow this blog and we will see? But it is always good to have a plan.

So have a look over the following posts and get a feel for me as a photographer and for the blog. And please feel free to come back and participate in the debate, learn from my mistakes, teach me or join me on the journey.

Thanks

Mandy

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Hello and Welcome to The Photographer Blog

So what’s this blog all about?

Hello and welcome to my new blog, The Photographer Blog. My name is Mandy Jones and I will be sharing my journey as a photographer, and my love for photography - taking them, looking at them and enjoying them. I’m waffling already.

I will also be exploring stock photography and what it has to offer including: buying and selling photographs, the copyright and licensing laws behind it, and I will be trying to sell some of my own work and taking a look at the results!

This is a brief introduction to this blog giving a sample of what I want to cover with it. If you would like to find out more information on this blog, then you may like to take a look at the about page where I go more into more detail.

Or, if you are interested in blogging and how I started this blog, then take a look at my other blog, Build A Blog. Where I look at what I have learned about blogs, blogging and building them and how I’ve got to this point, using this blog as a case study following how it was created.

Enjoy!

So I hope you enjoy The Photographer Blog over the coming weeks and months, and visit often to see it grow and take shape. As much as I am looking forward to writing it myself. If you would like to catch all the information and updates for The Photographer Blog, then please subscribe to my RSS feed and never miss a single one!

Thanks and I hope to see you again soon…

Mandy

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