what next?

[LynziMarie]

thanks so much for all of your help everyone!!
it's really very much appreciated!

I really think before i invest in tons of equipment it will be better if I really master what I already have. I'm am, however, considering getting a couple beginner lights to just start using them and playing with what works and what doesn't with lighting.
But that's kind of from the pocket of my father, who isn't there emotionally but is there financially... so i'll just get what I want before he notices

And it's just part of my personality to want to be absolutely incredible right away.... to be a prodigy of sorts (who doesn't want to be on Oprah because you're amazing?!haha)

and I agree, techincal stuff can only get you so far.... like in painting, you have the tools, you have to have something more... in music you know the notes of songs already written.... but once you know that you have to have the ability to take that and make it your own 100%. And I'm pretty sure that finding that will come after years of searching... much like finding yourself in life. You don't come out of the womb knowing who you are and why you're here but you have parents to guide you and show you different things... but in the end, you aren't a carbon copy and your life will be different.... so as an artist I assume it's similar. You have mentors and friends to guide you and help you.... but, in the end it's all up to how you use it.

Thanks again!!
haha

oh, and I'm glad I asked this... it's kind of upped my confidence level and I'm meeting tomorrow with a 'client' (haha that's just fun to say) for whom I will be shooting her wedding... based on word of mouth and her just simply liking my style and how I work. Who woulda thought?!
and lucky her... I'm not charging a penny haha

 

[Joves]

Your problem though will always be, that you are your own worst critic. It is a problem we all have but, hey it is what makes us get better.

 

[manaheim]

^^^ EEK.

Wedding!

No no no!

Please please please don't go shoot a wedding inexperienced. Search this forum for wedding info... it's probably about the most dangerous thing you can do as an inexperienced photographer. Mess something up and you can ruin someone's memories of their "perfect day".

I am a paid professional photographer and I wouldn't touch a wedding with a 10' pole.

 

[slapshot™]

Just remember - as is so often said here - photography is about the image, NOT about the hardware (or software). It's about the picture ... the subject ... and about how YOU see it, feel toward it ... and choose to interpret and capture it.

Buy HEY! You already know this ... don't you?

Gramps offers some very sage advice (as has Manaheim, as well as some others).

It takes time to get comfortable in creating images. Don't get hung up on the techo-mumbo-jumbo. Take the time to pour over and soak in the images of the Masters. Get a library card and borrow some big coffee table books, get comfortable and immerse yourself. Look at what the artist is trying to convey and lose yourself in the image. Don't rush - savour it.

When you shoot, don't try to emulate or copy the Masters, but rather, attempt to develop your own style.

Experiment.
Lots.
...and lots.

Over time you will develop your own style.

Most important - have fun!

 

[LaFoto]

Most important - have fun!

I think this is the most important sentence of all.
I am so glad I never ever in all my 35 years of taking photos planned to become a professional. Nor have I ever striven to call myself "photographer" or feel like one. For 35 years, all I've ever done was play with my camera. And when I became more serious about my own photography, my playing become more intense. Nothing that I do I do because I want to be good. All I do is because it is fun to do it.

That's also why I would never want to become a professional. I fear I'd lose the sensation of fun, of enjoyment, of lightness in my using the camera.

But so many seem to want to use their camera to make money out of their photos ...

 

[Punkterra]

It`s not that correct Lafoto...

There is people with compact cameras who want to have fun shooting, there is people with dslrs that want to be pros and get money out of their photos and... there is other people who want to have fun and they invest a good deal of money in a dslr + 2-3 lenses + external flashlight + other items like cardreader, battery grip, etc AND would like just to get enuff money to compensate the fortune payed on the equipment.

This is me.

 

[LaFoto]

OK, that would be me, too, only do I still lack in the battery grip and the cardreader. And hey, yes, I would LOVE to make just enough money to compensate for the things I have got or still would WANT to get, so yes, you're probably right.

Yet, I still simply ENJOY what I do and don't push myself in any way towards "must get better", and I had the wonderful chance to find out (with the help of TPF, I should add!!! ) that thus relaxed and playful about everything I did around my photography I did get better.

 

[slapshot™]

...there is people with dslrs that want to be pros and get money out of their photos and...

But, to be successful you have to be good at what you do. Someone might want to be a successful superstar athlete - they can have all the latest top-notch equipment and training but if they don't have the natural skill they will only be medicre. Someone might want to be a successful lawyer and take all their training at the best schools, but if they don't have the talent they will be a medicore lawyer.

Buying all the latest high-tech gear is not going to make you a better photographer. Sure, the images may be technically good, but that's all.

A painter who buys the best oil paints and stretches his own canvas to perfection but has no artistic ability (but is technically good), is not an artist. Paint-by-numbers don't cut it.

 

[LynziMarie]

^^^ EEK.

Wedding!

No no no!

Please please please don't go shoot a wedding inexperienced. Search this forum for wedding info... it's probably about the most dangerous thing you can do as an inexperienced photographer. Mess something up and you can ruin someone's memories of their "perfect day".

I am a paid professional photographer and I wouldn't touch a wedding with a 10' pole.

haha don't worry....
I have the guidance of a pro whom I'm interning for....

I've explained to the bride that I'm not a professional, and I can't guarantee what I'll get or, well, not get. I showed her most of the pictures I got from my first wedding, and she really liked how they all turned out. Like my first, I'm doing it as a favor more than anything for her.... she's 18, and her parents aren't too happy about her getting married, so they're not really going to pay for much of anything. That includes a photographer. I probably would have turned it down, but I think even if I might not get what someone with 20 yrs experience would get, but something is better than nothing. And I work really well under pressure it's when I'm sitting around trying figure out things in my head where I run into problems....

No worries. Going into it with all parties knowing that I'm NOT professional and the fact that it's a very low key and VERY chill, non-traditional wedding.... I'm fairly sure all will go well.