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When in doubt, smile.
Archives for the month of: March, 2008
BTW
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It really bothers me when I upload an image to share and it just doesnt have the same impact, color & blacks, then what I see in my editing program. I believe its because of the compression from uploading, but I have no idea how to control that myself. Here are two images and I’d love for your opinion .. which one looks better (richer color)?
Wow .. I think I answered my own question just by putting the 2 images side by side. The 2 pictures above are the exact same image from my computer .. the one on the left uploaded into this site by wordpress, the one on the right uploaded into flickr.
[poll=3]
Here are a few shots hanging out in bed this afternoon. A good chance to try out the new gallery feature here 
You should be able to click on the thumbnails and see larger versions (if this works).
WordPress 2.5 was released today .. you probably wont notice anything on the front end of my blog, but I assure you that the entire backend has been updated and its so clean and pretty The biggest new feature is their built in gallery support, which I’m about to try out in my previous entry. If you use wordpress .. backup your stuff and upgrade, I think its worth it!
I did it .. I found my perfect space for my studio. Its a unique area of little shops that look like cottages in Sebastian. The price is right, the owner willing to work with me to build it out how I want it. Pretty much perfect.
BUT .. I’ve decided to put it on hold. I’m trying to learn from our past, when we jumped into making our home investment. At the time, we were doing very well, the economy was good, but house prices were just falling .. so when we found a good deal, we jumped at it. Things change so quickly. So learning from that mistake, I’ve decided to wait longer. And I’m seriously proud of myself that I came to that conclusion on my own. Realizing that my product is a luxury item, and facing a recession in this country, portraits could be a tough sell in the near future.
When Sean suggested I find a space to grow this week, I realized that I had no direction, no idea of what I want my studio (referring to my entire photography business) to do. For instance, did I want to take traditional shots, posed with props in a studio, or something else entirely. Once I realized that I want to specialize in natural light photographs (the anti-JCPenney/mall photo studio), that made this decision alot easier. Now the studio space is less of a necessary, and more of a ‘it would be a nice place to meet people and show them my work’ .. I still think the space above would be perfect, and would give me the space for natural light photographs in a controlled environment, as well as studio lighted portraits, but .. I dont need it to make this business work.
Now onto redesigning my site (AGAIN) .. building my portfolio & finding some places to advertise (local parent/wedding/pet magazines), maybe this time next year I’ll be in a position once again to find my own space. I’m really excited that I’ve finally figured out where I want to take this business
I saw a story about Earth Hour on the news last night and I thought it was really cool. Read about it .. then turn out your lights from 8 to 9 pm today, your local time. Its the perfect opportunity to have a candlelight dinner
Also .. check out Google as they’re spreading the word
And I believe I would’ve been better off just electing to take traffic school. I totally froze up when my turn came and just plead no contest, but didn’t give my story, which this judge was allowing. I should’ve told her that I was unfamiliar with the area and I swear I was driving only about 7 mph over not the 14 that he said he clocked me at. Plus I should’ve realized that the officer didn’t record any of his radar information. But .. I didnt .. and the judge wasn’t happy with my 2 other tickets in the past year (I’m sure that in Broward county the judge wouldn’t care) .. so she didn’t reduce my fine, and when I asked about the points, she told me that she would allow me to take the 8 hour course rather then adding on points. WHAT?!?! 8 HOURS?!?! Ugh … so even with school she didn’t reduce my fee (which I totally forgot to ask about) .. blah. I guess I really need to try harder to drive the speed limit.
In other news, Sean is encouraging me to find a studio to rent. This started yesterday and today was my first real day of looking, and I’m really disappointed. Ideally I’d like a place that has lots of natural light (big windows), is on a 2nd story (for privacy), and is in an area that has other stuff. Meaning if my client wanted to walk down and take pictures on a street or maybe even a park or garden .. that would be really nice to have. Anyways .. I’m not finding much. I found one old building with amazing windows, turns out its on the national register of historic places (so i’m sure its ridic expensive). Then I spotted a place ontop of some shops in little historic downtown melbourne. So I talked to the ladies in the shop below who informed me that the landlord is a jerk and the upstairs place had a fire and is infested with termites and leaks, and he refuses to fix it .. he’s trying to sell the place. But I got his number anyway. Then I spotted another super cute place, 2 stories with a bunch of windows in the back .. and the whole place was empty. There was a sign out front that said ‘lease’ but no contact information anywhere on the building. I looked up the address through google, MLS and the tax records, all I could find was a PO Box for the owner. Blah. Then I went to 2 real estate agents, the first one I thought was a commercial agent, but only offered to show me her unit she had for rent next to her building, the other did alot of hunting for me and found nothing 
Here are a couple pictures of the windows from today (in order of above). For all you melbourne / palm bayers .. if you spot anything like this for lease .. or see anything that might make a nice studio (think starving artist studio, or even dance studio) .. let me know.
And here is an osprey with a fish that I stopped to watch for a little while this afternoon.
We’ve been leaving the baby/puppy gates down more and more, hoping that one day we can trust the twins not to get into trouble, and they’re actually doing very well, except for Daisy obsessively chewing a basket I use to pose babies. Anyway, big boy has found a new favorite spot in the morning, right where the sun comes in from the windows around our front door into our dining room. I happened to leave one of my gear bags around and since its black i’m sure it makes this spot a nice warm place to snuggle.
I have a trip to traffic court this morning .. not a new ticket, just fighting an old one. I also sent my bride her proofs last night, and got a quick response that she loved them, and there are so many she’s going to have a hard time choosing which ones for her CD (she only gets 25, I think I proofed around 130). If you’d like to see them email me and I’ll be happy to send you a link & the access code, I love sharing my (and in this case Liz’s) photography. Just be patient because today I’ll probably be tied up in traffic court for awhile. Woo hoo!
After a very long week, my little family is all back in our home .. and everybody is sleeping but me. The dogs are totally worn out from running around with Rocky this week, Sean is also catching up on some much needed rest. So I’m here, trying to figure out what to cook for Easter dinner, as all the stores are closed and I got home too late last night to shop. Oh well ..
So .. I had a free week this week .. and what did I get done? Not as much as I had expected. I had a ton of craft projects to complete, photos to edit, paperwork to file .. but none of it got done. I’m starting to think I really need a schedule. Its not something you hear to often, but I think I have too much free time. Yes, you read that right .. too much free time. I dont have a regular day job, I dont have kids, I dont have any structure to my day at all .. so why can’t I make time to visit the gym daily .. or scrub the soap scum from my shower once a week? When I look back at my day or weeks gone by .. most of my time is spent on the couch, with a dog in my lap and me surfing around on all my favorite friends’ sites .. reading about everything they’re doing and realizing I’m not doing ANYTHING! I could be building the garden I designed last year, painting touch up paint on my walls, scrubbing showers, sewing special projects that I could actually sell online, cooking meals and photographing them, oh .. so many different things .. but none of it is happening. I realize I have very little energy right now, but that would change if I could start exercising regularly and eating regular, healthy meals.
So .. do any of you guys out there have schedules? Especially you SAHMs .. I dont even know where to get started, considering I dont usually get dressed until afternoon most days anyway. I guess a schedule is really a work in progress .. so if you guys have suggestions, or have things that help you organize task lists .. let me know!
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