Photo 365 Project

I’m not trying to say that I’m “allll that” because I’m certainly not.  Far from it.  But I think one thing that makes me adept at shooting weddings and never missing a moment is that I shoot sports almost every weeknight.  This has helped me in so many ways to “get the shot” quickly in all genres of photography.  When you shoot sports this much, you learn to wait…camera pressed up against your face…shallow breaths…intense focus…and then go ballistic on the shutter for two seconds…then repeat.

Sports has helped me further master what I call (in my head) the ‘whip-around’…when the bride is coming up the aisle and you whip around and catch the groom’s reaction, then whip back and catch the brides reaction to his reaction! This unfolds in about 3 seconds but I’ve never missed one! Some people question why I love shooting sports so much (because I never watch sports) but I truly love shooting it.  It gives an A.D.D’er like me some nonstop action for two hours!

Hey people of the Interwebs! Just a quick hello to fulfill my daily shuttering post and I’m out.  Today was a 16 hour day (killer…especially when I didn’t have caffeine and got a  headache for the last 2/3rds of my day…and felt like my brain was on fire.) I know, I’m being dramatic, but luckily it propelled me to get tasks finished and not completely shut down (shockingly enough).  So tomorrow, I promise, a suh-weet blog post! For now, what I shot today…wrestling! Always enthusiastic about shooting something different, and I know NOTHING about this sport.  Tried to figure it out along the way…

I used to be a competitive swimmer.  Used to be.  I used to gauge my success against others and be judged by an arbitrary time.  During my formative years I would calculate “The Time.”  That is, The Time of my events I would need to feel like I was of worth and successful.  “The Time” of any one race that was coveted by others, even if it meant nothing in the grand scheme of life.

This continued through high school and college, measuring my success against others.  Quite often, my worth was announced on an 8×11 nondescript white sheet of paper.  All of us would line up to see the other swimmers’ collegiate times.

I haven’t done laps in a pool in years.  I don’t even know who that person is anymore, but a recent assignment to cover competitive swimming brought me back.

Who I was, is far from who I became.  In photography, it’s easy to compare yourself to others and measure their success with yours.  How much do they charge for a wedding? How many blog hits do they get? I realized quickly, this an unwinnable race.  Every time.  The rules for a competitive athlete are clearly defined, success is black and white.  Now, over a decade later, the guidelines I employ on myself are anything but.  While my own measure of success is often drifting about in gray territory, it is overwhelmingly more important.

It is not how much money I make, but how much integrity or kindness I show.  It is not how many people see my work, but if said work consistently gets stronger.

I now define my worth by my own standards and I’m not lining up anywhere to see how others are competing.

There aren’t too many days I wish for new gear.  I’m pretty satisfied with what I have.  But today’s announcement of the new Nikon D4 made my heart long for such equipment.  I feel like with a camera like that, you never have to buy another camera again! (How many times have photographers said that over the years?) My D700 chugs along ok I guess, but it’s days when I’m shooting sports that I wish for more… for faster autofocus, for video with my camera, for high ISO…for now I’ll keep dreaming (unless you have an extra $6,000 I can have).  Can’t help but wonder what that camera would do for my sports shooting…

Because if I simply told you there were three parrots on a woman’s head at Grand Central Terminal, you might not get the full visual in your head… (two shown here)

It is not often I have a day off with zero work to accomplish.  I actually sat down and thought about this, eventually realizing the last time I took an entire 24 hours off and didn’t respond to friends and clients e-mails, texts, calls, Facebook messages, etc… has been over two years.  Certainly not complaining about that fact.  Truth is, I love working.  Yet, I had carved out this time for myself weeks ago because I knew the weeks (honest: months) leading up to it would be insane.

Knowing I had a full day off, I had to (of course) ask around and plan my day.  Because what’s a day off without a day of work to plan said day off? A brilliant recommendation from a trusty coworker led me to the absolute amazingness that is Northampton, MA.  It has a downtown better than cities ten times its size.  After espressos, homemade chocolates, used bookstores and antiquing (no discoveries of old cameras, sadly), I can positively declare I am recharged.

Naturally, I fit in some street photography…