And you call your self a photographer...

Impending doom...

My right had has been bothering me for sometime, meds, flexing, night brace, none of it really helped. So a few weeks ago, we started to go down the path of getting real tests done to find out what the problem is. Drum roll,, Carpal Tunnel. To the point of, I need surgery in order to keep from having nerve damage. Oh Joy. Surgery is two Days away, I'm not looking forward to the pain, or the healing process, but I am very much looking forward to being able to do things with my right hand and not have it fall asleep any more.

Good things are that we have a wonderful team, and they are pulling together for one or two events till I can hold a camera again. I am sure it will be a learning lesson for them, and me for that matter. I have never not held a camera at an event for the entire time.

Melissa has threatened me with beatings if I so much as pick up a camera, maybe if I'm lucky I can sneak in a few shots when she is not looking.

You call your self a photographer...

There are a long running set of posts on photography groups that read something like the following

Question "How do I know when I am ready to become a professional photographer?"

Inevitably someone will answer, "If you have to ask, you are not ready!"

I can't tell you how much I hate this, and the mind set behind it. To me this reeks like an old fishing pier of the embedded professional that just cant fathom how someone could start into this field and call them selves a professional with out background, education, association, intern time, being poor and impoverished for an extended period of time. It all goes back to that using your milk money to buy a camera and if you never did that they you did not learn, you are not ready.

If the adult learning industry and the digital camera boom of the last 10 years has thought us anything, people learn to shoot in different ways. With that understanding, I say anyone that wants to go pro can.

Notice that I did not say, "Anyone that wants to be a successful professional photographer can be one" The key term here is successful, and what you define it as.

If successful is shooting 3 to 4 events a year and getting paid for it, and producing images that your client is happy with, then you are a successful professional photographer.

If successful is shooting 30-50 events a year, getting paid and producing images your clients are happy with, then you are a successful professional photographer.

The question is what can you do, and what is your clients option of your work, and expectation.

Where I will stand behind the idea of you need to know if you are a pro or not is when you take a clients money, there cant be any dough in your mind that you have the props to get the job done. If your unsure of that, then I would suggest building a partnership with an existing pro in your area and spending a few days in their shoes. That time will survey you well to test bed your skills against what a clients expectation is.

Also please keep in mind that being a professional photographer dose not just mean shooting pictures, there is an entire "running" of the business that must take place behind it. Being that most of us are not independilty wealthy...... (Wait, let me check my lottery ticket..... dammit!) This costs money to, so unless you plan on quitting your day job, that means that for at least a while you will be working two jobs. My best recommendation, forget vacations and sleep for a while.

When do you shoot...

Recently I was asked the question "When do you have your camera with you?" My response, "all the time"

If your goal is to really get used to your camera, set it to Manual mode, and take it everywhere. Take it to school, work, bed, parties, sporting events, everywhere, and SHOOT with it. Fill the card with nine thousand bad shots. Time and experience will teach you that there is never a bad time to have a camera along for the ride, before doing this there has been more times when I have thought "Man I wish I had my camera, that would be a really cool shot"

The best way I can releate this topic is by telling a story I learned from Annie Leibovitz. (hehe, they way I said that it sounds like she told me it personally, yea, well lets go with that)

Her partner Susan Sontag was dieing of Myelodysplastic syndrome, after being treated with a bone marrow transplant and having the transplant fail, she was flown home to live out the rest of her days. Annie, being a person of true photographic blood had her camera along for the trip.

While taking her off the plane on the ride home, Annie photographed it:

(I will post some images for support on my site, but not this one)

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd0L5BK85DAWjW7iWYhOri0OEKKHxDdfa2NLLG1IqEjgjhtE6lN8AB7apF6KQrFDunV2FNd9q1hyphenhyphenwavFKHL1iZMNJS_8j3yNlokaouSOH-ZIkVtQWYmbehZrIjjLP-DuY9aRRbxPOOCUGx/s1600-h/sontag_lg.jpg

How many of us would have the presence of mind to photograph an event like this? Some say its disrespectful, rude, and intrusive.

My question is, is death not a part of life? So why not celebrate, display, and document all of someones life?

Is photojournalism only capturing the parts of life that we find happy?

Or is it in fact showing all of the human condition, in all its glory and shame?

Beer, Beer, good by Beer...

Changes...

I tend to have a personality type that supports one of two personal logics.

1) If it works, leave it alone
or
2) If you are comfortable with something, make a change

This all goes back to a sermon I heard as a young man, where the Paster handed out rubber bands to the entire church. He went on to speak about how we get comfortable in our routine, and that if you don't stretch your self from time to time you will grow brittle, just like a rubber band will if it is not stretched and flexed from time to time.

Well time to stretch and flex, in a spirits kind of way. (no typo there)

Beer, how I love you, be free...for now

I love beer, I love beer so much when I drive past a wheat field I get dirty looks from the seed pods. Every time I even get close to hops you can hear it quivering with fear.

It could be said that I have become a Beer snob, drink good beer, imports, domestics, small batch, craft brew, home brew. I have had beer from every region of the world that makes beer. Some of them I drink often, for example Belgium ales. Some of them I will not drink ever again, African wheat. But I feel that I have not given the proper attention to other mediums of alcohol delivery.

Bring in the Spirits...

While I know a lot of beer, I know very little about spirits. I don't drink hard liquor much. Yea I will have some scotch from time to time, but I cant sit here and tell you that I only like single malt, barrel finished, and not to much peet. Well I can say that, cause I tend to embrace scotch, but what about vodka, bourbon, whiskey. While getting a cheeseburger last night my wife and I were sitting at the bar, and I relied that i did not even know what some of the bottles on the shelf are, let along what they taste like.

Soooooooooooo...

Good by beer, hello spirits.

For the next 6 months to a year, I will not drink a beer, my full attention will be placed on learning about, comparing, tasting and experiencing the full gambit of what the spirits world has to offer.

Now for some guide lines...

This goal will be accomplished by using the following rules.

Rule #1) No mixed drinks.
Reason: Men should never, EVER order an appitini, UNLESS they are ordering a vodka on ice with it, AND they better have a escort for the evening that dose not like vodka!

Rule #2) Taste everything in its purest form
The first time I order something, its going to be the same way I order scotch, in a glass, two ice cubes.

The reason for these two rules is how do you know what something tastes like, if you have only had it mixed up with something else.

Rule 3) Before or after drinking something new, learn of its history. Part of what I enjoy about beer is know what goes into the beer I like to drink, where it comes from, where its made, how its made, what its made from.

Update to follow as I move down this new exploratory road.

For the record, the last beer I drink. Chimay Ale, it was very nice.

I am also going to give my self two weeks to reset my taste buds and do some base resource on spirits, where they come from, how they are made, what they are made with, and what are the goods, the bads and the uglys.

Ouch... Stop that...

Hey Doc, It hearts when I do this....

Well then don't do that silly!

Well, that is at least where it all started. Seems that my enthusiasm for computers has caught up with me. Pain, numbness and loss of strength and range of motion in my right hand has lead to, you guessed it, Carpal Tunnel!

After fighting for it for over a year now, the decision has been made to opt for surgery. My doc, who I like and trust, is also recommending some changes to my life style. Seems that surgery is not a life long repair, and if I go back to doing the things that caused it in the first place, I will need to have the surgery again in my life time. Yea, well, we will not be doing that.

Things that have to change...

So there is a reason I did not like cheep mice. Seems that if you rest your wrist on the mouse or on the table/mouse paid while using the computer that will overtime cause issues. So thankfully my loving wife got me a very nice mouse that the Doc recommends for Christmas this year.

I am also to alternate between that and a trackball with a support.

Learn to write all over again...

They did some tests to today and found that I have lost 20% of the muscle in my right thumb due to the nerve being cut off, while I will have to rebuild that, the extent of the nerve damage is at this point, unknown. Unknown in a manner of they are not sure how much range of motion, muscle growth and overall recovery I will have post surgery.

With that in mind they are recommending I learn to be dual-handed.

With a mouse I am a rock start with the left hand. I tend to like using a mouse left handed just for the fact that the 10 pad is on the right hand side of the keyboard, and being that I am a natural righty, I use my right for most of the keyboard modifier keys.

With a pen, I am like Hellen Keller. I can't write with my left, I don't know many rightys that can. But I have to learn. So today I started all over again with writing out "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"

Chefs Knife - Oh dear god I'm going to be dangerous for a while! Honey do we have lots of band aids.

Camera...

Hand strap is a requirement, I'm not even sure they make a left handed pro level camera.

Bike...

New grips and a raised handlebar set to take some of the weight off my hands. BUT! This is not going to be until post surgery. No undue stress on my left writs until after recovery.

Computer...

They are recommending that I start to use a track ball, hi-arch mouse, or a table for interface to the PC. Also do as much I can by alternating use of both hands. I am supposed to also learn to type using a technique called hovering. Its where you don't left your wrists touch the table or keyboard as you type. I have been doing it for this blog entry, and well its a little bit tricky.

I will keep everyone updates as to my status, rehab and recovery.