The snow has fallen, been shoveled and gathered in drifts in the last two days or so. At my house, I got somewhere between 9.5 and 11 inches of snowfall and somewhere between 1 inch and five feet of snowdrifts. As I write this post (12:54 a.m.) the thermometer says -2.3 degrees. A tad chilly if you ask me. The wind has created some very cool patterns in the virgin snow and I spent some time capturing these with my camera earlier in the day. I took the images from the window in my bathroom, which is about 25 feet off the ground. Sometimes the most mundane subjects make for interesting pics.
Here’s one of my dog Fuji not too happy with the snow:
I recently was talking with a lady at a craft store and she asked how I got into photography. Not really an interesting story, but one she wanted to hear. I told her to check out my website and blog and I would provide her an answer. Here goes:
When I was in 7th grade, I took a Media Arts class and was introduced to Medium format cameras, picture taking, film developing and finally, print making. I was hooked, as was a good friend of mine. Took lotsa pictures. (Note: Lotsa is a great word and will get you far more ketchup at Mickey D’s than asking for lots of ketchup. Try it, you’ll see that I am right.) Anyway, took lotsa pictures, spent lotsa time in the darkroom developing film and made lotsa prints. My buddy was allowed to set up a darkroom in his house…I was not. He loved working in his darkroom and I got frustrated in not having my own darkroom and I slowed considerably in taking pictures.
Photography allowed me to express myself and view the world in a captivating way. I toiled for a few years and then put the camera down. I never really lost my love of photography and when digital cameras became somewhat affordable, I purchased one and haven’t regretted my decision one bit. I then became aware of Photoshop and there was no turning back. I was hooked again. I took pictures, put a little polish on them with Photoshop, and even sold a few images along the way. Photography was now engrained in my blood.
I moved to Omaha, and I stalled for a few years. I lost my way for a bit, but not my passion or desire to be a photographer. I formed Midwest Digital Imaging and slowly started my rebirth. My daughter became involved in sports and I would bring my camera with me and document her games. I soon had parents asking me if I had taken any good action shots of their child. I sold some images, but didn’t feel I was providing very good pictures and felt unworthy of accepting payment. Got some very good feedback and apparently made parents happy to have shots of their child. Still didn’t feel I should be accepting money for my sports pics.
I will post a followup entry concerning why I didn’t feel good about being paid for these shots at a later time. It will also address a recent question I was asked and am sure most people have had when looking at my sports photography pictures.
Moving along. My oldest brother was moving from Omaha to Florida and was selling his house. I asked if I could take the pics of his house that would be used for marketing purposes. He said yes, so I took the pics of his house and made them look real good. The Realtor he used hired me to shoot some pics of another house she was selling and things took off a bit from there.
I didn’t want to give a play by play, moment by moment account of my photo life, so I hope the above suffices. I enjoy seeing the World through a lens and hope I can continue to do so far a very long time. Check back soon for my followup post.
Mark