Why do I love Photography?

It is human nature to have a drive to do something. Normally that drive is something that propels us through life, and is what causes us to choose our career paths and become productive members of society. In some cases it can take a while to find that one thing that really drives us and to push forward with what we can become by following this drive.

For me that drive was nursing. I loved every minute of it. I loved helping people, watching babies get stronger as they heal and grow. Helping people recover from traumatic injury or illness and having the chance to watch them walk out of the hospital with their loved ones, knowing that they survived. I was passionate and thrived on this and pushed everyday to take on more and do more for my patients. And than it happened. I burned out. I realized that the fire that burned to be a nurse and do all these things was turning into nothing more than a puff of smoke. This made me realize I needed something more.
One afternoon after a very long day on the football field we came home, and our pup was laying in front of the sliding glass door. The light was perfect and she just looked like she belonged in a pampered pets magazine. So without thinking twice I snapped a quick picture. I looked at the back of the camera and smiled. I had caught exactly what I saw and it was amazing. This in turn quickly became my favorite. A few days later I showed it to a friend of mine who had just had a baby, and from this one picture she asked if I would take pictures of her son. From there it just escalated. I fell in love with my camera. I took it out of auto and started teaching myself how to use it. I covered all the beaches in Oahu, and than slowly branched out to the Big Island and Maui. I did a few events, family reunions, graduation parties and such. This is when it hit. I was happy at work again, I had my camera that gave me the ability to focus and at the same time relax, and above all I was creating happiness for others through a whole different medium! If only I had found this sooner!

And than it happened. In one simple sentence my world, and life changed forever. My nursing career was over. Due to no real fault of my own. A failed surgery, repair, and all the damage left in the after math took away my ability to be a nurse. I was crushed and felt I had lost everything that made me useful in general. It was horrible to think that I no longer could have an impact on others lives, or make them happy anymore. I felt like my usefulness had ended. It was horrible feeling that way. I moped around the house for a long time and it just seemed like there was no way to repair the  hole that I had left from nursing.

I struggled with this loss for a long time, and at times I still struggle to be perfectly honest. Every week is still packed with the kids school activities, and sports, so of course as any parent would I was toting along my camera to these events. My children, especially my youngest started to take an interest in the photos that I was capturing and even started to ask if they could show their friends. It warmed my heart to see how happy just simple photos of a game or event that they participated in gave them so much happiness and pride. Enough that they were willing to show it off, and on top of that admit that their mother had taken the photo. There reactions alone have opened my eyes to many different possibilities photography can offer. 

Photography has also opened new doors for me. I see things at times that I believe a number of people miss everyday. Things that are beautiful and amazing. I realize that I have to take the time to "stop and smell the roses". 

Several  months went by after I was unable to return to nursing and I was approached about taking some cap and gown photos for a young lady getting ready to graduate from high school. I figured it would be better than sitting around the house so I picked up my camera and dusted it off while heading out to meet her at the location. We spent an hour taking photos all around her school and using different poses and such. I got home and uploaded the photos and realized that these photos were pretty good. I went through and edited each photo and later that week delivered them to the family. They were ecstatic! They loved each photo and couldn't wait to order to prints to mail them out in the graduation announcements. It touched me to see how excited and happy they were about the photos and it seemed to mean the world too them. That is when a light went off in my head.

The hole that nursing had left in my life could be filled with something that I enjoy just as much and I could still bring a form of happiness to others. Instead of mending sicknesses and actual wounds I was documenting important events, bringing families together, and above all assisting with providing happiness. All of this done with the click of a camera shutter and some editing to add a touch of perfection. 

Photography has given me purpose and drive again, and most importantly has filled a very large hole In my life. One that I never thought could be filled again. 

Why do you you love photos? Or have a love for photography? Please share your story! I would love to hear them all! 

What do I really need to be professional?

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to teach myself the best way to grow my business and to grow my blog. I decided that in order for me to stay consistent with my blog that this is the first thing that I needed to work on, and make it into something that would be sustainable. Since January I have been writing here about photography, shoots that I have done, what I have learned and some things that I have experimented with
. There are a number of other topics as well, but I will let you take a look at those at your own pace. I have put my own personal touch on each post and hoped that someone out there was finding my information useful. I didn't want to type entry after entry if no one was going to read it and over all if it was not going to help my business.

So first I started looking at the numbers, and I can tell that there are some people that read my blog, and as I have been consistent the numbers of page views have slowly grown. Now that I am being a bit more consistent I felt like there was more. So I started reading articles on growing your business and your blog. The first thing that I read is that I am doing everything all wrong with my business and my blog.

So what am I doing wrong? According to almost every article that I have read, I am not professional because I am not using a self hosted site for my blog or my website. My website is driven by smugmug (who has been amazing to me!) and the blog is driven by Google's Blogger platform. Seems to me that I am more the professional in my eyes. I have a website that I can sell my prints to my clients and is a clean set up that is easy to use and I have a blog where I can talk about the things that I am learning as I grow and hopefully I can help others. But in the eyes of others this is just not the case. All because you can see that I am using a free platform for a blog and I am using smugmug for my website.

I struggle with this thought process that I am not professional because my website has smugmug.com or that my blog has blogger.com in the address. Even if I had a self hosted site it would be the same, as it is now. I would have a blog and I would have a website to sell my prints and other products. So I ask what is the difference?

When it comes to my blog is the difference that you can see up front that I am using a free platform to put my thoughts and ideas out there? If that is an issue, I want to know why this is an issue. I am using what my business can afford at this point in time. I am still small and I am growing. So a free site makes me look unprofessional?

My website has smugmug.com in the address. I pay for this platform and the services that it provides. So since I pay for it that means I should be a professional right? I have learned sadly from the various articles that I have read that this is just not the case. Here again it is because it is not self hosted. Which I just do not understand.

So as I sit here in from of my computer and I type this out I really wonder what do I need to be professional?  Do I need to pay for a high end self hosting site? If I do buy a site am I going to be more "professional"? Is this going to drive my business because I will have gone from amateur to professional with just one purchase?

For some reason I just do not think that this is something that is going to change my business or my blog revenue over night. Or even in a week. Do I want to have my own web domain and self hosted site? Of course I do, eventually. However at this stage in my business I just do not think that this is something that is feasible.

What are your thoughts? What do you think makes a blogger or photographer a professiona? Please leave your comments below, I really need to see what others opinions are, I want to know if I am looking at this from the wrong perspective or if there is a solid answer as to what shows that someone is professional or not.

I have a DSLR... But do I really want to take it off Auto?

Good afternoon and welcome to this wonderful Friday everyone!

I sat down today and was getting my gear set up and ready to go because I have a shoot with a famous soccer player tonight. (My son). It is the opening game of the season and I want to make sure that everything is just right. Batteries charged, 55-200mm lens attached, lens hood, a flash...just in case, and of course memory cards. Those tend to be one that gets forgotten quite a bit. As I was getting everything together I smiled and remembered what getting ready for a game use to be like. Grab the kids, check the uniforms, make sure everything is right, shove the camera in the pocket and out the door. It was simple, and now I have so much more to think about, and sometimes it can be a lot, but when I look at those early pictures of my children playing sports and I look at them now I am so glad that I upgraded to a DSLR, and even more appreciative of the fact that I finally turned off auto and went to manual.

I have read in a number of photography groups about beginners asking if they really needed to take their brand new camera off of the auto setting and if they did, what mode, any mode besides manual should they put it in.

The very short answer, YES! Take it out of auto, and take control!

I remember being in that very situation, and worrying about taking control away from the camera and having to rely on myself to pick the aperture, or shutter speed, or the ISO, and make sure that it was focused and trying to catch that perfect shot. It was a lot, and it was a very scary thought. These are my children, and they only play that very game once, and than it is gone forever. My biggest fear was taking control of this camera and than missing the amazing moments in the game and never being able to share it with the family is back home.

My first DSLR camera was a Nikon D40. I thought that camera was amazing. It was a huge improvement from the Cybershot that I had been working with, and even with the kit lens I realized there was less noise and the focus was so much better than the previous photos I was getting. I had a huge fear of the dials, and buttons and anything that gave me control over the camera in any sort of way, and in many ways, especially during night games I learned that this was causing so much more stress than I really needed to be dealing with. The struggle to get the photo right was so great that I began to notice that I was missing more of the game struggling with poor image quality and the camera not wanting to focus than I was enjoying shooting the game or even enjoying it. This was when I realized that the auto mode was not all that I thought that it was.

I decided that it was time for a change. I started taking my DSLR everywhere with me. During practice I would use different modes. I was very stubborn and decided that instead of reading a manual I could teach myself, so every practice it was a different mode. Which in most cases worked well. The reason it worked was because I fought the same conditions during practice as I did during the game, so I was able to spend all week running through the modes and trying to figure out which would work best for the game. I will say that there was one mode that I avoided, and that of course was manual mode. It remained very intimidating to me. So for a whole season I practiced in aperture priority, shutter priority and so on. This did yield better photos, but I still was not happy. I finally gave in during practice and switched to manual, and since that day I have not looked back.

(One of my first attempts with my camera on manual)

It was something that was not instant, and definitely was not perfect, but I realized that I was free, and had control. I could pick all of the settings, and control the dynamics within the constraints of my camera, and it was as if a huge light bulb went off in my head. Suddenly shooting at night became a little easier. It wasn't perfect as I tried to push my camera far beyond what it could do in performance, but I noticed that there was a much better improvement and I loved the pictures much more.

Were my pictures perfect from the beginning? Absolutely not! Are they always perfect now? Definitely not. There are things that I forget all the time. For example I forget that the last time I shot my camera it was the middle of the day and I have the settings set to accommodate for the mid day sun, and the shutter speed up, and when I grab my camera and rattle off the first test shots all the photos come back black, or vise versa I was shooting a night game and transition to a day game and all the test shots are blown out. This causes a short set back as I have to make adjustments, but once I have it set I am ready to go until my lighting changes or what I am shooting changes.

As with anything in life there is a learning curve. But if you are not learning you are not living, therefore never be afraid to learn. Remember you bought a DSLR for a reason, and you only know that reason, but you need to own it. Don't just throw your money away by never exploring the other options outside of the auto setting. Take the time to explore, and learn how to use each setting, and once you have determined your favorite stick with it, but never forget that the other settings are there, just in case, there may be that time that you do need them.

There is a saying that eyes are the window to the soul, and I believe that this is very true, I also believe that photographs are windows to the past, and I want to make sure that I have done everything that I can to make that window as clear, and as perfect as possible.

(A few seasons later. It may not be perfect but so much better!)

I would love to hear your thoughts or answer your questions regarding switching from auto to another mode. If you have tips or tricks please share those as well! I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you!

Review of Altura flash set up

I recently started using the Altura speedlites system, and since this is my first speedlites system I thought that it could be beneficial to write a review from the perspective of a beginner.

The system that I purchased came with two flashes, two receivers and one transmitter. It also came with cases for each flash, mini stands, hard plastic diffusers, and cables to connect with the camera or into other light systems. I was pretty impressed with the set up, and it also had a full manual as well as a quick start guide.

Each flash appears to be fairly durable and the case that each comes in seems to offer the right amount of protection for the flashes. It also has Velcro straps so that you can attach them to your camera bag or even your belt depending on what you are doing. Each flash takes 4 AA batteries, and after a full 2 hour session of use the batteries are still working well. This is something that I must admit caused me to be surprised but at the same time I was excited as this means to me that I should not have to change out batteries every time that I turn around.

The flashes can be set up in a number of ways. You can attach them to the camera via the hot shoe, or attach the receivers and use them as off camera flash. When setting up the flashes you have multiple options. You can use the slave mode, manual mode, or strobe. Within these settings you can control certain aspects, such as ISO, and shutter speed. 

These flashes DO NOT transmit any information from the camera. The only time that this happens is if the flash is connected directly to the hot shoe of the camera. The transmitter and receivers work off of a radio frequency and thus do not carry any kind of information.

When I used the set up I opted to fire both flashes off camera and use the transmitter to trigger both the camera (a Nikon D7100) and the flash with a secondary flash in slave mode. This is where the trouble began. I set everything up per the manual and was unable to get the flashes to trigger with the camera. I eventually changed the transmitter on the flash to camera, versus flash, and than was able to get the flash to fire. The second problem I discovered was triggering the second flash. In order to fire the second flash it has to be in very close proximity in order to to sense the first flash firing. This was troubling to me because I felt that I almost had to point the first flash at the second to get the desired result, which took away the light from my subject. The third problem I discovered was a syncing issue. I could not get the flashes to fire at the right time. They would not sync with the camera. Even after watching multiple YouTube videos I could just not get it to work properly. The flashes were consistently firing before my shutter was even beginning to move.

After doing some research I discovered that I am not the only one that has had this problem. I looked in several forums and discovered that there were a number of suggestions as to why it wouldn't sync, with the D7100 and there was even a suggestion to try it with another D7100 camera. This was done, and ended with the same result. The flash system would not sync. 

At the current time I have not been able to figure out a solution for this particular issue. 

Over all I think that this can be a great system, if you can get it to work with your camera. I also think it is a great system for a beginner. However this is not a system that I would be comfortable taking into a situation that I would not be able to recreate if for some reason the system failed. With this in mind I would NOT use this system for event photography, or weddings.  I think that this system would be alright for things such as portrait sessions and head shots due to the fact that these are things that can be recreated at another time on the chance that there is a failure.  

The Top 5 Places to Photograph (well for me)

Traveling.. For some people it is all about business, or it is to see family, or it can we for fun. As a photographer my traveling is typically for business, however I want to make the trip fun and exciting, and still accomplish the business aspect, which for me is to come home with amazing images.

Over the last year I have not been able to travel as I would like too, but through groups that I am a part of, such as Improve Photography I have had the chance to travel through the photos of others. As I watch individuals post photos from places I realize that as soon as I am able I want to travel to these places and have the chance to take some epic shots just as these individuals have. I must admit I want to see the world and photograph it all, but I realize with this thought that I am biting off much more than I could probably ever chew, so I have selected the top 5 places that I feel are a must go to as soon as I am able to travel again. 

Photo credit Majeed Badizadegan

1. Iceland

I have come to the understanding how beautiful this place truly is. The amazing mountain scenes, Ice beaches, and caverns truly are something to see. I have loved every photo that I have seen from this location and each photo just makes the desire to go grow. Not to mention to have the chance to see the Northern lights and have the chance to bring home a piece of that is amazing, and I believe a must do. 

2. The Palouse 

This is a location in Washington state. It amazes me that I spent a large part of my childhood in this area and was completely oblivious to what was around me and what I was truly missing out on. There are amazing barns and beautiful landscapes. The waterfalls are truly amazing once you find them. 

3. San Fransisco

This city is not only a great place to visit, but to photograph as well. You have so many diverse things to photograph. There is the architecture alone that is almost one of a kind. There is also the chance to get the iconic trolley shots, or the fishermans warf. For the dark and dreary there is a trip into the bay to photograph Alcatraz. I will say there is not a lot around the island, but the ability to go and photograph the inside, and than add some creative editing, well, the fun may never end. But I must admit my most favorite place to go is the Golden Gate Bridge. It is iconic and as I have spent part of my childhood in this area as well, it is near and dear to my heart.

Photo credit Majeed Badizadegan

4. Oregon Coast

I love the coast line. I wish I could live out the rest of my days on a beach. There are a number of amazing places along the Oregon Coast that I would love to visit. There seems to be so much diversity as you move up and down the coast that I am sure that you would never get bored, and would eventually only leave because all of your memory cards are full! 

5. China

This choice is due to the culture and just a complete change from what I am accustom to in the US. There are tours that take you out of the major city and into the rural areas of China. I have seen pictures that are amazing of the Conrad Fishermen, and celebrations in the rice patties, and just the people. The people in the rural areas will allow photographers to take pictures of them, and in some cases will invite you into their home in order to take pictures. Please keep in mind that this is a guided tour and this is all translated through the guide and to my understanding the guide knows who is willing to allow strangers into their homes and who is not. However I believe that this is something that is totally worth it if you are able to go. You are able to see a part of history, and sadly it is a part that is fading away and like many other things will not be there much longer.


As I have said these are my top 5 choices of places to travel as soon as I have the chance to do so.

Where would you like to travel too? I would love to hear where each of you are looking to travel too!

Please do not copy, alter, or use the photos in this post. They are under copyright of the photographer who is kind enough to let me post them. For more of Majeed's  work please go too:  www.majeedb.com

Traveling and your camera... Part 4

So with the last thought in mind when it comes to traveling... What do you do about your memory cards? What are some things to consider when traveling with them?

(free photo stock traveling with your camera)

As I got ready for my trip this was something that I struggled with a bit. The first thing that I struggled with is how many do I really need? I really cannot give a good answer to this question. This is honestly something that only you as the photographer can determine. Some things to consider would be the type of trip, the number of photos that you plan to take, and are you planning to have a back up. What I mean by a back up is a second card with all of the same exact shots on it. I have a Nikon D7100 that has to memory card slots and I can use these slots in multiple ways. One being a primary card and the second card is written to at the same time as a backup. On the off chance that the first card becomes corrupt or fails. This is a trick I picked up from wedding photographers and this is something that they do all the time in the effort to prevent losing parts of a wedding due to card failure or corruption. The size of the card also matters as well. If you get an 8 GB card you are going to run out of space considerably faster than if you had a 128 GB card. In my case I opted to take three 64 GB cards. In hind sight I should have taken four just to have an even number as I was using one card for back up while I was shooting. 

My next area of consideration is the airport security. As a child I had a film camera and I remember an amazing trip that my grandmother took my cousins and myself on. We were given the great experience of going to Washington DC. I remember my father taking me to the store and we bought several rolls of film and when we got home we loaded the first roll into my 35mm camera. At the airport I hand carried my camera on the plane ( I wanted to photograph everything!) and I remember putting my camera on the belt for the X-ray machine. The man at the X-ray machine grabbed my camera and asked if my camera was already loaded with film. My grandmother informed him that it was and he immediately stated that it could not go through the X-ray because all of my film would be ruined along with the photos. The man kindly inspected my camera and meant me on the other side along with my cousins and gave us our cameras back. I understand that the technology has come a long way, but before I left I still did my homework to ensure that my cards would not be damaged in the same fashion as my film would have been. Based upon my research I can say that the cards are safe. Although I do prefer to have them in their card holders and buried deep within my bag in order to protect them as much as possible. 

As I mentioned I carried my cards on to the plane with me, and this a recommendation that I will give to anyone. The memory cars are like any other electronic item. They are susceptible to changes in climate, extreme heat, extreme cold, and moisture. These three things specifically are not controlled in the belly of the plane. This is the same reason why you will see people who are flying with animals get removed from flights. When the temperature is to cold or to warm the animal that is in the belly of the plane could die, and as a safety precaution they are not allowed to fly if it is determined that these extremes may be reached during the flight. I must admit that in travel I tend to treat my cards the same as I do my pets. I do not want to see them damaged in any way and therefore I want to keep them as close to me as possible. This way if something happens to my cards I am the one at fault for the loss or the damage and therefore I can only hold myself to blame. 

Thank you all so much, and if you have any information that you would like to see added to this post please feel free to email me, or leave the information in the comments below. 

Until next time my friends! Safe travels!