Coyote Pond

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Photography: #100DayProject Second Update

It’s Day 45 of the #100DayProject and I’m still going strong. Since we are almost at the halfway point, it felt like a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned so far.

  • Storage: I ran out of space on my hard drive. It was inevitable, but I finally had to do something about it. I now have an external hard drive, and I’ve moved several years’ worth of photos onto it, organized into folders by date and subject.
  • Editing: Once I tackled spacing issues, I had to face my inconsistent workflow. I was using multiple programs to edit and save photos with no long-term planning. It’s embarrassing, but I would edit them on my desktop, put them on the blog, and then get rid of the edited versions. Argh. Now, I’m close to having a good working system, which keeps edited photos and the RAW versions.
  • Skills: I’ve taken four classes so far—posing, exposure triangle, light, and senior photography as a business. I’m starting an editing class next week. It’s a lot to learn, and having to take and edit photos daily, along with everything else in my life, is proving to be exhausting.
  • Time: I’m behind on editing. Having to take a week to move things over to the new hard drive and organize all my photos has put me behind. I’m still going to share some of my bigger shoots with you, but some will just be practice.
  • Camera: I’m discovering the limits of having a camera with a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor. Also, learning a lot about how prime lenses work and dreaming now of all the beautiful gear I can someday afford.
  • Career goals: My timeline of taking a year to really figure out if I can do this for a business is proving wise. I’ve had a few freak-out moments, some big missteps, and I’m learning the well of knowledge is pretty deep. 

As I haven’t had time to edit or share any photos for over a week, I thought it would be nice to share some of these with you. My nephew and goddaughter are my models a lot, but you’ll also see my daughter’s friend Layla in here, critters from my yard, items from the Antique Trove, animals at the Sacramento Zoo, and my friend’s fairy backyard.

While I’m falling even more in love with photography, the editing and tech side of photography has me kind of overwhelmed. And I miss writing. I’ve not had time to do any at all, and I’m feeling weird about that.

It’s hard to believe my book is almost a year old. I need to promote it more, maybe throw a party for the anniversary, but then again, I feel like the book did its job. You know? I’m proud of the work I did, but I think when I have more books to market, it will find a greater audience.

All this to say, sorry I’ve been away, and here are some pictures for you to look at. Let me know if you have a favorite and if you see improvement. It’s hard for me to tell if I’m just spinning my wheels or if they are indeed getting better.

Thank you!

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Bonus photo taken of me by my daughter’s friend Layla:

  • If you’re unfamiliar with the #100DayChallenge, it’s simple. You choose any creative project you like and do it every day for 100 days, sharing your process on social media using the hashtag #The100DayProject. This year the dates are Feb. 22-June 2.
  • These were taken with my Olympus E-M1 MarkII, using various lenses and edited with Lightroom Classic.
  • To follow Anna’s progress in the 100 Days. visit Little Bits of Thread
  • See what my friend Angelica’s doing for her 100 Days, visit Journal of a Wayward Writer