So, today’s tip is a little off topic, as in not so much camera related. Well actually not at all.

You may have noticed a gap in my posts; about four weeks. Well this is because we are in the process of moving my 93-year-old mother into long-term care. We tease her that she has dementia of the body, not of the mind. She is really sharp for her age. She is in the process of finishing her third book. But I can tell you that this process is not easy.

My parents, early 1950’s

My mother was a woman before her time. In 1947 she graduated in the first class of draftswoman in England and went back to school in her 50’s to become a drafting engineer. She worked at Kitt Peak Observatories at the University of Arizona. She became a minister at the age of 60, retired from Kitt Peak at 67, and had a wonderful second career teaching. Her focus was on the metaphysical teacher Emma Curtis Hopkins, and still is. She is the expert on her teachings.

All this being said, in this country if you are not very wealthy, aging sucks. My mother made a good living, had herself set up pretty darn well in her retirement years. But now she has no choice but to use Medicaid to pay the long-term care costs. Unfortunately, that leaves it to me to navigate through the process and make it right. I am smart enough to know we need help, so have hired an attorney. But heed my advice – have a conversation.

I am about the age my mother was when she started her second career as a minister. It leaves me with the knowledge I still have a lot to do in my lifetime. We tried to get my mother to work on planning for this outcome, but she preferred to live in the ‘now’ and not think about the ‘what if’. I, on the other hand, prefer to have a plan. This means having conversations, with my husband, children, relatives and dear friends. All the people you hope to have around you in the years to come. It would be easy to push through this process with my mother, and not want to think about it anymore. But I am determined to learn from this struggle, take it as a lesson for our own future, and plan for it.

Ordaining her granddaughter’s husband, 2018

You will see articles and ads telling you to plan for your retirement. But as medical science keeps moving forward, and people are living longer, we now need to plan for beyond retirement. I am not sure yet what that is. But having the conversations will open the doors to figuring it out. Medicaid is so final. It strips you of so much of who you are/were. My mother is now down to a small bedroom, $50 a month for personal expenses, and fortunately for her – a large family to pop by as often as possible. She should be proud of what she accomplished in her life. But the system doesn’t help support that pride.

August 19, 2019

“Your picture depends on what’s in it – and it has nothing to do with the technology”     Annie Leibovitz – MasterClass

Recently there has been a lot of conversation about a photographer’s technique and style. What makes a good photograph, the difference between a ‘snapshot’, and the art of photography. Can a photograph be good if it is not technically perfect? The answer is a resounding “YES”!!!

As photographers we can talk about this until we are blue in the face. The simple fact is that it is a personal choice. Just as we will choose an outfit to wear, it is all in the eye of the beholder. We can critique each other’s work on a technical level, share our personal thoughts, and give guidance and direction to the photographer. This is all a good thing; it helps us learn and grow. But we are not in their head, we don’t see what they see, and we aren’t capturing what they want to capture.

I say all this to make a point. This photograph is not the best, I see technical issues with it. But it is one of my all-time favorites; there is so much going on in one shot. My daughter is Facetiming with her grandmother, my grandson (her nephew) is in the background playing with his new truck. There is a poster my oldest gave my youngest of one of her favorite characters, and it all makes me smile. This photograph captured a special moment it time, and isn’t that our real goal?

I realized something recently, I love my job. I am a photographer, but it isn’t my day job. I made an unconscious decision years ago not to make photography my main profession. I know my personality; I am one of those people who get bored of redundancy. I tease that I won’t do weddings because I don’t want to deal with the occasional bridezilla. But honestly, I would get bored. Not only that but frustrated trying to come up with original ways to do something that is so similar with each wedding. I have great respect for photographers who do weddings because it isn’t easy.

The other thing is the money. I have heard too many people complain about how much photographers charge. They truly don’t realize all the pre/post work that goes into it. That comment, why do they charge so much when they were only here for a couple hours? I hate drama, and this would just add to that.

To be a professional photographer you have to do a lot of work that has nothing to do with your camera. You have to promote yourself, hit the streets to find clients, let alone all the pre/post work. Meeting with clients, scoping out venues, lugging all that equipment, postproduction, and then pleasing the client, billing, and hopefully payment.

I love photography, but by not exposing myself to all that I continue to love photography. I shoot what I want to, when I want to, and keep the joy of doing it. I am not alone in this either. We have more time to learn, grow, experiment, and simply get out there and shoot what excites us.

So, I guess what I am saying is that you don’t have to make a living with a camera to be a great photographer. In fact, it could be the absolute opposite. As a graphic artist I get to create and play all day. Then on my time I can do the same with my camera. I really do have the best of both worlds.

Ok, yes, this is a little obvious. But you would be surprised how many people do not really do this. Or better yet, don’t think they have to. Yes, if you are lucky you do come to a point where you are working with your camera, pick it up every day, and shoot. But there is a difference between shooting for work and practicing.

If you are a musician, you practice your instrument regularly. You learn new songs and become more connected to the music you play. Then you perform. It is no different with a camera. As a child I would listen to my father practice his scales. He was an opera singer, and this was just something that was part of our daily lives. I would hear his voice going up and down, making funny sounds/shapes with his mouth. All this in order to produce the most wonderful sound.

Sadly, I didn’t inherit my father’s voice. But I did learn from his example. Now that I have a new camera it is even more important. Changing brands of cameras is harder than I thought. It would be very easy for me to just give up, put this new camera in a draw and forget about it. But I see the potential, and I just have to practice until I get it right. If it were easy it wouldn’t have the rewards it does.

This morning on YouTube I watched Sean Tucker’s “The Artist’s Ego: Learning Balance.” I enjoy listening to his take on things; on life in general. Today he said that if you are always trying to please everybody you will actually reach no one “properly or effectively.” If you don’t put yourself out there in fear you will offend someone, that is the worst. I find myself very guilty of that. My blogging is a perfect example. I take all the time and effort to post, but then I don’t promote it. Well today I will, but I’m not sure about tomorrow.

As an artist of any kind, what we present is part of who we are. It makes us vulnerable, and no one wants to intentionally put themselves in that position. My last post touched on the need to promote yourself. Your ego is all part of that. It is a very delicate balance between letting your ego take over, and not allowing it to shine.

For me, I love to write, I love to share, I especially love to inspire someone. So I write, but if I don’t let people know it is here, why do it? Well there is the journaling side of it, I do get something out of the actual writing. But there is always that fear I will say something wrong. That I could offend someone. My stance on that is, I am greatly offended by the fact that so many people find things to be offended about.

Here is an example, a high school Christmas Program in the past would include singing songs like Jingle Bells, and Holy Night. Now it has to be a Holiday Program which includes no religious based songs. My father’s best friend was Jewish, we are not. But we celebrated Hanukkah with them, and they celebrated Christmas with us. It goes back to something my stepdaughter said to me years ago. She loved having two families because it gave her more people to love and love her.

Just as my stepdaughter has forgotten this, so has society. We are supposed to love thy neighbor. And yet we see constant violence. The biggest ego always has to be right. It doesn’t matter if they are or not. The confidence they have in themselves makes them believable.

In talking about constructive criticism, we again find the big egos telling the new photographers what they are doing wrong. We pass it off as art is subjective. But that person with all the accolades will often think that gives them the right to pass judgement, when it is really just an opinion.

What all this boils down to is that ego, that self-worth, that need to be right. I will be the first to say I don’t have the answers, but I do know that I need to ask the questions. What makes me have to be right? What right do I have to say you are wrong? My ego will not be able to give me a truthful answer. So I will listen to my heart instead.

I was going to end this post with the last paragraph. But instead here is a little test. Here is a photo I took of an old camera I have. Was this photo shot in RAW or jpg? Is it ‘technically’ correct? Is it straight out of the camera, or edited? Or does it really matter?

Who is the judge?