Nicole Neff

I was bad this weekend…I didn’t get a single run in. I was just so exhausted all weekend that even the thought of going on a run made me tired. I was aiming to get a 9-miler in at some point to keep on schedule with my half marathon training, but that certainly didn’t happen. And to make matters worse, I ate a bunch of junk that I shouldn’t have…pizza, Easter candy, banana bread, and powdered donuts. I’m not proud of it, and I certainly can’t continue on this pattern. I’m make a small goal for this week…I want to work out every week day, even if it is just a short run or some crunches and push ups at night. If I think in small terms, maybe I won’t be discouraged like I was at the thought of running for an hour and a half this weekend.

On the positive side, I did get a lot accomplished this weekend. I went to our church’s scrapbooking event and got about five pages completed. I haven’t touched my scrapbooking since the last retreat, which was a few months ago. I colored my hair, which didn’t turn out like I wanted…it was much more of a reddish tint than I thought it would be. I’m planning to re-color sometime tomorrow since that will be the 48 hours I need to wait between colorings. I also completed all of the things we need to send in our taxes, which I’ll be doing tomorrow. And I even painted my nails tonight. They’re now a pastel pink, in honor of spring. Which, by the way, has not come in full force like I’d like for it to. I’m ready for weather in the 60s with no rain. I’m so tired of this dismal rainy weather, and it’s really starting to bring down my normally happy demeanor.

This weekend was way too short, and I’m sad to have to go back to work tomorrow. The only thing that makes me excited for it is the fact that the UPS guy will be delivering my new toy, the Canon 40D with the 50 mm lens, f/1.4. Otherwise, it will be a sad day…I have to get my allergy shots and I have to go to my fundamentals of imaging class. Don’t get me wrong, I’m learning a lot, but it’s amazing what two extra free days during the week can do to your schedule. I’m ready for classes to be overwith so I can start putting what I’ve learned into action and booking some clients.

to have a camera crush! I just bought my camera, memory card, and lens and I’m all giddy! Now I have butterflies in my stomach to go along with the feeling of hunger I’m feeling right now. This could be the beginning of something beautiful…

A BIG thanks to everyone who offered me encouragement today to not give up on this deam of mine. Hopefully I’ll make it big and be able to pay you all back a hundred-fold. Love to you all!

A couple of days ago, I was completely sure that I would be purchasing my camera as well as a 4G card and 50 mm lens to go with it. Since then, I’ve put it off. One, because Tyler and I had a misunderstanding about other items I’d need (editing equipment and software) but mainly because I’m feeling incredible guilt over making a purchase this large. You would think that being married and having two incomes would mean that we have indisposable amounts of money to spend, but that’s just not so. Tyler also needs to go back to school soon, as well. I don’t want to financially cripple us just to pursue a dream, one that may never go anywhere.

And it’s not just the money, but I’m afraid of failing. What if I make the purchase, completely suck at it, and then the camera sits on a shelf in the house, never to be used again? What if no one wants to hire me because they hate my images? What if I’m not cut out for this? Then every time I walk by the camera, it will be a reminder that I wasn’t good enough to be a photographer, my biggest passion right now. I would love to make a job out of something I love doing, but then when I see how our economy is declining, would it really be a smart idea to ever leave behind a secure job to go out on my own? I know that would be waaaay down the road, but it’s still something I think about. OK, really I daydream about it.

I guess I’m needing some advice from others who have gone into business for themselves. What were the risk/benefits, what made you decide to go for it? What advice do you wish you’d have been given when you were just starting out?

The good news is that I am ordering my Canon 40D tonight. I love this camera and have seen some of the work it can do by photographers much better than me (Ed Pingol and Anne Ruthmann), so I’m beyond excited. I had thrown around the idea of getting the Canon Rebel xsi when it comes out next month since it will be cheaper, but I’ve been told by several professionals that I need to go with the professional-level camera. While we really can’t afford it right now, Tyler gave me the go-ahead to order the camera so we can stop talking about it and have me start shooting. (Have I mentioned lately how wonderful my husband is? He’s been incredibly supportive through all of this.) I’m ordering only the bare essentials to go with the Canon 40d body: a 4G memory card and the 50 mm f/1.4 lens to go with it. I can’t wait to try out an aperture as small as 1.4!

The bad news is that once I start shooting pictures, I won’t have the software to edit the photos. We can’t afford that right now, especially since I’m going with the higher-end camera. But I really feel it’s important to have a good camera, since that’s where a good photo starts, so I don’t think I can downgrade to the xsi. To add fuel to the software dilemma, I could save money by purchasing it now since I’m in school and can get the educational license, then upgrade later to the commercial license at a fraction of the cost, but there’s no room for it in the budget. Even worse, if we break down and get the Photoshop package now, I’m not even sure that my PC could support it since it is nearly 4 years old. Eventually, we’d also like to upgrade to a spiffy Mac, but that is something for the future.

So if anyone has a Mac that they don’t want or have the desire to help out a budding photographer by sending her the money to get Photoshop, I’d be forever grateful to you. Or, if you have any advice on what to do until I can get Photoshop, that would be great, too.

(Hey, I know it’s a long shot, but the photography industry is full of some amazing people!)

I also believe in the power of prayer, so send one — or a thousand — up if you don’t mind.

Proof that Lola also loves The Office.

My dog is so friggin’ cute. : )

I’m feeling quite inspired today. I’m not sure if it’s the wonderful weather we’re having — sunshine, blue skies and warmer temperatures — but I just feel my creative juices flowing. It also could be the fact that I’ve been working on my photography blog and am getting close to being ready to promote it. All I need is a fabulous picture of me (I realized last night that there are very few good pictures of just me since I’m usually the one behind the camera) and a few colorful pictures to add to the site.

This weekend, I plan on doing some shooting. And I’m going to use my family as guinea pigs. We will be doing our family pictures with my sister’s father-in-law (who is also a photographer) tomorrow, and I hope that I will be able to get some practice in posing people and working in the manual setting on my camera (well, actually someone else’s camera I’ve borrowed until I get the Canon 40D). And I’m sure that Easter Sunday should have some great opportunities for pictures. Who doesn’t love taking pictures of little kids all dressed up in beautiful pastels?

I’m just so ready to get going with this already. I’ve been taking classes for about three months now, and in the meantime I’ve been bursting at the seams to start shooting and hopefully get some clients for weddings, engagements, senior shoots, whatever I can get my hands on. So if you know someone who would love to have their pictures taken by me (for free until I get some practice under my belt), please send them my way!

I just got done shooting some pictures for my Basics of Photography class. Our assignment is to use shutter speed to learn the motion-blur, panning, and stop-motion techniques. While I’m not sure these are the photos I’ll use, it was fun to see what I could do. All of these were shot in shutter priority mode on a Canon Rebel xt at Ivy Tech.

f/14, Shutter Speed 1/30 – Panning to create background blur, but keeping object in focus (my favorite)

f/13, Shutter Speed 1/30 – Creating blur of the subject to show motion

f/3.5, Shutter Speed 1/1000 – Stopping the motion

On Monday, my professor in my Fundamentals of Imaging class assigned two new projects. One is dealing with iMovie, and I could care less. I don’t do movies, and I hate being in front of a camera, which is required for the project.

On the other hand, I’m SOOO excited about the other one: design a book cover! I think this could be a lot of fun. We have to do the cover, the spine and the back and allow for margines for printing, which we will do. It has to be at least a 5×7 book. There are so many books that I could choose to re-create that I’m having a hard time narrowing it down. I’ve been to barnesandnoble.com, and there are some pretty cool ones out right now.

Any suggestions?

I’ve changed the name and header of my blog…whatcha think? I felt it was time, and the Metamorphosis was a bit cheesy. I’m gonna let my blog speak for itself rather than choose one word to describe it. Yay for newness!

I’m considering transferring over to a different blog name, which I’ve already reserved: nicoleneffphotography.wordpress.com. I admit I’m a little apprehensive about it…what if I suck at photography? I’ll feel silly having that name, and then I’ll have to make the dreaded (and embarassing) switch back to this blog.

But on the flip side, it would be more professional and would suffice until I actually get a Web site of my own. I could list prices, info about my photography business, info about meetc. Most photographers I read on a daily basis use a blog that combines both their personal life with their photography. It seems that their clients really like hearing about their life outside of photography as well.

Does anyone have any advice for me on what to do? I’m certainly not a marketing major, so this is something that I have no info about.