photography vomit

I am writing this after coming off a high (or maybe I am still on a high) from yesterday's seminar with Kevin Kubota at The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Even though we were told we could download the handout with all the info from the presentation slides, I took pages and pages of notes! I am a note taker. Always have been. I am not much of a writer, so bear with me.
I first want to say Thanks to those that made it possible for me to attend this workshop during the work week. My manager covered for me on my busiest field day even though he threw his back out. My mom met me halfway during our lunch breaks so I could bring chicken thigh meat to a customer! Zack for picking up Bean.

Okay, so I walked away with tons of great ideas and tips (including the title of my post.) I already implemented 4-5 last night by creating actions in Photoshop to ease my workflow and cut down on my editing time. You should be using actions!

It hit me this morning as I was reading these two blogs: Me Ra Koh and Jules Cafe from Kevin Kubota's The Tale of 10 Extradordinary Photographers (scroll down to bottom right hand corner). I totally enjoy and eat up reading, seeing, attending classes, seminars and workshops all about Photography. I love when I discover a new blog like the 2 mentioned above that are so free in sharing their knowledge of this shared passion. I am grateful for it. So, I thought it would be cool if I start to share my Photography Journey with you. I will talk about my struggles and rewards trying to get my Photography Buisness off the ground while having a full time job and raising a toddler. I think it would be helpful to me to get these ideas and obstacles out of my head too. There will be no limits to what I talk about. If you want me to talk about something specific you could leave a comment or drop me an email: kristalund@kristalundphotography.com

I was emailing with another photographer who is just starting out as well and we were commenting on how us "newbies" want to soak up all the info we can, but it is expensive to attend workshops and seminars and pay for mentors and what not. So I get really excited when 1) I pay the money to attend or take a class and it so worth it! and 2) I come across blogs like I mentioned above that are FREE!! I am so grateful for them to share their knowledge so freely, so in return I will share with you.

I was Facebooking with a friend last night who I discovered recently got excited about Photography. He asked me what my secret was. He said my photos have a certain look (I think he was saying he liked it~ LOL!) It made me smile!! I don't know what my secret is. I told him I tooks TONS of photos and shoot in RAW. That is a lame answer- sorry. I hope to figure out what my "secret" is by taking you on this journey. Lucky you! LOL

Here are some things I want to talk about:
Workshops/Classes- reviews of ones I've taken. Ones I want to take
My camera bag.
My Wishlist.
My Workflow.
Photoshop.
Passion.
Business.
Struggles.
Marketing.
Charity Work.
My Photos.

I leave you with this photo of my beautifully glowing friend, Jen.

I was experimenting with light. This was taken as the sun was setting- the best time to take photos. I love how warm it feels. I love her expression. I love the blurred grass in the foreground. I love the way it made Jen feel when I secretly mailed it to her for Mother's Day. Her first Mother's Day. I love how I felt when she called and said it was her favorite gift all weekend (she was in her hometown, Newport Beach for a couples baby shower.) Guy Kawasaki said it best when he said he is in this to make meaning, not money. I like that!!!