Getting ready...

Hey there everyone! I am calling this post getting ready. I am getting ready for a lot of things it seems these days. Right now, I am getting ready for the next semester at Tri-Community. It's always amazing how much I miss being around all the students, the enthusiasm, the common interest that we all have at the Photography school. I am getting ready to teach my new Advanced Lighting on Location course for the 1st time. I am also getting ready to teach 4 classes starting in January, all 4 will be wedding related, including 2 shooting classes, and 1 of those will be on Sunday afternoons, which opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities.

I am also getting ready to put in lot's of time and effort to a labor of love that Jeffery Saddoris, Nicole Rae, and I are molding, shaping, and tending to called Faded and Blurred. We have designed it to be a community for photographers to share, learn, and get excited about the art of photography. We are building it from the ground up to have a main theme, giving back. Now giving back can be doing some charity work, (we are currently participating in http://www.help-portrait.com/ 's effort to give back on 12-12-09, you can read about our efforts here: http://fadedandblurred.com/community/) or passing along knowledge learned with our tutorials (the 1st 1 is up and it's awesome!) or organizing photowalks to get everyone out shooting. Our first walk in Venice had almost 70 people show up in blazing heat during a major fire. The info just went up on our next 2 walks, and we are planning more. All that info is available here:

http://fadedandblurred.com

Please see if you can join us, the photowalks are a lot of fun, and a great excuse to just get out and shoot. And while you are bouncing around the site, stop by the community section, register (it's free of course) and tell us a little something about you. Maybe you work for a charitable organization that could use photographic services? Maybe you've always wondered how some photogs always get beautiful blue skies? Maybe you have some new work you want to share. Come tell us about it.

I am also getting ready for a busy shooting schedule over the next several months. I feel a shift in style and focus coming that I need/want to explore. I have some paid gigs, but I will also be doing a lot of shooting on my own to examine where I think I might be going. Again, this is a journey. I feel like I took an extended rest, stretched my legs, and now I am ready to get on the road again. I have some ideas, a few new toys, some new friends, and a supportive family allowing me to stretch these wings.

Some of my favorite photographers have also been stretching their wings, and their influence with some amazing blogs recently Zack Arias, Chase Jarvis, and David duChemin have become must reads.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=450

http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/

I am also getting ready to turn 40 soon. I don't know why we look at that number as such a life changer, but I certainly feel that my life is headed in a completely different direction then it was just 1 year ago. and that change is good. Home, family, and business are heading in the right direction. It feels like I have been laying so much ground work for so long, and now I am finally starting to reap what I have sown.

I am getting ready, are you?