How One Vinyl Christmas Record Shaped my Photography

When I was a child, Thanksgiving Day evening through New Years Eve you would often see me sitting on the living room floor singing at the top of my lungs and surrounded by a scattered pile of Christmas records, record sleeves and jackets. I would position myself where on my one side would be the Christmas tree adorned with lots of lights and even more ornaments and on the other the stereo cabinet system that was as large as our couch. I believed that all spare time between school and Christmas festivities was to be spent singing through the pile of records as many times as possible. I am sure my mother was glad when I moved out of the house and she no longer had to endure this yuletide tradition. Those were the good old days!

One of the Christmas records that I listened to the most was one put out by a group called Agapeland. Agapeland was known for it's Christian themed children's musicals. Though I had several of their albums, the one that was played several times through the Christmas season was one called "The Birthday Party." It was about a collection of people coming together to celebrate Jesus' birthday and bringing gifts. This was made extra special because of my parents getting the children's Sunday School department a birthday cake for Jesus every year. There were two songs from that album that became formative in the philosophy that guides my photography.

One of the songs that impacted me was the primary character singing about his search to find the perfect gift for the King. I mean really! What gift do you give to a king? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were already taken. And if you think your grandmother already has everything, can you imagine if you are trying to get a gift for the King of the Universe? "Hmmm...should I get Him a sweater this year or should I go with the new IPad?" In truth, there isn't much you can give the One who created everything. Yet, how can you give everyone else gifts at Christmas and ignore giving something to the one whose birthday you are celebrating.

The other song that stood out for me was of a little ballerina singing about how her gift to the King was her dancing for Him. If I remember right, she was the miniature ballerina inside of a child's jewelry box and when the lid was opened she sang and danced her heart out. This song encouraged me to spend hours upon hours thinking about how I could give the gifts and talents God had given me right back to Him as my gift. I thought about this so much that this idea became core to my faith and how I live. I want everything that is within me, whether it be a song, my hobby, or my career, to be a gift that I bring to the King's party. And since Christ is not bound by time, that party is always being celebrated even beyond Christmas day.

Being the smart people that you are, I am sure you have already figured out how this ties into a photography website. I am in the mood to be verbose so I will spell it out anyhow. Photography for me is all about the Creator, His creation, and how I can use these gifts and talents to worship Him. I don't make a pretty ballerina who can dance and sing, but I can push the shutter button on my camera and process some pictures. I can make sure that my time doing photography is a time of worship and that the pictures (to the best of my knowledge) are used in a way that honors Christ. This is what I can give to the King.

As I step out of my time of reminiscing and go back to the hectic pace that the Christmas season so often brings, let me leave you with this one question...So what are you giving to the King this Christmas?

Are you a Crime Scene Photographer?

What kind of photographer would you call yourself? Have you ever thought of specializing in crime scene photography? Up until a couple days ago, I thought of myself as a nature photographer at heart who occasionally did some portrait work to help pay the bills. Not once, had I thought I would be interested in crime scene photography. I prefer cute deer and lovely wildflowers bathed in golden light not harsh scenes of death bathed in blood. Handsome (my husband) challenged me to see how crime scene investigation might fit into how I approach a photography scene. After doing a little research on crime scene photography at How Stuff Works, I discovered that I might be an amateur crime scene photographer after all--minus the blood, guts, bodies, and bullet casings. Let me compare what I would call the haphazard photographer with the crime scene photographer. Then you can tell me if you too are a crime scene photographer.

For this blog, we will pretend we have been given a photographic opportunity to take pictures of an old and very photogenic barn. The haphazard photographer would find the first parking place possible, as close to the barn as possible. Little to no attention would be given to how that affects the photo opportunities for herself or others. She knows the shot she wants and she is going in for the kill. *pardon the pun* The other photographers be damned. As soon as her car rolls to a stop, she gets out of her car, throws her camera on a tripod (maybe), grabs her bag of lenses and make a beeline for that picture. After photographing the barn for a while, she feels she is ready to explore other options. Tired of carrying around her camera bag, she lays it down next to the doorway of the barn so it will be easy to find when she comes back for it or needs to change out lenses. A short while later, the day has warmed up, so she hangs her sweater on a nearby tree limb. If she has been using a tripod, she may have grown tired of schlepping it around and leans it against a fence post. Meanwhile, she continues on to her next shot, leaving the beautiful scene filled with her jettisoned supplies. If this were a crime scene, it would be considered contaminated and it would no longer present the truth of what was found when one first approached the scene. Not to mention, she is now being followed by an angry mob of fellow photographers who are tired of waiting for her and her stuff to move out of the way as the golden light turns to the harsh play of light and shadows that is common with the midday sun.

Now let's compare the haphazard approach with the crime scene photographers methodology. Before arriving at the scene, the crime scene photographer creates her list of pictures she wants to take. This information is gleaned from images of the subject posted on Flickr, social networking sites, Google images, and if it is a landmark location, websites about the subject. This list will include the obvious pictures to take, the less obvious, and even a few creative approaches. After all, a forensic photographer has to make sure she has every piece of evidence to show the court or the hearing may lead to a mistrial. Upon arriving at the scene, she parks her car away from the subject and the surrounding area. Tire tracks through a crime scene would be bad, but even worse would be a car sitting in the middle of the barnyard while trying to get every angle of the barn and the surrounding fields. After parking her car, we see her get out and her eyes scan over the scene as she begins to pull out her camera and tripod. A tripod is a must, because clear pictures with no image blur and as little noise as possible (low ISO settings) are needed when presenting the pictures to the jury.

Once she is set up, she slowly approaches the scene looking for the wide open landscape shots. In crime scene photography, these pictures are referred to as overviews. They tell the story from a distance, from overhead, and from each corner of the scene. Landscape shots also help the photographer start to be more in-tune with the scene and all the storylines it has to offer. Starting with an outwards in approach is also more pleasing to the other photographers who may have accompanied her and would like to have at least a few pictures without her standing in the middle of them. Also, each time she takes a picture, she takes care to set her bag of lenses nearby out of the way of others. Now that she has her overview shots, she picks up her camera bag and is ready to move in for some of the more intimate landscapes or what a forensic photographer would call the mid-range pictures. These are the ones that start to tell the relationship of one thing in the scene with another. In this case, it might be a picture of the hay loft with light streaming in or the front of the barn seen through the spokes of the wagon. By this time, the golden early morning light is starting to turn to the bright mid-day light. Time for her to start focusing in on the macro shots or the minute details a forensic photographer would call the close-up images. Finally, she has all of her shots and breakfast has worn off long ago. It is time to wrap it up and head to lunch. As she walks back to the car, she checks to make sure she has not left the crime scene contaminated for the next photographer who comes along.

So what say you? Are you the haphazard photographer that leaves the scene contaminated and fellow photographers ready to create a crime scene out of frustration? Or are you the crime scene photographer who gets dynamic pictures while taking care to not contaminate the scene and works to make sure any fellow photographers have the chance to take a few landscape pictures without you being in the way? Personally, I know there are times I get so involved in my photography that I do not realize I have lapsed into being the haphazard photographer everyone dislikes. It is my hope that with time and opportunity to hone my skills, I will become an amazing crime scene photographer. Minus the blood, guts, bodies, and bullet casings, that is.

Tofurious?

Tofurious. Go ahead. Say it three times fast. You know you want to.

Now that we have that out of the way, you are probably wondering what Tofurious is. Tofurious (http://www.tofurious.com) is a fantastic website for learning how to better market your photography. Lawrence Chan bills himself as a wedding marketing strategist, however, I have found the information he shares on his website crosses photography genres very well. Chan does a great job at taking important photography marketing strategies and turning them into bite size pieces that are easy to understand, merge into your business plan, and implement. I find Chan is skilled in giving useful advice to both the young and the seasoned photographer. Take a few moments out of today to invest in your photography marketing plan by signing up on Google reader to follow the Tofurious blog.

Tofurious!

Tofurious!

Tofurious!

I LOATHE business plans!!!

The last few months have been a time of soul searching and redefining of exactly what my goals and direction are for Dawnita Hall Photography. I admit, I went into this reflective time kicking and screaming. It went something like this, "I refuse to do a business plan that looks pretty on paper and then sits in a filing cabinet." Being a stubborn person by nature, my husband (aka Handsome) just looked at me with that look that says, "Let me know when you want help with that business plan." Oh how I loathe business plans! I know they are important and necessary for a business to be successful..blah, blah, blah...feel free to leave all sorts of comments below about how important they are. I know it and I still loathe them! Loathe!!!! I bet there are even a few of you out there who feel the same way. This blog is for you.

Handsome knew that even if I did not have a business plan, I at least needed to entertain the things one finds in a business plan. Being a wise and loving husband, he handed me a book called The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. Being the obstinate and loving wife that I am, I placed it on an important shelf at my desk after having read part of the first chapter and left it there. Whenever Handsome would ask about it, I would say I had gotten to a part where I needed to think and figure some things out before going any further. Two months later, I think he was tired of hearing me respond with this every time he asked. He was starting to give me that "you thickheaded, stubborn woman" look men will occasionally give thickheaded, stubborn women like me.

Finally, I felt it was time to relieve Handsome of his husbandly obligation to harass me into reading the book. Really, I was tired of being fussed at, but we will pretend it was for nobler purposes that I decided to pick back up the book. At first, I was looking for a really good reason to stop reading the book. After all, I am a photographer who is working to make my photography business profitable. I am not creating software to sale. I am not building Powerpoint slides and trying to convince investors that my business will be profitable in five years. I am not even looking to hire employees. So how could The Art of the Start be beneficial to me. I was surprised.

As I began to read the book in earnest, I realized this was not one of those "three easy steps to writing your business plan" type books that populate bookstore shelves. I found the book to be interesting and engaging. It was full of short exercises that allowed me to put into use the things I had just read. I particularly found chapter 1 to be the most exciting since I got to think through my business concept in fun and original ways like creating a mantra instead of a mission statement. Definitely a less stuffy approach for an artist that does not want a boring business plan. Chapter 11 was the most inspirational and everything in between left me writing copious notes on ideas, thoughts, and new perceptions of my vision for Dawnita Hall Photography.

I do realize that the book has a whole chapter on writing a business plan and the importance of using it to get and keep your team on the same page. Even in this, it suggests what many would call a backdoor approach of using your slide presentation to create the business plan instead of the traditional business plan that becomes a slide presentation. It also leaves room for those of us who are flying solo, are not looking for investors, and loathe business plans when it says,

"Most experts wouldn't agree, but a business plan is of limited usefulness for a startup because entrepreneurs base so much of their plans on assumptions, "visions," and unknowns...Organizations are successful because of good implementation, not good business plans." (pp. 66-67)

Thanks to Kawasaki's book, I feel like even someone as stubborn as me can be organized enough to implement a successful business without having to write a business plan that looks pretty on paper and then sits in a filing cabinet. Next time you are in a bookstore or cruising Amazon.com, instead of heading to the photography section to look at the newest coffeetable books by famous photographers, I would highly recommend stopping by the business section to pick up Guy Kawasaki's book, The Art of the Start.