Photography Step Up

I’ve decided to take my photography to the next level and offer my service to people who would like some kind of photography done.
At this stage, I am happy just to put my name out there and see what happens. But, all things going well, I would like to turn this into something that generates a bit of a side income.

I don’t really know where this will take me (if anywhere), but, as the saying goes, you have to be in to win.

Please visit (and hopefully become a fan of) my Facebook photography page HERE

7.1…… and many more

The recent earthquake in Christchurch, NZ, which was a magnitude 7.1 has made life quite difficult for people in the Canterbury area (obviously). However, I have been surprised at how prepared we were, as a whole, to deal with this natural disaster. Before dawn, on the day of the earthquake, authorities were out all through the city assessing damage and cordoning off areas which had been badly affected.

What we have experienced as a city is really a minor inconvenience compared to what it could have been if NZ didn’t have such good building standards and infrastructure. I believe this is the reason there was no loss of life with a quake which was larger than the one we saw in Haiti recently.

What we, in Christchurch, have experienced is loss of conveniences (ie electricity) and loss of the ability to drink tap water for a few days… and perhaps a few traffic jams due to road closures, but that is the worst of it. Yes, people have lost their house or workplace/business, but this pales in comparison to what could have been lost if this had happened in another country.

Everything is slowly returning to normal now. Tap water is safe to drink. People are beginning to return to work. 6 days after the event, a little normality is returning.

Our national song asks for God to defend NZ.
This, He surely did.

I have uploaded some photos that I have taken of damage around the city over the last few days. You can check them out HERE

the post-processing age.

I have been quite vocal in the past about my dislike of post-processing, when it comes to digital photography.  This is pretty much because I have seen photographers congratulated on their skills, when it is obvious they are better at manipulating an image than they are at actually capturing it with a camera.
However, I have realised that if I am wanting to increase the standard of my final product, to the point where it can compete with others, I have no other choice than to take that step into post-processing. The only problem now is that I have to learn how to get the best results from the software I am using.

So begins my next phase in photography. Learning how to use computer software…

If anyone knows anywhere I can find good info on how to manipulate white balance etc, feel free to share.

Finally

As many of you will be aware, I have just become the proud owner of DSLR. While it is second-hand, it is in absolutely magnificent condition, with a shutter count of close to 50. I have been waiting for so long to own one of these bad boys, so I am (obviously) very excited and can’t wait to go out and start shooting.

The package I got off Trademe (for $886 – including overnight delivery):

Canon 1000d
2 lens Kit (standard 18-55mm IS + 75 – 300mm)
2x battery (extra battery retails at $69.99)
2G SD card (which I will swap out for my existing 4G card)
Canon Camera bag (retails for around $100 – estimate)

So I got a package worth around $1450 for under $900.

One down side is that the previous owner was obviously a smoker and the smell is through EVERYTHING. The bag is the worst effected, but the camera and lenses smell too.

But I can always hold my breath!

Protecting my tweets

I have protected my tweets on twitter. This is due to increasing awareness that future employers will now search social media sites to help in the vetting process when considering an applicant for a job.

It has been suggested that if I tweet only what I stand by, I should have no reason to protect them. The simple answer to this is that everything I put online is me being true to myself and I stand by it all. The problem that  see, is not with what I choose to post online, but with the difference of opinion between myself and anyone who choses to think differently.
I am completely comfortable with what I put online, but what if a future employer is “vetting” me by snooping around to see what I do in my weekends and disagrees with my stance on certain issues? They could decide that i’m not a fit for the particular role based on something that is completely irrelevant. That is wrong.

So the reason I have protected my tweets, is not because I’m worried that I might say something silly, but because I don’t like the idea that someone who I have applied to work for  can decide not to hire me based on my social life. So I choose to make it harder for that to happen

Facing my fear

I faced my fear yesterday morning. not only is it a fear of mine, but it is the biggest fear I have. I went to the dentist.

I have been tweeting about this for a few weeks now, but what happened was I could visibly see a hole in one of my teeth. it wasn’t a black dot, but there was a circle where the tooth had disappeared, so I knew I only had one option before it got really bad. I went and saw the dentist yesterday and explained I hadn’t had any pain, or discomfort. He took a quick look and not only told me the the corresponding tooth on the other side also had a hole, but the original hole was “massive”.

Anyway, after being so nervous that I needed some “glucose water” (which I suspected was not just sugar water, but a drug relaxant of some kind), I got my filling.

Outcome? It wasn’t bad at all and, even though I knew my fear was completely irrational, I was very happy with the outcome. The biggest pain I had was the feeling like I had been punched in the face when the numbness was wearing off (tingling/pulsating lips, tongue and check).

While I still am not a fan of the dentist I am having to book in a check up because I am assuming 1 more filling is not all the work that needs to be done.

After all, I was told I needed 2 fillings 10 years ago, and I hadn’t been back to get them since…

Mid-Life? Crisis

I have this class where we all sit for 2 hours and listen to our lecturer talk about “leadership”. It’s more of a self-help type of class, in which we are graded on our ability to search within ourselves and find purpose for our lives. Seriously, one of the best classes I have ever had, but it has caused me to think hard about what I am doing with my life and what I would like to do in the future.

I have come to the realisation, over the past couple of weeks, that University just isn’t what I want to be doing, but I feel kind of stuck. Do I stick with it, knowing I don’t want to be here and regretting the decision to stay, or do I try and find a job?
If I look for work, how will I find a career that I enjoy without the qualifications needed to get me in the door?

But I don’t want to just stop at getting a job. I feel I need to do something great with my life. Maybe that’s starting a business, maybe it’s something completely un-related to work. I don’t know, but I have a fire within me, an energy, that needs an escape. I just have no idea what that will look like yet.

I do know that Uni is not where this will happen, nor is it a place that is going to help me on my journey (official qualification wise). I feel like I’m here, just doing what is expected of me so I can get into a mid-level job, with a mid-level income. I don’t feel as though this is going to lead to anything spectacular, which is where I am going…

While I feel like this, it is actually my class at Uni which has given birth to this thinking. The first lecture of this class, we were told the purpose of the class was to help us question our existence, to question why we do what we do. Essentially, we were told to have a “mid-life crisis” by the end of the year so we could begin to get to where we need to be.

The only thing is that I have been feeling like this for a few years now… and I don’t feel like I’ve gotten anywhere.