My First Job

A friend of mine called me and asked if I would like to take some pictures of a couple getting married. And I responded positively!!! She explained that the couple was getting married at the Civil Registry (a government office) and the function took about a few minutes. I did not have any idea what I should charge the client. First of all my friend told me that the lady was already complaining that she did not have a lot of money. I asked my friend how much she think I should charged and she gave me a guide line what she charged one of her clients - $200.00. She is a photographer as well. I found it to be a bit much so I decided that my fee would be $100.00.

I spoke to a friend about having the pictures saved on a CD and she informed me that she had a software that will enable me to print one of the best pictures on the CD labels. So I had my plan in place and was ready to roll. That night I ensured that the battery for my camera was fully charged. I definitely did not want the charge to run out while taking pictures. That is a no-no!!!


The day of the event was Friday January 27, 2011, time 2:30pm. I arrived at approximately 2:15pm and waited in the lobby for the couple to arrive and about 15 minutes later the bride arrived with some other people. They went into the room and I followed them. I introduced myself and right away the bride told me that she did not confirm that she wanted to have a photographer at the ceremony. She also mentioned that she was not able to pay me. I simply re assured her that it was not a problem. Mistake number 1 – job has to be finalized by both parties involved. In this instance there was a third party – my friend. Also permission should be obtained from the client for the pictures to be used in any marketing campaign.

The people, that were present with her, had cameras. One guy had a video camera. There really was no need for me being there. Anyway I proceeded to take pictures of her and her kids while waiting for the groom. Many of these pictures had a young man in the foreground. Challenge Number one: Remove this person from my pictures. I had to use Paint to crop the pictures.

The groom arrived about 2:40pm and the ceremony began about five minutes later. The room was very small and in addition to the couple, there were about ten people in the room. There was not a lot of space for me to move around to take pictures at different angles. As the ceremony was going on, I sat to the left of the couple and took what I could. The problem with that I mostly got pictures of the bride, the groom was hardly visible.


Challenge Number two – being able to position myself at different positions to get pictures at various angles. Another problem was when they signing the register. The table was against the wall so the couple’s back were towards me as they sign the register.


After the ceremony, the bride kept apologizing and tried to guarantee me that I would be taken care of financially. Again I said that there was no need for her to worry. I realized that my first job would be a freebie. Another shortfall on my part was I did not have any business cards to present to my client. That would be my next project.

After the formal part of the ceremony, we spent a few minutes taking group pictures. As I reviewed the pictures later that night, I realized that another thing a photographer should be mindful about. In a case like this, the people should be facing you. In many of my group pictures the group was looking at someone else. I am not too happy about that.

Summary: As I was reviewing my thoughts for this article, I remembered many years ago, I volunteered to take some wedding pictures for a very dear friend of mine who was on a ‘tight’ budget. I took a lot of pictures of her while she was dressing etc. That was a lot fun actually. When we arrived at the church, I was very surprised to see a photographer there. Apparently someone surprised her with a photographer. Anyway I took my pictures as planned even though I was not happy at all about another photographer being there.


My report may seem negative but it was a learning experience for me and I am thankful that it was a small function. I am also thankful to my friend to recommended me for the job. In my next job I will be well equipped with information and equipment.

Photographer's Art

B&W Butterfly

Photographer's Art

Humming Bird

Two blessings in one day???  I feel highly favored!!!!  I took these pictures yesterday evening.  The humming bird is so pretty.  The picture where it is in flight is not prefect but I am happy that I got the opportunity!!!  Awesome!!!

Photographer's Art

Red Eye Bird

Wow, I feel blessed to have gotten the opportunity to take these pictures this morning.  As I was seeing my husband off to work, I noticed this bird on the tree very close by.  So as my husband drove off, I quietly ran into the house and got my camera.  I made sure that the size of the file was set correctly and I took almost 50 pictures!  The bird just sat there, looked at me and did its own thing! 

This sighting was really the Lord's gift to me this morning.  Thank You!!!  Oh by the way, I cropped the last photo.  I am getting good at this and liking it too!!!!

Photographer's Art

RAW files

A few days ago, I was taking some pictures of some butterflies and noticed that a humming bird was flying about.  I knew that I would not have been able to get close enough to get a close up picture.  So I was thinking that maybe if I made the size of picture bigger, I would be able to crop the picture and get good result. 

I went though the camera's menu and chose the RAW option (thinking that this was the biggest size).  Boy was I wrong. 

I was able to get about three pictures of the bird but of course not close enough.  When I attempted to view the picture from the camera, I was not able to do so and had to download the pictures onto my computer.  I was eventually able to see them.  The files were not as big as I thought so cropping them did not result in anything good.

Last week Saturday I took some pictures of a recipe that I was preparing and yesterday I was downloading them and thought that I may have lost them.  The online software that I normally use to resize my photos could not open the file.  So I decided to change the file format.

I open them in Paint and saved them as jpg files.  When I took those pictures I did not remember to change the format from RAW to FINE.  That was one hard lesson learnt!

Here Kitty, Kitty!

This is my neighbour's cat, as cool as he is sitting on the ledge, he is just as cool and handsome.  As I took my pictures, he just looked at me and could not be bothered or maybe he is thinking - I am so handsome,  you can take all the pictures you want!  LOL!

Photographer's Art

Cattle Egret

This bird sure looks pretty.  I have seen it on many occasions at this particular location, next to the East End Post Station near where I live on Tortola British Virgin Islands.  

So one morning, as I went to the post office, I looked out for the bird and there he was.  So I did my usual routine, step closer and photos - I take a few steps forward (toward object) and take pictures, take a few steps and take pictures.  The objective is in the event the birds flies away, I would at least take some pictures.  This is the best one I think, like how his neck curves.

Photo taken with Nikon D60 DSLR Camera

Butterfly

I am not one to crop my photos for projects like this but on this attempt, I must say that this photo is looking great! For the past two years in the BVI there have been photo exhibitions and would you believe I did not partake in any!!! Well I am preparing big time from now. Collecting all my great photos!!! No excuse this year!
There is a flower bed where I park my car and there are an abundance of butterflies having a feast on the flowers. They could not be bothered that I was around taking pictures. They moved from one flower to another quite quickly!




Photographer's Art

Goat & Kid

I had a great day on Monday taking pictures and shopping.  As I came out of the store where I did my shopping, I saw this kid with its mother.  The kid is so cute.  I stopped and took a few pictures while I was doing that, the kid realized that he was hungry and got some milk, the best an animal can get.  Until mummy got a bit tired.

Scary Spider

This is one scary spider!  I was in my apartment when I heard my husband call out to me.  He was in the yard.  When I went outside, I saw him standing in front of this spider.  As he moved his foot closer to the spider, it raised up in a defensive position.  I don't know if it is poisonous, but to tell you the truth, it was more afraid of us that we were of it.  When it got a chance, it ran away from us but not too far because my husband killed it before I got a chance to stop him!

Photo taken with Nikon D60 DSLR Camera

Approaching Terrance B. International Airport Airstrip, Beef Island, British Virgin Islands

On my way home I saw this plane about to land, at the Terrance B. International Airport, Beef Island, so I quickly pulled my car to the side, stopped and got my Nikon D60 DSLR camera.  In my haste, I dropped the lens hoods - a little clumsy moment but I was able to get this shot. I took some pictures (aircraft landing) about two years ago but my computer 'crashed' and I lost those pictures.  Now I have an external hard drive so I have no excuse!

Adoration - Healey The Dog

I was taking some pictures of Healey who just lying outside in the sun.  At one point I think she got fed up with me taking her picture.  Soon after her owner came by and you could just see the love and adoration in her eyes! 

Photo taken with Nikon D60 DSLR Camera

Update: Healey died September 2, 2018