I had an instant-message conversation this morning with a lady who used to
work for me in Colorado Springs. For a time Melissa was my admin (current
politically correct term for a secretary) before moving on to better things
with the company. When her husband took a job in Oregon, we were able to
move her job there so she could continue in gainful employment.
Just before moving to Portland, Melissa discovered photography. She started
with an old 35mm film camera with a pretty standard lens. Her images were
great and it seemed to me that she had some real talent. Once in Portland,
she was able to get a digital camera and then her photography really took
off. She’s now using Nikon’s top-of-the-line digital camera. I learned
today that some of her images have been published in a tourism magazine and
she’s been able to sell some other free-lance photography.
This is very exciting and interesting to me. I’m very pleased that she has
been able to develop a lovely talent and turn a hobby into soimething more.
I really enjoy taking pictures and making images.
A few years ago my wife and I went to Sante Fe to attend a basic
photography class. We had a wonderful time and really learned a lot. After
that we both upgraded our film cameras. We’ve got thousands of pictures
stored in boxes. A few of them have made it onto our fridge for display.
We’ve since both bought digital cameras as well. I’ve struggled with film
versus digital versus video. Using so many different formats making it
difficult to become reasonably proficient with any of them. While I’m not
looking to make money from my photography, I do want them to be more than
images stuck in a box in the basement storage room. It’s time to settle
into one format and get much better at it.
Melissa’s good success is a good motivator to get moving again in
photography. But I still have too many projects in flight:
– the video from the Alaskan cruise needs to get edited, burned to DVD and
deleted from the computer
– the trip to Florence, KY for the twins baptism needs to get loaded to the
website.
– the pictures of the new house needs to get to the website
– the web cam to get the daily / hourly pictures on the web.
And, with all this, the house needs to get finished, shelves installed, the
garage put together, and the office finished. Life is very busy!
Meanwhile, congrats Melissa! It’s very satisfying to hear about your
success with a delightful hobby!