So For Now It’s All Photos I Create in My Free Time

Yeah, so things on this blog have changed a bit over the course of this year. First a little catch up then the current stuff.

In case ya need a quick refresher, this year I have, in order:

• Found out I knocked up the girlfriend
• Been laid-off
• Moved from Chicago to Las Vegas (the weather is so much better here)
• Enjoyed my Illinois unemployment insurance while job hunting
• Lost the baby (Bean) in the 32nd week of pregnancy
• Got a seasonal job
• Seasonal job seems to be turning into a regular, possibly even full-time job

Okay, it’s been a busy year.  2008 was a brutal year and 2009 was supposed to be a year I could recover in.  I’m going to say that goes in the “fail” category in just about the ultimate way.

When it comes to my photography I am, admittedly, kind of emotionally checked out.  I’m not prepared to work on heavy projects.  I’m not prepared to deal with in-depth serious issues.  I’m just enjoying composition, light, texture, all that stuff.  I’m enjoying making pretty pictures and not necessarily story-telling images.  I want to do that, I want to do that again, I don’t want to do that today.  Today I just want peace and to enjoy the beauty of the world.

So for the last couple of months I’ve been working in Vegas for a company that does most of the school and yearbook photography in town.  It’s wasn’t the perfect job, it was a job.

After doing it for a few weeks I discovered something interesting, it actually wasn’t bad, it was pretty decent.  It’s not as creative as what I had been doing, but it’s got a few advantages: it’s pretty easy for me to do, it’s a job where my skill set is useful which means I can get the job, I’m challenged in different ways than I have been before, I get to do some stuff of the other stuff they do which is more fun, and it’s in a field that isn’t evaporating like water on an August day in Las Vegas (which let me tell you, you may think is fast, but is actually even faster.)

So the work I’m doing ain’t perfect, nor am I millionaire yet (damn you grocery store slot machines!) but I’m working, I’m making money, I’m enjoying myself, I’m learning some new skills, and I’m working with some pretty nice people, which is a pretty strong selling point.

One of the downsides of my current job is that I can’t use any of those images on my blog or website.  So while many weeks I may out at many football games, and volleyball games, soon basketball and wrestling.  I can’t post any of them.  Any of the other stuff I shoot for the Job I can’t post also.

So that means whereas this blog was previously a large number of my work photos with other various personal photos and freelance photos and whatever else, that large blog of work photos are gone, I’m building new contacts and freelance clients in Vegas but that takes time so for now it’s all photos I create in my free time, at least for a while.

Now, to be fair, I still enjoy doing my oddball stuff and meeting the oddball people, but it’s a slower process to have that happen at this point.  There will still be those images, just not as many.  Obviously.

Also, on lark I started publishing a new image everyday.  I did it for fun.  I’m enjoying it, so I’m going to try and continue it.  If nothing else it pushes me to keep shooting for me, whatever that may be, I have to do it.  That’s a good exercise I’ve recommended to many people, shoot and keep shooting, and now it’s my turn, again, to take my own medicine.

So everyday you should see a new post up here and if you want to be reminded when the new post is up my Facebook (I think the link works) and Twitter accounts automatically broadcast it.

Nov 13, 2009 | Categories:Because I Can | Tags: Because I Can, Paperwork, So called thoughts | 2 Comments »