AltaredFox
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Life is Rough
4 min read
Hello everyone! As usual, I suck at getting on Deviantart in recent times. I also suck at uploading photos. But this time, it's only because I haven't edited anything besides a very quick engagement shoot I did on Black Friday last year. Any of my for fun shoots have been untouched. I am extremely behind. I ended up losing progress on my Indy Pride 2017 photos because my computer died and I hadn't updated everything onto my external hard drive yet. I was in the middle of editing when it happened. I no longer have a mac and the pc I got seems to be really slow, no matter what I do to it. I've been trying to fix it, but even someone that works on computers for a living couldn't figure it out.
On another note, I can't even bring myself to edit photos right now. I have been beyond stressed, anxious, and depressed. I've let my art be put aside while I figure out a lot that's going on in my life. I haven't even face painted except for a few gigs, and I always seem to forget what I'm doing. I just got new paints and new brushes though, so I think that might help things move in the right direction when it comes to face paint. My photography is in need of some help though. I haven't been even feeling like taking photos. It feels like no one thinks of me for photos or that there are others out there that are better, so they just don't like my work. No matter what I do to get myself out there, it doesn't seem to help any.
In other parts of my professional life though, I got a promotion I wasn't exactly expecting at work. It's for the position that I had applied for and didn't get, but things got moved around a lot and it ended up becoming open again, but it got split into two positions. I now do scheduling and basically anything HR related for my employees, while also working with customers a lot more. Sometimes it feels like I don't have enough work to do, but other times I feel overwhelmed just by the schedule when we're short staffed and it's a crazy week ahead. But I have a pretty usual guess to how much my check will be and my schedule is quite often the same. Even though I'm a lot busier for work now, I feel more relaxed at home and not like I'm running around between work, home, and my social life.
That's about the only plus I've had though. I lost 3 family members last year and now just the other day we had to put down my cat that was 15 years old. He was like a family member to us and I had known him since I was about 9 years old, when he was just a tiny kitten that fit in my hands. Of course, I started my week off pretty shitty too though. I broke up with my boyfriend (not my primary, who I live with) and that just drove me straight into a deeper depression than before. I had my reasoning and it's for the better, but it still really hurts. A bunch of other stupid things have happened on top of that this week, so I'm just not doing that great right now.
I really need to get to a therapist now that I have better insurance with my promotion. I know that will help a lot of this depression and anxiety. I'll be able to see if taking something is for the better of my health and actually be able to do it, finally. I'm also finally getting my house together the way I want, now that I'm fully moved in with my significant other, so I know that will help matters as well. Once I'm in a better routine for my life, I can take the steps to get back into my art. Even though I haven't wanted to do anything with photos recently, I still miss it and crave it in my soul. It's part of who I am and I will never get past that.
Here's to getting healthier and staying organized. I hope all is well with you all. Thank you for always being here for when my art actually comes around.
Kendra
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Lets Talk Photography
7 min read
Hi everyone.
It's been a while since I last posted a journal. I'm still trying to upload photos here and there and try to be active with my photography group. Life has been pretty difficult recently though. Just the past 4 months have been very busy for me. But I wanted to take some time to talk about how exactly photography works. No, I don't mean how cameras work and how to take photos, I mean the process of getting photos done by a photographer. I don't think most people out there understand, not even always other artists. This will be about portrait and event photography, other photography is very different. So let me explain my field to you a little bit.
Photography is expensive. Just like any other art, you have to buy the materials. Camera bodies are a lot on their own. Now add in all the lenses and other things you need (ie. tripods, white balancers, external flashes, etc). That alone is already a lot of money that no one is going to be giving us back when they hire a photographer for some photos. What clients are actually paying for is a whole different deal.
You, the customer, are paying for the time it takes to not only take the photos but also edit them. For every hour you add onto your gig, the more photos you get. I average about 250 photos per hour usually, sometimes less, sometimes more. It all depends on what you're shooting, where you're shooting, and who you're shooting. All of these things can turn out for either an easy photo shoot or a hard one, you never know.
With that being said, all photographers price themselves differently. It depends on what they think their level of photos are at and what people will be willing to pay to get their type of photography done. I price on the lower range currently, but after an incident that just happened (which is why I'm writing this), I plan to up my prices a bit more. We understand, as all artists do, that its expensive and that not everyone can afford it. Often you might see deals or discounts going around for photography, that way we can bring in more clients and possibly get one or two loyal clients out of that for even more money. You know what we don't want to hear over and over again though? "You're too expensive. I can take my own photos". No, you can't. If you're not a photographer, you don't know the half of it.
These days everyone thinks that photography isn't needed because everyone has a smartphone or a handheld camera and even in more recent times, their own DSLR's they don't know how to use. But all of you out there with your smartphones can't do what we photographers do. You know what's great about having an outsider take photos of you? They capture things you would never think of capturing because they don't know you. They don't see your flaws. They see your wonderfulness and your uniqueness to this world in every photo they take of you. (If they don't, I'm not sure why they're taking photos honestly).
So to add this all up, one hour of photo taking can mean 5 hours of editing time. It all depends as I said, on the photoshoot you have done. When I edit photos, I go through every photo first so I can narrow the photos down. Sometimes I might go through them a 2nd time. After that, I'll start editing them and as I edit them, I get rid of more photos. Making 250 photos, more like 50 photos to give you. With how I edit (don't have the editing programs I wish I did), I have to save photos twice. One photo for the ones I'll be giving you to print out and the other to add my watermark on to post the photos online. (I do everything online, I don't print photos myself). This all takes quite a bit of time. Which brings me back to how much it costs.
When you give me say, $75 per hour for a photo shoot, that's only for taking the photos. That doesn't put into account how long I'll be editing, in my free time mind you. Most photographers do not do photography full time. I, myself, have an almost full-time day job. Also, being the desperate photographer that I am, I often give discounts to friends. I also don't write up contracts for friends since it's not a lot of money. I'll keep track of what I've done on my own terms for taxes, but I don't send them an invoice. It's a verbal agreement and the money is paid in cash. (Checks are a different story, but I've only had that happen once with a friend).
This being said, you do not ask a photographer, especially when you've been given a discount, for a partial or full refund when they are in the middle of editing photos. With me, I always tell people ahead of time how long photos take. I tell them I have another job and if there are any other photoshoots ahead of them that are being edited first (because we all know that all your gigs have to come at the same time). I usually try to give deadlines as well, it helps me with my time management. This all means that it can be a few months until you get your photos back. That doesn't mean you come at your photographer every month asking them where your photos are.
As I said at the beginning of this, my life has been a little rough recently. I had to pack and move (still not fully moved). I applied for a promotion and didn't get it. I've had to take a lot more on at work because our manager left. And to top it all off, I had three family members pass, only in the last 4 months, the 3rd one being only today. Not to mention the fact that I'm a human being with two mental illnesses and I messed up my knee from a bad fall I had. So it's been a little rough. With all of this I've gone through and everything I have said about photography, 3 months to get photos back to someone that is aware of all of these problems and been updated, should not have started a war.
All said and done then, I hope this is at least a little information to you all that artists are human beings too. Even other artists, they're human too (unless you're all aliens, I don't know). Just because you don't know the field, doesn't give you the right to be rude to another person that is doing a service for you (especially a discounted service). Every artist out there is also someone working in customer service because we all have to know how to talk to our clients, even the rough ones, and still be polite. So do me a favor. Please be kind to artists, even if you're not purchasing an item or service from them. Support the arts because you know we can't support ourselves.
Kendra
It's been a while since I last posted a journal. I'm still trying to upload photos here and there and try to be active with my photography group. Life has been pretty difficult recently though. Just the past 4 months have been very busy for me. But I wanted to take some time to talk about how exactly photography works. No, I don't mean how cameras work and how to take photos, I mean the process of getting photos done by a photographer. I don't think most people out there understand, not even always other artists. This will be about portrait and event photography, other photography is very different. So let me explain my field to you a little bit.
Photography is expensive. Just like any other art, you have to buy the materials. Camera bodies are a lot on their own. Now add in all the lenses and other things you need (ie. tripods, white balancers, external flashes, etc). That alone is already a lot of money that no one is going to be giving us back when they hire a photographer for some photos. What clients are actually paying for is a whole different deal.
You, the customer, are paying for the time it takes to not only take the photos but also edit them. For every hour you add onto your gig, the more photos you get. I average about 250 photos per hour usually, sometimes less, sometimes more. It all depends on what you're shooting, where you're shooting, and who you're shooting. All of these things can turn out for either an easy photo shoot or a hard one, you never know.
With that being said, all photographers price themselves differently. It depends on what they think their level of photos are at and what people will be willing to pay to get their type of photography done. I price on the lower range currently, but after an incident that just happened (which is why I'm writing this), I plan to up my prices a bit more. We understand, as all artists do, that its expensive and that not everyone can afford it. Often you might see deals or discounts going around for photography, that way we can bring in more clients and possibly get one or two loyal clients out of that for even more money. You know what we don't want to hear over and over again though? "You're too expensive. I can take my own photos". No, you can't. If you're not a photographer, you don't know the half of it.
These days everyone thinks that photography isn't needed because everyone has a smartphone or a handheld camera and even in more recent times, their own DSLR's they don't know how to use. But all of you out there with your smartphones can't do what we photographers do. You know what's great about having an outsider take photos of you? They capture things you would never think of capturing because they don't know you. They don't see your flaws. They see your wonderfulness and your uniqueness to this world in every photo they take of you. (If they don't, I'm not sure why they're taking photos honestly).
So to add this all up, one hour of photo taking can mean 5 hours of editing time. It all depends as I said, on the photoshoot you have done. When I edit photos, I go through every photo first so I can narrow the photos down. Sometimes I might go through them a 2nd time. After that, I'll start editing them and as I edit them, I get rid of more photos. Making 250 photos, more like 50 photos to give you. With how I edit (don't have the editing programs I wish I did), I have to save photos twice. One photo for the ones I'll be giving you to print out and the other to add my watermark on to post the photos online. (I do everything online, I don't print photos myself). This all takes quite a bit of time. Which brings me back to how much it costs.
When you give me say, $75 per hour for a photo shoot, that's only for taking the photos. That doesn't put into account how long I'll be editing, in my free time mind you. Most photographers do not do photography full time. I, myself, have an almost full-time day job. Also, being the desperate photographer that I am, I often give discounts to friends. I also don't write up contracts for friends since it's not a lot of money. I'll keep track of what I've done on my own terms for taxes, but I don't send them an invoice. It's a verbal agreement and the money is paid in cash. (Checks are a different story, but I've only had that happen once with a friend).
This being said, you do not ask a photographer, especially when you've been given a discount, for a partial or full refund when they are in the middle of editing photos. With me, I always tell people ahead of time how long photos take. I tell them I have another job and if there are any other photoshoots ahead of them that are being edited first (because we all know that all your gigs have to come at the same time). I usually try to give deadlines as well, it helps me with my time management. This all means that it can be a few months until you get your photos back. That doesn't mean you come at your photographer every month asking them where your photos are.
As I said at the beginning of this, my life has been a little rough recently. I had to pack and move (still not fully moved). I applied for a promotion and didn't get it. I've had to take a lot more on at work because our manager left. And to top it all off, I had three family members pass, only in the last 4 months, the 3rd one being only today. Not to mention the fact that I'm a human being with two mental illnesses and I messed up my knee from a bad fall I had. So it's been a little rough. With all of this I've gone through and everything I have said about photography, 3 months to get photos back to someone that is aware of all of these problems and been updated, should not have started a war.
All said and done then, I hope this is at least a little information to you all that artists are human beings too. Even other artists, they're human too (unless you're all aliens, I don't know). Just because you don't know the field, doesn't give you the right to be rude to another person that is doing a service for you (especially a discounted service). Every artist out there is also someone working in customer service because we all have to know how to talk to our clients, even the rough ones, and still be polite. So do me a favor. Please be kind to artists, even if you're not purchasing an item or service from them. Support the arts because you know we can't support ourselves.
Kendra
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It's been a while...
3 min read
Well, here I am, a year later from my last journal, writing to you all again. (this should have been published on the 12th.. but for some reason my computer never submitted it...?)
A lot has happened in the last year. And there's a lot to be looking forward to in the next few years. I have gotten behind in my editing, yet again. I really wanted to edit during my few days off this last week, but I got the flu and was sleeping and in bed the entire time. It was kind of awful, I'm only just now feeling better. It's also kind of hard to edit some of my photos due to the fact that the few photo shoots I did, were with my now ex-friend. Plus, I didn't do a single paid photo shoot this last year. So that has kind of put a damper on things for me.
Regardless, this last year has been pretty busy. I got three new tattoos, I got a pet bunny, I got a new camera, I got a new relationship going, I made new friends, I lost friends, I went to a few conventions, I went to Indy Pride, I did many firsts, I did Inktober, I did a lot of face painting, and I celebrated a ton of things.
This was my first year not living with my mom. I have had a lot more freedom because of it and I hope to be able to move in with Evan within the next year or so. I had a friend move in with me, only for her to leave 6 months later and have us drop our friendship. Before she moved out I did a ton of things with her. I'm glad I have those memories, but I'm also glad I realized it was a toxic friendship. My friendship with my best friend has gotten stronger and stronger and I'm so glad it has. My relationship with Evan has been very bumpy, but we have gotten past a lot of it and have even opened up our relationship with others. Because of that I also have a new boyfriend, Travis, and everything is going great with him. I made a few new friends along the way too.
Work has been kind of stressful at times, but that's kind of the usual. I'm still at the IMAX and it's pretty great regardless of being stressful. Life, in general, is just stressful anyway. I may have started the year off sick, but I'm going to try and make this year better. Even with these crazy full moons right away into the year. But I'm a moon child at heart, so I can do it.
It's also my birthday today! So I'm going to enjoy my day that my boyfriend has planned for me and enjoy the rest of this month now that I'm not sick. I hope everyone has doing well and will be making their 2018 a good year too!
Hope to see you all soon with new artwork!
Kendra
A lot has happened in the last year. And there's a lot to be looking forward to in the next few years. I have gotten behind in my editing, yet again. I really wanted to edit during my few days off this last week, but I got the flu and was sleeping and in bed the entire time. It was kind of awful, I'm only just now feeling better. It's also kind of hard to edit some of my photos due to the fact that the few photo shoots I did, were with my now ex-friend. Plus, I didn't do a single paid photo shoot this last year. So that has kind of put a damper on things for me.
Regardless, this last year has been pretty busy. I got three new tattoos, I got a pet bunny, I got a new camera, I got a new relationship going, I made new friends, I lost friends, I went to a few conventions, I went to Indy Pride, I did many firsts, I did Inktober, I did a lot of face painting, and I celebrated a ton of things.
This was my first year not living with my mom. I have had a lot more freedom because of it and I hope to be able to move in with Evan within the next year or so. I had a friend move in with me, only for her to leave 6 months later and have us drop our friendship. Before she moved out I did a ton of things with her. I'm glad I have those memories, but I'm also glad I realized it was a toxic friendship. My friendship with my best friend has gotten stronger and stronger and I'm so glad it has. My relationship with Evan has been very bumpy, but we have gotten past a lot of it and have even opened up our relationship with others. Because of that I also have a new boyfriend, Travis, and everything is going great with him. I made a few new friends along the way too.
Work has been kind of stressful at times, but that's kind of the usual. I'm still at the IMAX and it's pretty great regardless of being stressful. Life, in general, is just stressful anyway. I may have started the year off sick, but I'm going to try and make this year better. Even with these crazy full moons right away into the year. But I'm a moon child at heart, so I can do it.
It's also my birthday today! So I'm going to enjoy my day that my boyfriend has planned for me and enjoy the rest of this month now that I'm not sick. I hope everyone has doing well and will be making their 2018 a good year too!
Hope to see you all soon with new artwork!
Kendra
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Happy New Year + Update
3 min read
Happy New year, everyone!
I know I haven't posted a journal in a while, so I wanted to update everyone still out there paying attention to my account. I'm having a busy time. I just had an awesome doctor's appointment that will help me with many things, not just what it's meant for. I also am now a Supervisor at the IMAX I work at! I quit the zoo, so I will not be returning this next year. I am okay with this though. I have a more constant pay at the IMAX and it's much more relaxed, which is what I'm in need of if I want to get my photography business running.
And speaking of photography, I finished my 365 day project!! I only missed one day, but it was a leap year, so I gave myself some slack on that and didn't freak out about it. I know I haven't uploaded on here in while, but as soon as I have time to really relax, I will upload more and continue to edit. Also in photography news, I just bought a new camera yesterday! I finally made the switch to Nikon for my big camera and not just my little handheld. I got a great deal on the most recent model too! I got the kit to the Nikon D5600 and I couldn't be happier with it. I also got a free class with it to teach me how to use it, so that will be great in February. And lastly, I might be in the LGBT Wedding Expo this year in Indy! I am still figuring things out, but it's a strong possibility!!
I hope to get photos going soon since it's starting to be our slow time at the theatre. I can usually edit photos while at work as well, so that's also a plus side. Once it's warm I should be getting Senior Portraits and other similar things coming my way, I just have to make sure I advertise myself for it. My biggest priority after getting done with my 365 uploads, is getting done with the photos I took of my best friend almost a year ago. I've been working on them slowly for almost a year and that's a bit terrifying to me. Someone come kick my butt into motivation.
Lastly, the biggest reason I haven't been able to edit photos and upload them is because I have been in the middle of moving. I moved into my dad's last month and I still have some things left at my mom's. My dad and I have been trying to figure out the house and buying new things and reorganizing. My days off usually consist of sleeping and working on the house in some way. Oh and did I mention it was my birthday recently? I turned 22! It's kind of surreal, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty awesome. I'm still young and figuring out my life and that's okay. Just because I left school doesn't mean I can't be successful.
Thank you for all your continued support!!
Kendra
I know I haven't posted a journal in a while, so I wanted to update everyone still out there paying attention to my account. I'm having a busy time. I just had an awesome doctor's appointment that will help me with many things, not just what it's meant for. I also am now a Supervisor at the IMAX I work at! I quit the zoo, so I will not be returning this next year. I am okay with this though. I have a more constant pay at the IMAX and it's much more relaxed, which is what I'm in need of if I want to get my photography business running.
And speaking of photography, I finished my 365 day project!! I only missed one day, but it was a leap year, so I gave myself some slack on that and didn't freak out about it. I know I haven't uploaded on here in while, but as soon as I have time to really relax, I will upload more and continue to edit. Also in photography news, I just bought a new camera yesterday! I finally made the switch to Nikon for my big camera and not just my little handheld. I got a great deal on the most recent model too! I got the kit to the Nikon D5600 and I couldn't be happier with it. I also got a free class with it to teach me how to use it, so that will be great in February. And lastly, I might be in the LGBT Wedding Expo this year in Indy! I am still figuring things out, but it's a strong possibility!!
I hope to get photos going soon since it's starting to be our slow time at the theatre. I can usually edit photos while at work as well, so that's also a plus side. Once it's warm I should be getting Senior Portraits and other similar things coming my way, I just have to make sure I advertise myself for it. My biggest priority after getting done with my 365 uploads, is getting done with the photos I took of my best friend almost a year ago. I've been working on them slowly for almost a year and that's a bit terrifying to me. Someone come kick my butt into motivation.
Lastly, the biggest reason I haven't been able to edit photos and upload them is because I have been in the middle of moving. I moved into my dad's last month and I still have some things left at my mom's. My dad and I have been trying to figure out the house and buying new things and reorganizing. My days off usually consist of sleeping and working on the house in some way. Oh and did I mention it was my birthday recently? I turned 22! It's kind of surreal, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty awesome. I'm still young and figuring out my life and that's okay. Just because I left school doesn't mean I can't be successful.
Thank you for all your continued support!!
Kendra
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As you can see...
2 min read
Hi everyone!
As you can see, I've been doing some updating! My last day at my job at the zoo was on Saturday, so I feel like I've had a weight lifted off my shoulders. Because of this, I've been very productive in editing and uploading photos! I'm even caught up on my 365 day project and uploading every day now! I did a photo shoot recently and since I had to edit that before anything else, I uploaded some photos on here of it, so I hope you enjoy my newest work!
Since I'm being productive, I am now only 36 photos away from being done with uploading photos I've already edited in full. Right now I'm busy editing the photo shoot that I did with my best friend at Crown Hill Cemetery, which was back in March. The photos are really very beautiful and I've been wanting to share them for ages, but I haven't gotten them done. They should hopefully be done quicker now that I'll only be working at the IMAX. After I'm done editing those I just have some random events I've gone to between March and now. I hope I can get the ball rolling on editing before I have a billion more photos for the new season. I really love Autumn, so I'll be making plans for photo shoots as much as I can.
I hope you are all doing great and I thank so much for still following me after my hiatus for a while! I am getting more skilled at my photography and face paint and I want to show the world my new found skills. I plan to get a new camera very soon so I can make even better art and be able to do more professional photo shoots, considering that's why I wanted to cut down my jobs. I need to work on me right now, instead of being a Supervisor. But that's a whole different story
Thank you all again! Enjoy the work coming!
Kendra
As you can see, I've been doing some updating! My last day at my job at the zoo was on Saturday, so I feel like I've had a weight lifted off my shoulders. Because of this, I've been very productive in editing and uploading photos! I'm even caught up on my 365 day project and uploading every day now! I did a photo shoot recently and since I had to edit that before anything else, I uploaded some photos on here of it, so I hope you enjoy my newest work!
Since I'm being productive, I am now only 36 photos away from being done with uploading photos I've already edited in full. Right now I'm busy editing the photo shoot that I did with my best friend at Crown Hill Cemetery, which was back in March. The photos are really very beautiful and I've been wanting to share them for ages, but I haven't gotten them done. They should hopefully be done quicker now that I'll only be working at the IMAX. After I'm done editing those I just have some random events I've gone to between March and now. I hope I can get the ball rolling on editing before I have a billion more photos for the new season. I really love Autumn, so I'll be making plans for photo shoots as much as I can.
I hope you are all doing great and I thank so much for still following me after my hiatus for a while! I am getting more skilled at my photography and face paint and I want to show the world my new found skills. I plan to get a new camera very soon so I can make even better art and be able to do more professional photo shoots, considering that's why I wanted to cut down my jobs. I need to work on me right now, instead of being a Supervisor. But that's a whole different story
Thank you all again! Enjoy the work coming!
Kendra
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