Journey of an Aspiring Photographer

I changed servers

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:15:00 +0000

I kept having problems uploading photos in my blogspot blog so I have moved to wordpress. I would love to keep you as a follower of my blog so if you want to continue to get updates please travel on over to

http://journeyofanaspiringphotographer.wordpress.com/

Thanks,
I'll see you there

Polar Express???

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:44:00 +0000

I recently took my first train ride. But I'll back up just a bit.

My daughter is pregnant and due the first week of the new year. I was actually expecting the weather to be snowy so we decided to travel by train. You know, we thought it may be safer actually, and we wouldn't have to drive over Vail Pass in the snow.

Any of you in Colorado know that the snow is late this year. But anyway, when I told my mom how we were traveling here, she reminded me that when I was born, my grandmother took a train through the snow to be there when I was born. So, of course, I stuck to my plan as a part of tradition. My grandmother passed away 7 years ago, and I was very close to her, and thought this would just be a truly sentimental journey for me to travel the way she did (not) so many years ago.

The train ride was way cool. My hubby and I hopped on the train at 10 am and traveled across Colorado. What a fabulous trip. The train was roomy and we weren't stuck in our seats for the whole ride. We explored the train. I couldn't help but think about the movie "The Polar Express" the whole time I was on the train. (I recently saw the movie). I have to say though, that I have never been in such a small rest room.

We had lunch in the train's diner. We were seated with another couple who was from Australia. It was really interesting to chat with them over our lunch.

The train makes several stops along the way, some of them my hubby had time to hop off for a quick smoke. When we stopped in Glenwood, we both hopped off so that I could get some pictures. Glad I did but wish I would've taken more. That depot looks antique. It was beautiful.

We spent most of our time in the observation car. Big windows allowed us to see much of the scenery and get some pictures. We saw lots of wildlife too. Several deer and a bald eagle. One deer that we came across actually was trying to cross the river and became frozen before it made it across. Sad! but odd!!

After it got dark, we made our way back to our seat before we picked up more people in Denver, that filled the train. Then we had to listen to this one man who was obviously upset that there were children in the same car as him. He asked the train attendant if he could do something about all the noise. It was truly funny. The attandant told him that there is just no way to turn a toddler OFF. He still had a cow.

Then it wasn't long after that when our train trip was over. 10 hours after we got on. It was a wonderful ride. Can't wait to do it again.

Now that we are here, we're just waiting for my daughter to pop. The next big adventure in this photographer's life. I'll keep you posted.

Chow for now,
Corbie

First Santa Visit

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 06:12:00 +0000

Well, my family has been the Claus Family for the past couple of years at our church. It has been suggested to us in the past that we should do Santa Visits with the public and make some extra money. I really didn't see how we could possibly do it, not at the time anyway.

Then recently a friend of mine suggested it to me again. And we pondered over it about adding it to my photography business. Ha! What a thought.

So anyway, I put it into effect and started advertising around town and we got our first call. We only scheduled one this year but that is ok. We learned alot from the visit we just did.

We were invited to a birthday party for a 1 year old. They wanted a 1 hour visit. We thought...wonderful....it's a step in the direction that we want to go.

Well, I'm now glad that we only had one scheduled this year. Now it's back to the drawing board to redo the plan.

The party was fun. There were only 2 toddlers, who by the way, of course, were afraid of Santa. But I thought that may work to our advantage, simply because we had to fill a whole hour. The older kids were awesome. They know exactly who Santa is and are not afraid of him. So with the older kids, the visit went pretty quick.

Anyway, we found ourselves with some awkward moments, almost like we were invading a home party. We were the party crashers. Once the presents started opening, the kids forgot all about Santa and we didn't know what to do.

Overall, it was awesome, and I can't wait to do it again. I just think that a whole hour, for just a few kids, is a little too long. And adding them to birthday parties, I don't know. I'm sure that if we get called for another birthday party, we will go, but I think that a 30 minute visit is enough. Or we will estimate the time based on how many children will be visiting with Santa.

Chow for Now,
Corbie

Lighthouse Church blesses the community

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:47:00 +0000

The Lighthouse Church of Grand Junction heads out each year to bless some of the elders in the community with Christmas Carols the old fashioned way. They show up on their doorsteps, ring the bell and start singing. This year they also visited a local nursing home and blessed the residents there with a few songs and visiting.

The church visited the nursing home first and sang a few songs in the cafeteria as the residents were finishing up their supper. Then they went around and visited with a few of the residents.

Then they were off, singing their way through the halls of the home to carry cheer to those that were already in their rooms. There were beautiful door decorations along the hallway, and I couldn't resist taking some shots of those too.

Well, I was going to post some more photos of the event but it seems that yet again I am having problems doing so. It has been suggested to me to move to WordPress for my blog.. If it keeps this up, simply because I do not have time to piddle fart with this when it don't want to work, I may be moving.

But I'll keep you posted.

The rest of the photos will be posted on FB.
Chow for Now,
Corbie

Promo Photo

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 05:44:00 +0000

I've got this young man who wants to make it big in extreme sports some day. He's a fan of Shawn White and he loves sports all the way around. He's into LaCrosse, snowboarding, biking, and skateboarding.

Anyway, he's been after me for some promo photos. So I followed him out to the bike track about a week ago and here is what we got.

If you'd like to see more, head on over to the full album on FB.

Chow for Now,
Corbie

The Streets of Grand Junction

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:49:00 +0000

We had our Parade of Lights here in downtown Grand Junction back on the 4th of December. This is my first year to go to the parade since I moved here 4 years ago. There were alot of people downtown, but I'll post that next time.

I had been reading about different techniques on street photography, so I thought I would give it a try.

The strange thing about street photography that I still don't understand, is how can we secretly take pictures of people and then be able to sell them as stock photography, or post them on the public internet.

I know that because this was a public event, and when people go out and participate in a public event, if their picture is taken, no laws are broken.

Copyrights and legalities just seem to be so gray, if you know what I mean. Plus, the paparazzi take pictures of celebrities all the time without their permission. It seems that when ever I read up about it, I get conflicting answers, so who knows.

Anyway, below are some of the photos that I captured from the streets of Grand Junction.

Chow for Now,
Corbie

If you would like to see the rest of the album, please visit my facebook page.

Santa Visits

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:42:00 +0000

My family has been the Claus Family at our church now for two years. It all started a couple of years ago when our Pastor asked my husband if he would fill in and be Santa for that year. We got all excited and made it into a family affair. I became Mrs. Claus and 4 of our kids became elves. Last year I made us new costumes, so that we would have them forever and stop renting them. We had a blast, the kids loved seeing Santa, and our kids enjoyed dressing up and being elves.

This year, we were missing one of our elves, because, as you know, our daughter has moved out and is expecting in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, last year several people suggested that we do Santa visits as a way to make extra money. I really didn't think it was a good idea. But what do I know.??

This year, someone suggested it to me again....and after we sat and pondered over it for a little while, we thought that maybe we could do this. You know, incorporate it into my photography business. We did manage to get one scheduled this year. We'll see how it goes. It's a party for a one year old, who will have about 5 little one year olds as his guests.

I'll let you know how it goes. Today was our Santa Program at church. Here are a couple of photos from our day.

Chow for now,
Corbie

Maternity Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:51:00 +0000

Well, I've been working on my website and I think for now I've finally got that completed for the new year. Still need to put together my welcome packets and that kind of stuff.

Did a couple of maternity shoots over this past month. I had a blast shooting them and I believe they turned out really nice. And the Moms-to-be loved them. Can't wait to do more.

One of the maternity shoots was my own daughter. She is due around the first of the year. She lives about 6 hours away, so I'm getting packed up after Christmas and heading her way on a train. Gonna spend the whole month of January with her. She's expecting a girl. I'll be getting some newborn photos under my belt next. I'm really excited.

Enjoy the photos,
Chow for Now
Corbie

Weekend Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:30:00 +0000

We took off this past weekend back up into the mountains before there is too much snow to go. It was so beautiful. I love getting off the beaten path and exploring the unknown....to us that is. This is the first time that I didn't see any wildlife, other than birds. Do you think the deer know that it is hunting season?

I've been busy promoting myself through networking groups and have been asked if I would do commercial photography, product photography and even food photography. I'm ecstatic! I feel that I am capable enough to shoot the photos, I'm just a little overwhelmed with everything involved in the pricing. I was not aware that commercial photography could bring in such an amount of money.

So I've been busy researching the pricing structures and what all is involved in it. Wish me luck.

I've entered a contest with our Chamber of Commerce. They are posting our photos on their FaceBook page and the three photos with the most Likes, will win a $50 gift certificate and possibly be used for their publication. How exciting, huh?

On a personal note, my daughter is coming this weekend and I'm getting ready for her baby shower. I plan to do some maternity photos while she is here. I can't wait.

Well it's off to do some more studying in the midst of cleaning my house. Below are some of the photos from this past weekend. Enjoy!

Chow for Now,
Corbie

Join the Chamber

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:17:00 +0000

I joined the local Chamber last week and went to my first leads group through them last Thursday. I'm looking forward to joining the group and gaining more leads through them.

Today I met a woman from a local newspaper who also happens to be a strong influence with the local Chamber. She asked me if I was going to attend the Business Showcase and After hours this evening. I really wasn't going to because I feel a little intimidated. There are like 300 people at these after hours and I'm supposed to walk in there, alone, and just start talking to people. LOL...

You see, as I was growing up, I've always been an extremely shy, bashful person. So bashful, in fact, that my 3rd grade teacher thought I was too quiet and she was going to bring me out of my shell. She made me stand at one corner of the classroom while she stood at the other. In front of all of my peers she made me yell across the room to her until she could hear me. It took a while and it didn't work. It did not bring me out of my shell. Actually, I think I went farther into my shell.

When I attended high school, I would prepare my oral reports, only to chicken out when the teacher called on me. I would rather take a zero than stand in front of my class and speak.

I've come a long way since those days but I still feel that little girl inside of me cringe each time I need to walk into a room alone or stand in front of a group of people, whether my friends or strangers.

So tonight, I'm taking a leap of faith, and will hold my head up high and just put one foot in front of the other. I know that this will be great for my business and get my name out there, and that this step is needed in the promotion of my business. So I'm gonna go for it.

Do you have a story similiar? Fears from your past that still haunt you today? I'd love to hear about them.

Below are the pics from my latest adventure. My hubby and I went up into the mountains this past weekend to enjoy our Saturday. The weather was cloudy and rainy and gloomy yet beautiful. Enjoy!

Chow for now,
Corbie

Santa Visits

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:17:00 +0000

Each year my husband and I and our children are the Claus Family at our church. My children enjoy being the elves and of course, the children of the church just love to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.

After much prodding and suggesting that we do Santa visits in our town, I'm finally giving in to set it up. After all, why not incorporate it into my photography business. I know that I never cared much for going to the mall and standing in the extremely long line that seemed to take forever and I'm sure there are others out there that feel the same way.

Santa came and visited my oldest child when he was little and that was something that he remembered for a very long time and he thoroughly enjoyed it. So why not??

My hubby said 'ok' when I asked him, especially after I told him that we could make some money for Christmas. So he's on board.

I did some research to see what Santa's going rate is these days. I found a little info. So I've set it up, got it on my website and I have some flyers made and will distribute them out in the next week or so.

So tell me what you think. I Dallas, Tx, Santa's going rate starts at $50 an hour for home visits. We live in Grand Junction, Co, which we are the last to suffer from the effects of the economy but also the last to recover from. We still have alot of unemployment, but we are on the upside again. I started to offer the visits at $75 and hour but I don't know.

What do you think?

High School Football Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:38:00 +0000

One of my sons plays on the freshman football team. I, of course, take my camera and get tons of shots while I watch the game and learn how it's played, from my hubby. This last game, we sat real close to the sidelines and a couple of times these boys were running straight at me. OMG!! But I just kept shooting hoping they wouldn't run over me. I got some really cool shots too.

My son brags about his Mom all the time and apparently he was telling someone at school about me being a photographer and taking pics of the games. So he came home from school with a web address and told me that if I didn't mind sharing, they would love for me to upload some pics to their yearbook website. I think that's pretty cool too.

The high schools here in town don't really have very big stadiums. Our team is fixing to play at the big stadium in town. My son was really looking forward to playing in the Stadium but now has broken his foot during PE at school and will not be able to play. He's bummed. We're bummed.

Anyway, below are some of the pics from their last football game. The full album is posted to FB if you want to see the rest.

Chow for now,
Corbie

Stepping Out!!

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:29:00 +0000

So I opened my mouth in my networking group about being a photographer. I filled out the application, they checked my references and accepted me to the group (again). Woo Hoo....on my way.

I did my first presentation yesterday and they loved my photos. You know we all love those compliments because it gives us another boost to our ego. The presentation was great, they asked questions (and I was able to answer them confidently) and I even got a couple of leads.

I also joined the Chamber of Commerce this week and they have a leads group too. I visited the group and have now scheduled a portrait party with one of the members. I'm looking forward to it.

Been busy today doing my research. The lead that I got was for some commercial photography. I hope I'm not out of my league here. Anyway, I've been researching how to charge for commercial photography. There's alot involved with pricing. I just want to be fair to my client as well as make a profit, and not undercut the photography market. There's alot that goes into the licensing of your photos. I don't have that info directly in front of me right now, but as soon as I can, I'll post so you can read it too.

Another thing I'm excited about is our Santa Program. Every year my family dresses up as the Claus family for our church. My hubby is Santa, I'm Mrs. Claus and our children are our little elves ( that aren't so little any more). It's been suggested to us in the past to do Santa visits, but I just was not thinking outside of the box at the time.

Recently another friend suggested it....and I thought "Why not?" We could incorporate it into my photography business and take portraits at the same time. So we're off. I've researched that a bit and I have to tell you, I didn't find that much info about it on the web. There are Santa visits in the Dallas area but none where I live. Everyone that I've mentioned it to thinks it's a great idea so I'm putting together a flyer now to be posted around town and handed out to all my networking buddies. Wish us luck!

All in all, this week has been a Great Week. Tomorrow it's off into the mountains again for more photos of areas I haven't seen. Let's hope the snow doesn't surprise us too much tomorrow.

Chow for now,
Corbie

Monday busy Monday

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:57:00 +0000

Mondays are probably my busiest day because of taking off for the weekend. Emails back up, I take pictures over the weekend that need to be downloaded to my computer, and today is menu and grocery list planning day. Everyone in the house does their own laundry, but I just so happen to choose Monday as my day, along with changing sheets, cleaning up the house a bit, you know all those domestic chores that always seem to need doing, but are never completed.

Actually, I think I've planned Monday as my day off, so to speak, but I really do love my job and want to always be in the middle of it.

I do keep my schedule in front of me so that I can stay focussed on what I'm in the middle of and what needs to be done. I don't always get to everything on my daily list but no worries, I will get to it.

One of my sons is playing football this year on the freshman team. While I'm out supporting him and practicing my sports shooting, I'm also getting an education in how the game is played. My husband played when he was in high school and is very passionate about the game. He is also very vocal. I, on the other hand, am usually pretty quiet. So occasionally, I'll get the wits scared right out of me when he gets excited over the game. But, I'm learning.

Here are a few of the photos of his most recent game, where he made his first tackle.

Ok, looks like this is the only photo I can upload at this time. This happened to me the last time too. Well, I've kept trying to upload a few more with still no luck so if you want to see the rest of the album, head over to my facebook page. I guess if this keeps up, I will have to take the advice of some of my readers and move my blog.

I belong to a couple of networking groups here in town. It's a way to get my name and what I do out there at very little cost. It's advertising by word of mouth. I've been a member of this one group for a couple of years now with my Gift Shop business. I recently stepped out with my photography to the group and will give my first presentation this week.

I almost lost out on this opportunity to spread the news about my photography business. I have hesitated in the past about bringing it up in the meetings for fear that I don't know enough yet. So I was going to wait to announce it. Another buddy from the group stepped up a couple of months ago and said that he was also a photographer and I thought that I had lost out on that opportunity.

Our networking group is exclusive to each business in the group. In other words, they only allow one banker, one accountant, one photographer, and so on.

Anyway, that photographer has moved on from the group so I stepped out and announced my photography business and will now promote it through this networking group.

So if you are on the fence about stepping out, take a leap of faith before someone else beats you to it.

2010 Car Show

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:48:00 +0000

Ok so I've been really busy and I've gotten behind on my pictures here. So my plan for today is to get caught up.

Last weekend, after the Son Run, we went downtown for the car show. I was a little kid when most of these antique cars were popular, but I do have memories. My dad had a few old cars. One in particular that I remember was a 57 Chevy, and to this day I just love that car. My dad was a stock car racer and one of his cars that he built was the 57 Chevy and he would take me and my sister for a ride around the track. He tried to teach me how to work on them but I was too young to really be interested but I do remember hanging out with him while he worked on them.

Anyway, here are a few of the pics from the car show, the rest will be posted on Facebook if you want to see them.

Ok, well, I'm having a bit of a computer malfunction and these are the only two that I can upload at this time. But I'm heading over to FB right now to upload the rest.

Chow for Now,
Corbie

1st Annual Son Run pics

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Here are a couple of pics from the run. I'm working on getting them together and posting them to my website later today for those who wanted to purchase prints of their run.

Here are the volunteers at work before the run started.

And they're off.

I ran around the corner of the building in time to catch a few of them on the trail.

Way to Go, Tami & Starla and to all the volunteers who helped that day. Thanks to the runners, these ladies were able to raise about $1200 for uninsured cancer patients.....and they even raised some money for Glacier Ice Rink as well.

Fabulous Job.
Chow for now,
Corbie

1st Annual Son Run

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

So I got the awesome opportunity to photograph the Son Run 5K this morning. What fun that was. This was a benefit run to raise funds for non-insured cancer patients. It was such a great turnout and everyone had alot of fun and people were already talking about "next year". So it sounds like a hit.

I just got home from the run, so the pics will be uploaded later. They will be offered in print and I'll post all that information when I upload the photos.

I feel a little inspired. My hubby offered us up to participate in Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I'm actually now looking forward to participating in it.. I believe that is a 5K also. I better get training.....lol.

Now I'm off to the car show downtown and then to the Fruita Fall Festival and later this evening I have a shoot for a beautiful young lady in her formal for Homecoming.

Chow for now,
Corbie

Getting My Ducks in a Row

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:51:00 +0000

I met with my latest Senior and his mom the other day so they could show me which portraits they wanted for his Senior Package. He is also my first Senior Rep, so I was nervous and excited, as usual.

While I was waiting for them to arrive at our meeting place, I looked through his offer so that I was sure that he gets all that I offered him and realized that he is going to get triples of some of the items. OMG....Just when I think I've got it down, I find something else that I have overlooked.

For the session itself, I was offering 24 proofs, then in each of my packages I was offering a brag book with 24 images, and as a Senior Rep I was offering him a brag book with 24 images. LOL don't know how I overlooked that. Now it seems pretty obvious.

I guess it's hard to think of everything and to see all angles until you go through a couple of deals and it gets pointed out to you. It turned out good though, because they decided to go with the same 24 images for all three books and will give a couple of them away to grandparents.

I have since changed that, again. I really think that my Senior Reps should get something that does not come in a Senior Package.

In researching what other photographers offer their Senior Reps, I found our Forum through NYIP and there is some really valuable information there. I found where many photographers get their prints made. MPixPro and WHCC. I signed up with them and sent off my test prints and wow, what a difference they are. I am going to take those same test prints and get them printed in the same size from my usual local dealer and compare side by side, but I really think they are way better than where I usually go.

I started using someone local because of what I thought was convenience. They are less expensive than what I have found online, quite a bit actually, but they don't offer all the different paper qualities, not that I have noticed anyway. Decisions, decisions.

I will change for the better quality photos, of course. And talk about convenient! I uploaded my test prints on Tuesday, and I got them back on Thursday before noon. And I never left my home.

Are you new in the business too and struggling with packages and prices? Would love to hear how you are finding your way.

Chow for now,
Corbie

Daryn & Jessie

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Daryn, my son, and Jessie got married in May and asked me to photograph their wedding. I was happy to do it. May was a very busy month for me. My daughter graduated and family was coming for the graduation so Daryn and Jessie decided to get married that week that all the family would be here.

The wedding was at our church, indoors. I still struggle a bit with indoor photography because of the shadows. The wedding happened pretty fast, as the ceremony usually does, but I did get some pretty good photos...I just wasn't that happy with them myself. So I took them out and about to a couple of our favorite outdoor spots here in town.

I kind of felt bad because the wedding pictures weren't all that, but I remember back when I got married and my grandmother took our pictures. She had us come to her house on a different day after the wedding to get our professional shots taken. So all is not lost.

I've done a couple of weddings so far, but I don't advertise for it because I don't feel that I'm quite ready for that. If I mess up on a local shoot, I can always go back and reshoot, but not on a wedding day....am I'm scared to death that something may go wrong and the bride will be devastated. I just need some more knowledge and more practice before I feel confident for weddings, but that is definitely a goal.

I actually have a friend who is in charge of organizing the Bridal Expo here where I live and she's trying to get me to do a booth.....I just can't right now, but I'm looking forward to maybe next year. Wish me luck.

Anyway, below are a couple of shots from Daryn & Jessie's reshoot. If you want to see the full album, I have them posted on Facebook.

Talk to you soon,

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Over the weekend, we went out for another wilderness drive. I love it! We were actually looking for another camp site so that we can get one more camping trip in before the snow starts. I wanted to be near Rifle Falls so that I can visit the falls shortly before dark and practice some techniques that I've learned in my photography class. The last time I went, the sun was shining bright and washed out my photos. I'm trying to get the hang of making the water fall a silky effect. You've seen them in other photos.

Here's one that I attempted while we were out. I shot this out the window and did not use my tripod, so it's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Anyway, we did find a site that we'll go to in a couple of weeks. We told the kids to take plenty of warm clothing because it will probably be cold over night. I'll let you know.

Here's a pic of my hubby, my grandson, and my son.

And of course, I always find flowers to shoot.

That's just a tidbit for now. I really have to get off this computer and get downstairs to my canning. Our garden is giving us a good harvest and I need to do the preserving. I started on Friday, with my peppers. Let me tell you....always wear gloves when working with jalapenos or any other hot peppers. You won't notice it at the time, because I didn't. I sliced enough for 3 quarts of peppers. After I was finished canning for the day, I started dinner and could not even hold that hand close to any heat. I did at least only hold the pepper with one hand while I chopped with the other, so only one hand was on fire.

While we ate dinner, I kept that hand wrapped in a cold damp cloth. One of my sons told me to use mustard because it removes the heat. So I squirted a glob of mustard in my hand and without thinking, I started massaging it into my hands like I would lotion. Now, both hands are covered in mustard. So now I'm sitting at the dining table, with yellow stained hands and smelling like mustard and still burning. Only now it starts to itch as well. The whole family is laughing, of course because I do look a bit silly.

I washed the mustard off, still burning, and remembered that my grandfather told me to use toothpaste on a burn. I tried that. It actually worked, and I ended up with only one tiny little blister the next day....oh and I still had mustard stained in my cuticles.

Anyway, now I'm off to preserve my tomatoes and peaches.
Talk to you soon, God Bless

Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Hi Everyone,

On my journey of becoming a professional photographer, I do alot of research. One research topic is Advertising. I'm just starting out so I cannot afford costly advertising. Of course, on the other hand, how do people know that I exist, if I don't advertise?

I read somewhere that before we start paying for advertising we should be making some money first. I'd agree with that. But until then, I have found that there are several ways to 'advertise' or get your name in front of people without spending any money. One of those ways is Blogging.

When I first heard this, I thought it kind of silly, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, what would I blog about...when would I have time to blog.....who cares what I'm doing....and so on. I read that a blog is not necessarily a place for only advertising your product, so if I'm not advertising, really who would want to talk to me. Do I have anything of importance to say?

I belong to a couple of local networking groups and I had to do education at one of them recently. I had already been doing a little bit of research about ways to advertise that didn't cost me and wouldn't commit me for a lengthy period of time so I thought I would share that with them. Blogging was one of those ways on my list and I found that many of them don't blog either.

I joined the Blog Frog Community and found that many, many people blog so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm actually getting in to this now.

I have found that blogging is not just a way to talk about your products and services but its a way to make new friends. A way to share with people. Believe it or not, we all have something we can teach others.

While researching, I came across some material that I'd like to share with you. Blogs take time to grow and if we are patient and persistent, the rewards will come. There are also 10 lies that cripple us new bloggers and I found this site that helps diminish that thinking.

http://pushingsocial.com/10-subtle-lies-that-cripple-new-bloggers#more-1116

If you are new to blogging and feeling a little lonely because you don't have alot of action on your blog, visit that site and just be patient with yourself. It will come.

Till next time,
Corbie

Learned something New Today

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:18:00 +0000

Actually, I learn something new probably everyday, but today I learned how to syndicate my accounts. I guess that is the proper term. Now, when I post a new blog, it will go out to my facebook page and my twitter page. How cool is that?

LOL...I know, I may be a little behind here but I am excited that I learned this because it will now save me so much time.

It all started with checking out some other blogs from BlogFrog this morning. As I was introducing myself on a blog I noticed that they had a badge titled Networked Blogs. So I decided to find out what that was all about.

I attend a couple of networking groups in my town because I know how important it is to connect with people on a personal level and get known in my businesses at the same time. It's a great way to get new leads for your business too. If you don't already belong to a networking group, I highly recommend that you find one in your town. And if you are in the Grand Junction area, we have some openings at Grand Valley Networking Group. We meet on Thursdays at noon. If you want more info, contact me, I'd be happy to fill you in. My other networking group is Business Buddies and we meet on Thursday at 7:30 in the am.

So anyway, I know how important networking groups are, and if there is a blog networking group, what better way to get new readers. So I joined, and through the process, I was walked through the syndication process painlessly. Now my blogs have their own FB page and every post that I write gets noticed on my fan pages as well as my personal page.

If you are interested in joining too, just click on the Networked Blogs widget and it will walk you through too.

Enjoy,
Corbie

Love That Shot Link-Up

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:52:00 +0000

Today I'm sharing a photo that I took this past weekend while we were camping. It was our annual Church on the Mountain Campout. It rained on us a couple of times but God shared this beauty with us as the rain was going.

Shutter Speed 1/500
Aperture f/13.0
ISO 400
Focal Length 18.0

I just shot this photo in auto mode because I had just stepped outside, noticed the rainbow and it was disappearing fast.

I did tweek just a little bit in PSE 7

Come join in the fun and link with us.

Love That Shot

Just a bit of Frustration!

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:22:00 +0000

Hi Everyone,

The last few days have really been a bit frustrating. I bought a new photo editing program...Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. I usually do all of my editing in Paint Shop Pro but wanted to try Adobe simply because most photographers use Adobe and there are online tutorials.

I've been following several other photographers on Facebook, reading their blogs and have been admiring their works. It inspired me to push my creativity to the next level. I looked online for some more tutorials for PSP that could get me close to what I've seen, with no luck.

When I read up on other photographers, almost all of them use Photoshop. Well I'm not quite ready to budget for that program just yet, and besides PSP can do alot of the same things. Then I heard that Photoshop Elements was a mini version that didn't cost quite as much. I found mine on Ebay and purchased it a couple of weeks ago.

I joined Love That Shot online because they have several tutorials and I thought I'd give it a try. Then I found out about Actions....? Apparently, PSElements is really a mini version and doesn't have alot of the features that the full version has, so going through tutes and getting almost finished and then I find out that I cannot complete the tute. Frustrating!

Anyway, these Actions are really cool because they cut down the editing time. The steps are already completed for you and you just play the Action.

Now, installing these Actions was another story. I found several different tutorials about how to do this. And they were each different. Some were, I believe, incomplete because when I tried, I was not seeing the same things that were described in the tute.

To make matters worse, I had a photo shoot this week and I'm trying to edit these photos in my new PSE program. I have a deadline to meet in getting the proofs ready. Photography is not the only thing I do either, I'm very busy with 2 businesses, 6 kids in the house, 4 dogs and a bird, a garden, I'm a singer, Sunday School Teacher, Ladies Minister, and I'm on the worship team and publish the church bulletin, AND I would not change a thing. I cannot sit still for very long, if you can't tell, so I can be a bit impatient sometimes which I'm sure is the whole cause of my frustration here.

But there is definitely a happy ending to this story too, there always is. I did get my Actions installed and have started the editing process from my photoshoot. I think they're pretty awesome.

Does anyone else have PSE and are you experiencing difficulties? Actually, one problem I haven't figured out yet is when I play an Action, I get messages on some of them that the command "transform" is not available, along with some other commands as well. Does anyone know where to activate these hidden commands or if I need to download those too.

Help,
Corbie

Church on the Mountain, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (imcorbie) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:29:00 +0000

We had a fabulous time camping this past weekend. A few of us went up the day before and stayed 2 nights. It was quite chili up in the mountains. I live in the Grand Valley of Colorado and it's just amazing to me the temperature difference from the valley to the mountains. I took shorts to wear...lol...never got a chance to wear them other than the trip up.

It did rain on us occasionally, which cooled it off even more, so we were thankful that we all remembered our sweats and coats.

About 35 of us from church went on the camping trip. More came up on Saturday for one night of camping and still others showed up on Sunday morning for breakfast and the service.

Justin, my grandson

On Friday, before any of the others arrived, we hiked across the pasture to a couple of old barns. I thought it would be a great photo opportunity. I was right! I would love to have these barns in my yard as part of my outdoor studio. Justin usually hides from the camera and doesn't want to pose at all. This time he was certainly a poser. He was listening to me instruct the others and he would follow suit when it was his turn.

At night, we all sat around the campfire getting warm, eating smores and singing songs. Actually they were making up songs as they went about their experiences of our first day. Some of these kids were really good. Quick and witty and never missing a beat to the music...and even rhyming.

It's open range where we were camping so there was quite a bit of cow poop. And several of us were so busy looking at the beautiful sites to be paying attention to where we were walking....Yep...ewwww...and that was one subject to their songs.

Who do you think lives here?

On Saturday morning, Tami and I decided to take the dogs for a little walk. We took the road less travelled, that led to one of the reservoirs. I took this picture along our walk. It looks like some critter's home.

This dirt road is a continuous climb....for a mile and a half we found out later. Tami is the one who is consistent with her exercising and I didn't want to sound like a wimp, so when I got tired and really wanted to go back, I didn't say a word, so we ended up walking the whole road. When we got almost to the reservoir, there is an area for people to park their cars because that is the end of the road for them. If you want to see the reservoir, you have to walk the rest of the way. I asked Tami if she wanted to continue along to the reservoir, quietly hoping she'd say 'no'. She laughed and made the comment about me already making her come this far. You see, she didn't want to sound like a wimp either. Her hubby said that it was a total lack of communication. How funny!

At least the mile and a half walk back was down hill. We can still definitely feel that workout.

The kids had fun with target practice. This is a picture of Kuria, she looks so intense.

There was even campfire music throughout the day. These guys love to play. Starla is actually practicing singing her song while Ron and Dylan accompany her with music.

We prepared chicken fajitas for our Saturday night dinner. This is my hubby, Tray, doing the cooking with our Pastors Linda and Lonnie watching in anticipation of supper. Then, when we got to eat, the chicken was rather spicy. Darn!! Honestly, the last time I cooked these, they were very flavorful and not hot at all. I have this recipe program on my computer that computes everything for me and I entered serving for 40 and this was the result. And I actually cut back on some of the ingredients simply because it sounded like an awful lot. But we live and learn.

Even though it rained on us a few times, we did not let that damper our spirits. It gave some of us the opportunity to go 4-wheeling in the mud. And then, God shared this beauty with us. I just love rainbows.

And then Sunday was our day of service. This place that we chose for our camping site this year has a church area, which is why we chose it. We may just keep this as our annual place for our Church on the Mountain. It has a pulpit too.

Pastor even came packing. Have you had a church service like this before? Please share, if you have, I would love to hear about it.

Hope you enjoyed these. If you would like to see the full albums, check out my facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/#!/imcorbie

Til next time,
Corbie