I have been asked to show some of my photography in a gallery. I am excited and nervous at the same time. The thought of others viewing my work is awesome.

I am working on creating a few custom frames for a couple select photos with my friend, Marshall. The creation of the frames has been fun.

Once I have everything framed, I need to decide on pricing. This is the hard part for me. I have chatted with several friends who are photographers to get there input on the matter. I think I have a good idea of how to price each piece.

Well, it will be what it will be!

Ciao,

Sheila Dee

Do you do you best work when you hunker down or when you are relaxed and having fun?

I am finding that some of my best work is when I am relaxed and having fun. Therefore, I will be heading out to have more fun in life!

How is success determined? How do I know if I am successful? How do I know when I have made it (and what is “it”)? Is there one person who can tell me I am successful?

I have been a photographer for many years (somewhere between 20 and 30 years) and many people have commented on my images throughout the years. But how do I know I am successful in my endeavor to be a photographer. I do not do photography on a full time basis and I have not had a gallery opening.

I would assume that I would need to set goals prior to being able to determine if I am successful or not. I gotta run so I can start determining what I want from my own photography because I think I need to be the one to determine if I am successful or not.

Ciao….

Sheila

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want to try to do next with my photography. I know I want to keep working on cleaner and crisper photos but what else can I do.

And then I saw it. Victor Cajiao posted a post-processing technique called out of bounds (OOB) and I was blown away by the image. (An example of OOB is shown with this post). I am finishing up a freelance writing project which should complete in the next week or so and that will give me time to learn this technique.

I will show you the progress as I learn. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any tips also please pass them along.

Ciao…

Sheila

Tee Morris is there for his friends when they need it! He is known around the podcasting community for being one of the founders of Podiobooks.com. He has several books on the site that he gives away. He jumped in and pulled his sleeves up to help with Joe Murphy and his family to fight leiomyosarcoma.

Now it is our turn! Tee is facing raising his daughter, Sonic Boom (not her real name), alone since the passing of his wife this week. The raising of a child is expensive and especially when you are doing it alone. I know money will not bring back or replace Sonic Boom’s mother but it can make life a bit easier for the day-to-day journey that both Tee and Sonic Boom are about to endure.

If you could please contribute to help The Boom Effect.

And to quote my good friend, Debbie: “We can help take some of the financial pressure off Tee in raising Sonic Boom. Believe it or not, authors aren’t rolling in it. Hopefully we can be as generous to Tee as he is to us.”

My heart goes out to Tee and Sonic Boom! I wish we weren’t so far away so that I could help more with Sonic Boom and life in general!

Ciao…

She

Last week we went to Snowbowl in Flagstaff to ski and snowboard. I have skied for years until I damaged my ACL in a hockey game about eight years ago. Now I find that skiing is too hard on my knee and have moved on to snowboarding. This was (I think) my 4th time to go. I have taken one lesson and the rest has all been on my own learning.

I am a bit suborn and like to do things on my own. I hate feeling like I am keeping others from doing something they want to do. So I as I am learning to snowboard I end up spending the day by myself (except for lunch). This gives me time to sit on my arse and watch others who are snowboarding (better than I) and learn from them. Once I watch then I try it for myself! I am getting much better each time. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed myself and felt like I made progress!

How do you learn better? Watching others, reading, listening, or just flat out doing? Or is it a combination?

Ciao…

The responses I received on the last post has me thinking even more about creativity. I have somewhat put my photography on the side for just a bit so that I can write. I have had several freelance writing projects this past year which of course means deadlines. The project I am writing right now has some pretty tight deadlines and I am finding that I am working quite well under the pressure.

So now my questions go to you: Is the creativity the best it can be under pressure? Could it be better if there wasn’t a deadline? Would it have been done at all if the deadline wasn’t put before you? And finally do you work well under pressure? Explain why you do or do not work well under pressure.

I have been wondering lately what is creativity? Is there a difference between being creative and crafty? Is it something that you are born with or is it something that is fostered throughout life? Do the people around you help or hinder your own creativity?

I have been told often that I am a creative individual. I don’t see myself that way, which is why I started thinking about this topic. Even with my photography I do not see myself as creative. I get ideas/images in my head and need to be able to see them in print/digitally. It becomes an obsession.

I would like to hear your ideas on these questions… Let me know your thoughts…

Ciao…

I know, I know I said I would pay attention to you more but (and here comes the excuses) things have not eased up. I was hoping that having two months off of teaching (in addition to my regular job) would allow me to pay more attention to you. So here is what has happened: Halloween Party, company, trip to San Diego (for @evo_terra to speak), PodCampAZ, Thanksgiving, contracted to create a course for a university, day job has been off the hook busy (9-13 hour days), and now contracted for a another teaching another class starting in January. I think I may need to take a long vacation soon.

I am going to try to post at least once a week! That will be my new goal! I will see you in a week!

And just FYI, Jeremy has on 20 shirts in this photo!

Ciao,

She

OK I know I have neglected my blog for awhile now! I have taken on too many projects. I began teaching for a University in the spring in addition to my day job. I told Scott Sigler that I would write the curriculum guide for his revamped YA (young adult) book, The Rookie. In the middle of writing for Scott, I was asked to write a course for the University.

I have truly not had a moment of free time. I come home from work and either grade papers or writing. I have another two weeks of writing and I should be able to play and pay more attention to you….