Keeping busy

I helped (mostly hung out and sometimes held a reflector) a husband-wife wedding photography team on Wednesday. It was really nice and they were very welcoming. I appreciated the advice and honesty they gave me about my life and how to plan it, or not.

It's endlessly entertaining to hear stories about how photographers got to where they are and their anecdotes from a "different time." I am always happily amused and then immediately saddened that many photographers started out as photojournalists and are now happy doing some other photography... I hope I too can find a way to stay true to my passions if I don't end up in news. 

Tomorrow I'm going to try to do some food photography. My sister is going to play chef and food stylist so we'll see if we get to the photo stage. 

Looking around, jumping in

I'm still waiting to see how one internship application shakes out. But in the meantime I need to be doing something to get me moving forward. 

I'm at a place right now that doing a project for someone else or for a cause motivates me a little more than if I'm doing projects for myself. I'm in a static place in my personal life and that's spilling into my self-assigned projects. 

I heard about a freelancing opportunity near my hometown. A local paper needs photographers to help cover graduations and maybe freelance after that. I made contact with the photo editor and am supposed to speak with him tomorrow. 

I'm nervous and excited. I hope they can use me.

Waiting, hoping...

I applied to this amazing opportunity and am waiting for a yes/no.

It requires many steps and after advancing through two I was getting a little hopeful but now that I haven't heard anything in a while it's sending me back through waves of desperate hopefulness and overwhelming hopelessness...

I know that sounds really dramatic. I just want to make the people who helped me get to where I am proud, you know? So many friends and mentors ask how it's going or what I've applied to and they're genuinely interested. When I get that first gig I have a lot of phone calls and emails to send.

I guess it's just that I have been out of school for a couple of months and the job search has been a little bleak. I have a laundry list of reasons why I want to go out and work - but I also want to show that all the effort and time people gave me wasn't wasted. 

So while I'm waiting for this decision, I'm trying to keep my mind occupied. I edited and delivered a few photos to someone I photographed last year, finally looked at my sister's graduation stuff, and am slowly working through any other work I've been avoiding.