You know that photo workshop I ran yesterday… well the guys that attended were not the only people that learnt something.

I learnt something too.

That I have learnt a lot about photography over the last few years, and I do actually have a skill I can teach someone.

You may think that’s a funny statement to make… but after reading and participating in so many online forums and camera clubs over the years… you do doubt some days whether you actually do know what you’re talking about.

I don’t think people realise how much their glib statements affect you… but eventually you doubt whether you know stuff.

And it turns out I do.

The only problem I had yesterday really, was navigating around Kerry’s Nikon… I need to play a bit with one because the menus are so vastly different to the Canon… but seriously, that’s all.

I can actually do this.  And I think I’ve found a niche… I keep getting more requests for more workshops.

Onwards and upwards…

Yes, I have been running my photography business without proper equipment insurance until now.  Yes, I know that’s stupid.  But it takes time and effort which I just haven’t had!

I actually got insurance on my camera and lenses on my household insurance ages ago, but realised a while ago (not that the insurance company told me) that the household insurance wouldn’t pay out if something happened because I use to generate part of my income.  So I’ve had to get business insurance instead.

Anyhoo, it’s done, but the experience did make me smile and I had to blog about it.

I contacted Outsurance for a quote, after reading a lot on photography forums etc about the pitfalls of the various local insurance companies, and I felt happy that they would understand what I needed.

I contacted them through their website.  I completed the short form with my details and submitted the query.  Seriously, literally 2 minutes later, I had a consultant phone me to get the quote sorted out!! I was seriously impressed!

I did laugh at the guy however, it was clear that it was the first photography quote he’d done.  He exclaimed after hearing the price of the first camera body that he thought that was a lot of money.

And then when I was rattling off the lenses (which I had to ensure him that it would be best to list seperately and not together), he whistled! LOL!! He said that he’d had no idea how much photography cost!

LOL!!

And to think that I need more lenses anyway!! My next new toy NEEDS to be a 16-35mm lens and then I want a 100mm f2.8 Macro lens… etc etc )

I’m just glad that I’m properly covered now!

It may be because I’m not feeling all that well… have a cold/flu at the moment… my head is all fuzzy.  It may be because it’s just too much.

I had the day off today because my shoot that was planned, got postponed cos the mom-to-be is not well.

I want my weekends back.

I want to be able to garden.

I want to be able to shop without a time limit.

I want to be able to go on a photo expedition into Braamfontein today because there’s an interesting sounding market.

I want to find a venue for the photo workshop I want to organise for next month.

I want to fix up my house.

I want to get curtain rods and new curtains

I want to look for a new door for the guest bathroom

I want to look for new lights for the house because I hate the ones we have

I want to find a builder to sort out our upstairs area and staircase and patio area (it’s a desperate issue)

I want to buy paint so Lance can start painting inside.

Except I can’t.  The kids drive me INSANE if they come shopping with me for more than half an hour, and today is the first day that I’ve had off since Christmas.

I just don’t have the time.

Today, I went to the nursery really early this morning without the kids so I could get a few plants to rescue my garden.  Lance then went to work.  I took the kids with me to meet a bride at a venue… they went ballistic after 30 minutes and ignored all my threats .  Then  took them to lunch at a kiddy friendly place just to have some peace.  Then brought them home to have a swim.  I now have to coax them to get them to come grocery shopping with me (and I know I’m going be a screaming banshee through most of the trip because they’re a disaster together), and then I want to take the dogs for a walk, before starting supper because Madelein is coming over.

And I’m tired.

I should really be organising stuff for Connor’s birthday next week… but there’s no time for that either.

And tomorrow I have to meet friends for breakfast.  Try fit in curtain rod buying.  Organise food.  Try fit in organising canvases to get printed, and follow up on the books I’m waiting for.  And I really really want to go to the new market at Arts on Main!!

All with the kids.

And then I have a photoshoot.

PS.  Promise my next few posts will be a bit more positive

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do with my photography and other stuff.  I’m getting asked constantly at work and by friends why I’m not doing photography full time yet.

Thing is, I’m not getting any younger, and as I’ve mentioned before, the fact that I’m close to 40 scares the living daylights out of me when I think about even maybe doing photography full time.

The reason, which may be irrational, or may not be irrational… is that I haven’t seen any successful female photographers have a very very long career, and still make a lot of money as they get older.  Male photographers are different.

And to give up my day job which is providing for my pension is very very scary… considering my age and I have 2 kids in Private school.  If I was 10 years younger, I would have stopped working already.

So, apart from deciding that I’ll make a call at the end of winter and see… that’s as far as my definite plans go.  I may want to reduce my hours and still do both… but I haven’t quite decided yet.

Or, I may decide to reduce my photography, and only do weddings, and 1 or 2 family shoots a month… and carry on with my day career.

But whichever way I decide in the end… I can’t carry on doing what I’m doing now.  It’s too much.  It’s not sustainable.

Seriously, could the teachers not have eased the parents into this school lark a little gentler?  Oh no, not Bradley’s school… first weekend of Grade 2 and he had a project!

So I spent a few hours today trying to find photos of him for a Life Snake. My oath what a lot of effort… by me of course! If this is a taste of the next few years, I’m going to have even less spare time!

It was interesting for me though… I got to see how much my photography has progressed in the last 7 years!! And one of the photos we chose in the end, was taken by Bradley.

One of my goals for this year is to get more organised, and spurred on my Marcia, of Organising Queen and 123-Blog fame,  I need to find ways to make my day easier and I need to outsource.

So step 1 for me, was organising a courier service to deliver my photos!

And I’m proud to say, that after a few phone calls, and a house call by a sales rep this evening… it’s done!!

So from tomorrow, I will NOT be tempting fate with the SA Post Office any longer (who have misplaced 2 parcels in 2 months), I’m going to be using a local courier company… and it’s going to work out cheaper than Speed Services… and they collect from my house… and deliver that day if it’s collected in the morning.

I’m trying it out tomorrow when I send a parcel to a client in Germiston, so I’m hoping it works out.  It’ll make my life so much easier.

In fact, not only is it cheaper than sending parcels via Speed Post… but also cheaper than driving there myself!

And it’s a win-win thing because I’m creating work for a local franchisee!

Well, you know that I’ve never actually been on a photography course right?  Apart from the 2 wedding workshops I went on last year… but that wasn’t about the photos really but about the weddings and the posing etc.

I get asked so often about photography courses, and which ones are worthwhile etc.  I only really reply based on what I’ve heard about places… my opinion doesn’t really come from experience.

Anyhoo, I met someone today who wants to get into photography, and she wants to shadow me.  I don’t mind showing someone the ropes, I really don’t, so I met with her to find out more and to give her some pointers after our phone call a few days ago (she’s a friend of a friend)

Now a few months ago I was chatting to another local photographer who got asked to help someone too… and she had this person help her on a shoot.  This person had been on a very expensive course and from what I understand, didn’t actually know how to use her camera afterwards.

I thought that was flook until today.

Seriously!!

Surely a basic photography course should teach you more about your camera than just using the Manual settings?  Surely?! What’s the use in paying so much and not learning the basics about what the different knobs mean that are there?!

Surely a course should teach you to explore the T, and Program and Aperture functions etc… and how to get there, and what they mean?! It’s beyond me!!

I understand that there’s a time issue, and that any course is not going to teach you everything.  But surely a “basic” course should teach you how to use your camera… the whole thing… not just part of it?!

Now I’m not saying that I know everything because I’ve taught myself… far from it… but I’ve learnt at my own pace making plenty mistakes along the way.  And I know where to get help… and where to learn more… on my own.

And I’ve taken photos.  Lots of them.

In the end, that’s what I advised today… to start taking photos.  Every day.  Carry your camera everywhere.  Learn about your camera.  Learn about your eye.  Learn how to edit.  And put some photos on Flickr and on a blog to get crit and praise.  And look for information online… there’s so much around and it’s brilliant… written by people who are struggling just like you are.

If I could work from home, I would do so at the drop of a hat.  Seriously.

I know I can’t do that with my office job all the time, but today, I decided that I really didn’t need to be in the office.  Ididn’t need to talk to anyone about what I was needing to do… so I worked from home.

I get so much more done!! I whip through that stuff so quickly when I’m at home. At work, I procrastinate.  Seriously, even with the kids at home and being noisy playing with cars and Lego and XBox, I managed to get through it.

And I still had time to play with them… well… build a few Lego cars and houses for Connor.  And I managed to get to collect the photobook I needed to deliver… and I delivered that and a canvas and 2 DVD’s to 2 clients.

It would suit me perfectly. It really would.  It’s just a pity my job really can’t work properly if I work from home every day.

One of the places I went to today was very clever.  I dropped of a client’s DVD at Autostyle in Mayfair.  Apart from itching to walk around with my camera, which I didn’t because Connor was with me and getting whiney… I was impressed.  OMw I’ve never seen so many car parts in one place… Connor was in his element with all the shiny mags and lights etc etc.  And you know what he spotted… a HUGE pile of kids toy cars!! So, I ended up getting him 2!  What a sneaky ploy… they must sell a fortune of those cars!

If you’re wondering about the photo… I took it with my new toy… again my iPhone is just awesome.  And on the subject of photography… my #365 is ending soon and I’m undecided about what to do with 2011… apart from making photobooks with the photos!

We welcomed 2011 in our traditional style today… we went to my parents for lunch.. we do that every year.  I don’t normally post photos on this blog, however, I did a shoot today as well, so I need to give that family’s blog post some space on my photoblog instead.

My mom has wanted a family photo with everyone for simply ages, and with all our schedules it’s been impossible to get right.  And today it didn’t seem possible either because of the incessant rains… but when I got back after my shoot, the weather cleared for a few minutes and we managed to snap a few photos.

We will be doing a proper family shoot with everyone soon… I’m just going to need a willing soul who’ll actually take the whole family photo for us on that day

I kinda overdid it this weekend, and booked too many shoots.

I have travelled almost 250km this weekend! It was rather nuts… but I actually had a ball with the variety of different shoots… but I’m a little tired and a little worried about all the editing on my plate now.

It started yesterday morning at 8am in The Hill, south of Johannesburg… then dashed to Fourways to pick up canvases (and that was a DISASTER again… wish they would put some love into their finishing… so one has to be redone… AGAIN)… then dashed home to pick up the kids… then I dashed to Lifestyle Garden Centre for the opening of Leigh-Ann’s new belgian chocolate shop, Sjokolat (and had yummy amarula and choccies)… then dashed home for a quick lunch… then dashed to a newborn shoot in Kempton Park at 3pm… then dashed home to drop off the newborn stuff… then dashed to Greensleeves for a 50th birthday party which I was photographing.

Was a little mad hey?

Then today the only shoot I did was Cat’s family shoot… then I zooted to get some photos printed for a client, only to discover the place has run out of matt paper…   AARGGHHH… then zooted home to get the boys to drive to Parys for lunch with Lance’s mom.

And now… I’m blogging the photos and trying to catch up… after punishing the kids for breaking the new water spray that I bought yesterday for R400!! The broke it by jumping on it while the water was going because swimming wasn’t cooling enough for them!

It’s been rough!