Talking to Others

In college, we had this assignment where we had to come up with at least 10 questions to ask a photographer in the field we would hope to one day follow.  My dream job was and still is today to be a travel photographer, but that will take some time to achieve that goal.  I am not giving up on that quest just yet.  We had to find 10 photographers to email and I had two responses from photographers which I thought was great!  After talking to one of the photographers named Alison Wright who does work with National Geographic; I decide to read her book.  Her book called Learning to Breathe: One Woman's Journey of Spirit and Survival made me want to travel even more.  I decided to try and use what I had heard from our conversation on a trip I was going on with my family to see if I could capture the culture and the people while taking photographs.

These three pictures are probably my favorite from my trip, but I tried to do some things that were out of the ordinary for me which included trying to talk to the tour guides.  I tried to immerse myself more into the culture by researching the area and asking questions.  This was a way for me to expand my photography technique.

Recently, I have been talking to some other photographers and this week I will be able to talk to him about his travel photography experience.  I am looking forward to know what he does and hear his take on trying to bring everything about a culture together within a photograph.  I am hoping by talking to these photographers I will be able to apply it to my own photography.

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Finding a Balance

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how glad I am that I started my own business.  There are many reasons for this, but just to name a few they are: I get to set my own schedule; I am able to enjoy the printing techniques I learned in college; and I am able to spend time with my family and dog.  My dog is a rescue dog, so she will always feel very anxious when I go on errands and when I get back she is very excited.  She requires a lot of TLC.

The hard thing is with this economy I have not SPREAD THE WORD as much as I would have liked.  I have been using a Facebook page, twitter, Instagram, sending e-mails, and spreading the word by talking about my work.  I even sent out postcards to people over the holidays.  I have been doing things to keep busy such as making slideshows for my cousin's wedding, which somehow I keep getting asked to do that for every family wedding (I guess I am better at using computers than I thought).  Other things I do to earn money are helping out my family which can be a good and a bad thing.  It is a good thing, because I want them to know I am there for them so they will help me.  The bad part is when I actually need some time to do work they think I can automatically do it.  The thing is I want to be helpful and do things for my family, but how can I also do that and SPREAD THE WORD?  Right now, I am trying to find a balance so I have decided to babysit, which in itself is good money and you can be a good role model for kids.

I have all these ideas for my work, but how am I going to be able to pursue them without getting my name out there?  I use social media and I talk about my work.  My family talks about my work.  What else can I do to become an established photographer in 2014?

This is a custom photograph sent to me by a family member that I gave to another family member for a birthday present. This was put on wood block with silver leaf on the background. 

This photograph I took of a family friend's dog Punkin. Punkin's picture was put on wood block with silver leaf on the background. 

To find out other works I have done follow Allie Ray Photography on Facebook or find me on Instagram!

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Always Learning

Once you start photography you begin learning about other photographers.  It has now been a year since I have graduated college and while in college I learned about the history of photography.  I learned about the well known photographers, but now as I have started my own business I have begun learning about the competition or the other photographers in the area.  Everyone of them has strengths and weaknesses.  Like every new business owner you always want to hold your head high and just learn everything you can.  Practice as much as you can, so that is why I bring my camera with me everywhere I go.  I might just be going to the beach to get some sun or on a hike with the family, but you never know what might just be something that you can sell.  All I can say for now is never stop learning.

Starting a New Business

One thing I never thought I would do right when I graduated college was start my own business.  I do enjoy every part of it, but it has taught me a lot about myself as a person.  I have learned I need to step out of the shell I am hiding underneath and say, 'Hey guess what world I started a business!'  Meaning I need to be willing to talk about myself and what I am doing.  Growing up as this shy girl means I have to be willing to step up and talk to these people who are friends of mine and tell them what I do.  Now, what exactly do I do?  Great question.  I do multi-media art work using my photography.  I make digital skins and when I showed my mom what they looked like she said, 'they look like saran wrap.'  I put gold leaf or silver leaf on wood blocks and when I put the digital skin on top of the wood block I sometimes feel it gives the photograph an antique look.  Since starting my business I have some of my pieces that I do multiple images of at Seibels a local store where I live and I also have doing custom work.  I even have been taking photographs of houses for real estate agencies to give as gifts.  Not only am I enjoying what I am doing, but I am also able to print regular prints out on paper.  I feel like this is only the beginning.  I know that I have just started, but I am happy where I am doing what I love.

These are few of the pieces I have been working on for the past couple of months.  I have enjoyed being able to travel to take some of these pictures.  I think the best part of starting this business is that when I get a time where I am not as busy I am to still go out and take pictures for my work.  Good luck to everyone who is starting their careers in the business world.

Photographing Children

As a photographer, I have noticed different things when other photographers try to get a child to sit still or just what some of my classmates do to get a child to sit still. At school, you had a certain amount of time to get a project finished. I remember one of classmates saying 'she had bribed her niece with candy.' (The project was photographing people.) When I was an intern for a professional photographer two summers ago I noticed she did lot with trying to get the kids to use their imagination. I think about this a lot especially since when photographing a child you have to realize they can not sit still for a long period of time without either wanting to talk or run around and play. Now, as I am writing this, because I have taken some pictures of children lately and my favorite pictures of them so far have been when they are being themselves. They are just so natural at that point. You see them with a true smile on their face and not looking at their parents or the photographer wanting a treat or hoping they will be done soon. For instance, these two girls were able to dress up and run around in the yard while I took their pictures. How fun is that?

Isn't that the kind of thing you want to be doing with your sister when a photographer comes?

Experience

While being in school, having the internships, and seeing people work all gave me experience; I still need more. It is hard starting out in the real world when you are starting a new career and a new company. You are trying to get your name out there and hoping your friends and family will spread the word. The thing is you have your hopes on doing something, but then you never hear back. Everything begins slowly, but it will eventually pick up. All I can ask for now is the experience and hope that what I learned in school will help out in the long run. Just got to keep photographing!

Nature

Since, I have started my business Allie Ray Photography I have been able to enjoy taking pictures of family members, my new dog, and in Highlands, North Carolina. I enjoy being in nature and listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing. The best part of the hike is when you make it to your destination and you see the most fantastic view. I for one do not want to leave places where I do not hear traffic constantly. I enjoy my times that I have with nature. The first photo is: Little Rock Mountain Statue I noticed on the hike up Scaly Mountain. The second photo is: the view from Scaly Mountain near Highlands, NC.