January 6, 2015 by Amy

Writing, Photography, No (and other crap)

I haven’t written because I’ve been busy shooting and editing, and editing, and editing. Hours in Photoshop. The new camera is absolutely incredible. A dream.

Because of the low-light capabilities I can now shoot Zoe’s gym sports (volleyball and basketball).

I’m having fun experimenting.

I am pulling the camera out more instead of falling back and using the iPhone.

Seriously, folks…this one is straight out of the camera. The only edit I did was to straighten it up a bit.

I honestly don’t know what makes me happier, writing or photography. I need to retire so I can pursue both full-time. (This is where M starts breathing in a paper bag.)

As I was editing image tonight something occurred to me: the more complex my camera, the more I fall back on shooting manually. It’s a control issue, I think. Since I know what the camera is capable of, I can push the limits more than it will do on automatic or semi-auto. I can nudge the shutter speed up and push the ISO to get what I want. I’ll lock in that f-stop that gives me the gorgeous bokeh and makes my subject pop out of the background.

All this is to say that I’m extremely happy right now. Even though today we went back to work/school. Even though M won’t let me retire just yet. Even though I have to relegate writing and editing to the spaces in between. It’s all good stuff. I just need to learn to do with less sleep is all. My commitment to no is helping. “Can you…” No. “Would you be able to…” No. “It won’t take much time…” No. I am loving the word no. I mean, I soften it up a bit. No, thank you. Many apologies. I regretfully decline (although there’s really no regret attached to the declination). I’m nice in my unyielding use of the word no. Or I try to be, anyway.

So, to sum up: the things that make me happy are writing, photography, and no. Along with M and Zoe, of course. (I tried to convince her that my full name is Amelia tonight. I almost had her and then I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Even M had a “WTF?” look on his face. It was awesome. Then I tried to convince her that her full name is Zomelia, but by that point she wasn’t buying a damn thing I was selling.)