Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Not a Full Effort

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to my life and what direction I'm headed in. As I was doing this I had the realization that I've been doing things "halfway" for too long.

Let me elaborate a bit, growing up I didn't really try hard in school. Mainly because I didn't have to. It just came easily to me. Once I got in high school I had problems with math, but that was about it. I still made good grades in everything else by not giving 100% of what I could have given.

That attitude in college burned me big time. If I have any regrets in my life, college is it. I didn't try like I should have and my GPA from college, although not bad, isn't as good as it could be either.

The last couple years post college I haven't let this attitude get to me as much. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do as a career and now that I've narrowed it down to two choices I can concentrate on what I'm doing. I realized yesterday talking to Sean that I've kind of been half-trying at photography as well. I'm just sort of doing it, without really planning or putting anything into other than taking the pictures and editing them.

Now I've sort of drawn-up (well at least in my head) a plan for going further with this photography dream. I wanted your opinions yesterday so I could sort of gauge the interest level in my photography. One of these days (hopefully soon) I'd like to have a website up where you can order prints from me. I'm looking into a flash site for my photography too. Anyone have any experience with Photobiz? I'd like to know your opinions if you have.

I think it's time I gave it my full effort.

24 comments:

Jon and Steph said...

I was just looking into photography websites for my pictures today. I'm not having much luck! If you find anything good, let me know ;)

d.a.r. said...

This sounds like a great plan girl! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your endeavors!!

Rebecca said...

Great! I look forward to seeing your dream come to fruition

tootie said...

Good for you! You really have a talent for it, and I bet it will be satisfying to devote more time to it!

The Rest is Still Unwritten said...

Good luck girl! And I feel ya on the math!

Anonymous said...

Glad you are starting to focus on photography, it's always good to have a plan. One of my friends uses dreamstime for his stock photography. Here's his link: http://www.dreamstime.com/Photojay_info
He was using a couple different sites then decided to use them exclusively.
For the portraits he does, he uses fototime.com They were very easy to use when he took pics of my daughter. Hope that helps some. Let me know if you want more info, he'd be glad to tell you more!

Jessica Lynn said...

I have an account on SmugMug.com, and I actually heard about it from a professional travel photographer who uses it as her Web site to sell her photos (http://barones.smugmug.com/). I like how professional the site looks and all the security on it. It may be worth checking into!

Natalie said...

Good luck!!!

Anonymous said...

www.smugmug.com

Easy and professional.

SS said...

I've had that feeling at times in my life too. Sounds like you are really feeling motivated, good luck!

Meg said...

I was basically the exact same way. School was like breathing for me--zero effort. And when I had problems with science in high school I just made friends with the smart science geeks that would "help" (read: do it for me) me do it and never learned anything. College is basically going the same way for me as you explained for you. Maybe we can kick each other into gear!! :) Good luck, though. As for photography websites I'm not much help!

Carissa said...

Good for you. It's scary to just jump in! Good luck!

5th Belle Avenue said...

How exciting!! Good luck pursuing your photography dream!

Windy City Kelley's said...

We've all had thoughts like this before. Good luck on the photography, I bet it goes really well for you!

Rachael said...

Good for you!

I was the same way in high school and somewhat so in college, and I definitely regret it, too.

Unknown said...

I love photography but know nothing about it! Good luck with it all tho!!

Abbie said...

I just read your posts from the past 2 days and I'd totally buy prints from you! I think you should definitely pursue your dreams of starting your own photography business. Many of us don't get the opportunity to do things like that, so if you and Sean can do it, then make it happen! You seem very ambitious and I think you'd do great!

Lisa said...

That sounds a lot like me too! I never had to work at school until college. Almost five years later, I'm clueless as to what to do now. But I'm working on it! Good for you for looking into the photo biz! I don't have any personal experience with online photo selling, the only person I know is my ex, and you don't really want to talk to him. Trust me. :)

Good luck with it all!

Oh and if Harley eating my summer sausage made you laugh, you may laugh more that Harley is a cat. He is pretty well convinced that he's a dog, though, since fetch is his favorite game. :-p

Shoshanah said...

I went through all of high school realizing I didn't have to work very hard to get the grades I wanted. It wasn't till I went off to grad school that I realized I actually had to study to get an A. Not really the best way to go through life though.

And good luck getting a photography business off the ground!

Cassandra said...

This is the same as me, while you think it's great at the time when things come easily to you later on in life you regret not having to work hard because it makes it hard to start as an adult. Congrats on wanting to take photography further. Now I just need to find a little direction myself.

lola said...

Oooh, good luck with the plan! Definitely put the link up when you get things up and running!

Kebi Cedawna said...

I think it's inspiring that you've got your mind set and have a plan. I know you'll rock whatever you decide to do.
You know I'd love to buy your stuff!

Anonymous said...

I'm just curious, have you ever taken a photography class or read a book on photography that you can recommend? Your photos are really good!