amesphotographer

Why I woke up at 4:30am on my day off.

I love sleeping in. It’s one of the things that makes me most happy (behind my family, my dog and photography of course).

So on Thursday while I was at work, I thought to myself, what a great idea to wake up early and get photos of the sunrise. I’m usually a morning person anyway. I’m that over-enthusiastic coworker who annoys everyone else who is still half asleep. I embrace the role proudly. But I like to enjoy sleeping in an extra hour or two on weekends, so I thought I’d challenge myself and get moving at 4:30am.

I went to bed around 11pm Thursday night. So I was questioning whether or not I should actually get up early but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t keep my word to myself. My alarm went off Friday morning and I forced myself out of bed. I stopped by the local Casey’s for some coffee, a breakfast sandwich and an apple. I made the 25 minute trek to Hickory Grove Park outside of Colo, Iowa.

Apparently, they are renovating the entire park, so I had to work my way around some construction, but I made it work. I parked, grabbed my photo bag and tripod and then I walked down to the water. It was a little chilly but I stuck it out. The geese were honking, the ducks were quacking, and the bass were jumping. It was a lively morning and I’m glad I got up early to see it.

I adjusted the settings on my camera and attached my remote shutter and looked for some compositions. Let me just say…sunrise photography is completely new to me!

I really didn’t know what to shoot. I think location had a lot to do with it, but I wasn’t completely impressed with my sunrise photos. They were just okay. But I didn’t want to stop there.

So after the sun came up, I drove around for a bit. Exploring the country in the early morning is awesome because I saw a Barred Owl, a doe (a deer, a female deer), and a male pheasant. You usually don’t see those animals in town. I love watching wild animals in their element. Animal Behavior was one of my favorite classes in college! Anyway, I digress.

Then I decided to drive up to Ada Hayden Park just North of Ames. The sun had already come up, but I thought I’d explore anyway because it’s something I’ve always been good at.

I shot quite a lot of photos. I saw a guy on a bike make several laps around the “lake,” and I greeted a few people taking early-morning walks. I spent a good hour at Ada Hayden and then I was ready to go home and edit (and take a nap).

So why did I get up so early on my day off? Well you might be thinking, to get photos, duh! Okay, yeah, I got up to get photos, but the bigger reason why I did it was for discipline. It’s easy to say, meh I’ll do it another time.

If you do what you say you’re going to do, you’ll be so much more ahead of yourself than if you were to just put it off. I got up early because I made a promise to myself and because I have never actually gotten up early just to take photos of the sunrise. Plus, I got to see wildlife I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise.

I got a few keeper photos, but more importantly, I earned experience. So if you want something, don’t let the temptation of procrastination take you over!

Δ Abbi

Why Competition is a Good Thing.

You might be a photographer like me, or you might be something completely different. Whatever your profession or hobby, competition exists.

The illusion is that the competition is a bad thing. My message is: don’t be fooled by that!

Competition keeps professionals on the edge. The downside to this, of course, is that somebody is going to fall short, but the beauty is that everybody has a chance to shine! If others are doing better than you, evaluate why that may be the case.

In the case of photography, you have to look not only at the quality of the photos, but also at customer service strategies and activity on social media. There are so many reasons why others might be more successful than you. It’s okay to imitate how others gain success. They’re successful for a reason (don’t plagiarize though, that can get you in trouble)!

In photography, there was film, and then things changed to digital. The photographers who refused to learn digital became irrelevant because they couldn’t offer what the market was demanding. That’s not to say that there is no longer a market for film photography. Sometimes it’s good to be able to offer a variety of services. So if you were someone who preferred film, keep it as a hobby and offer it to clients who may want that option, but don’t forget to evolve with the market!

What I’m trying to say is, if you find that you aren’t gaining success, look to those who are and get inspired by them! Instead of getting discouraged, try celebrating your competitors because there is so much you can learn from them.

If we didn’t have competition in the world, things would never improve and there’d be no reason to innovate the industry. You know the saying: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” That doesn’t apply to everything, but I think it applies here!

Let competition be fun! I’d definitely like to hear what you guys have to say about your experiences dealing with competition! Share them in the comments!

I hope your year is going well so far!

Δ Abbi

Exciting News Going into 2019!

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I am thrilled to announce that I will be opening an online shop on my website in January 2019, which will include greeting cards (as pictured), and varying prints! This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, but I finally have enough together to announce my new endeavor! More details will come in January once I finalize the shop.

2018 has been such a great year, but I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store! With the help of all of you, I continue to achieve my goals and I can’t thank you enough.

On that note, I hope you have a fun and relaxing Christmas!

Δ Abbi