Beginnings

Hello! I guess passion is very much like joining an blogging AA meeting…

“Hello, my name is Amanda and I’m in love with pictures”

I guess it’s up to you if you say “Hello Amanda!” or not (I hope you do!), but let it be known, I was never in denial, I just didn’t tell anyone. So now I’m opening my mouth and placing it all on the line just to see what happens which I hope is fruitful because it’s scary as heck putting your soul out there for the world to see! Now that I’m ready to take my practices and put them to good use, I’m finding the challenge to be more than I bargained for when it comes to cutting through the massive sea of doubt. And by doubt, it’s not necessarily MY doubt, but other people’s judgment in me. Especially the ones who’ve never seen my work.

For instance, I went to Best Buy and I was looking for just a small portable lens cleaner, (I had found some of these individual pre-wrapped clothes about 2 years ago but haven’t been able to find them since,). Unable to find what I was looking for, I was forced to ask someone where the stuff actually was. I despise asking people at stores like that because there is always someone who gives me “the look”.

Its the, “You-Look-Like-An-Incompetent-Photographer” look. It’s the look that makes someone feel so inferior and small that you’d never make it on a cold day in photography hell.

Well, my trip this was no different. Normally I HATE talking about what I do because 1) they’ll try to sell me something 2) when they find out that I have all I need, they try to tell me that it’s antiquated or a piece of crap (I own an Olympus e600 and it’s only a year and a half old), or 3) they try to show off.

Well the service sales guy (we’ll call him “The Dude”) accomplished all three of the above. So when he hits #3 on the list he begins to try and convince me that on a DSLR camera the f-stop stands for the shutter speed. It’s not. It’s aperture and any self respected photo taker KNOWS that. So when I tried to tell him he was wrong, the guy got really upset and furiously tries to prove me wrong.

So the Moral of the story kids is this: Sometimes being right isn’t always the most important. I ended up letting “The Dude” go on with his bad self. (It’s nice to know that he’s not competition for business) and I walked out of the store never finding what I needed which was lens cleaner. But I sure was feeling like someone just ran me over! Even if he was wrong. I ended up going to Meijer and getting a stick cleaner that has liquid in one end, a brush on the other, and a lens cloth all under $5 and no hassle. If only all places could be like that!

On the upside, I ended up finishing my website yesterday and with good results. I hope you check it out if you’re in the Rochester Hills area (Amanda K. Photography) I’m running a great promo and I really want to expand my children portfolio. So if you have children… let me shoot them…with a camera. (Duh!)

Amanda K.