And then?!

Okay, so I know I haven't written much in awhile but you have to give me some credit. Let me break down the whole last week for you.

Monday, August 22nd: I was all signed up for classes at the local college because, you know, I still need to get my full education- and of course we all know that education is the most important...blah blah blah. Anyway, Monday was a fantastic day for me. Classes went very well (if you can define 3 hours of economics as "well"- then yeah). Altogether I have to say it was a good day even if I did get home at 10pm. Not that I have a bedtime or anything (I am an adult). So, neener neener!

Tuesday: I would have to say that this day was even better than Monday! Only one class and it ended early. So, good!

Wednesday: Ahhh. Now here is where my whole week just fell apart. For the first half of the day, everything was fine, but at 5pm when I was sitting down for my final (5 hour) class... I come to find out that I am sitting in a Film Photography class! (and for those of you who don't know; I am digital all the way. I mean maybe one day I will go out into the world and learn all I can about film, but lets just take this one day at a time shall we?)

Anyway, FILM?!?! Why on earth would I sign up for a class that I know nothing about? And get this: it was an Intermediate film class! Well the instructor looks down the list of names and lands on mine. She turns to me and asks, "Jordan right? Well, where did you take the beginning course?" And I, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people who would probably snicker at the thought of me signing up for a film course instead of a digital course, lied. Now don't get all huffy, it's not like it was a big lie, and I dropped the class as soon as I got out of there! Anyway, I told her that I went through it in my previous college. I hadn't, but all she said was, "hmm...okay then."

Can you believe that it's that easy to get into the courses here at the local college? I mean they don't even check if you are qualified...whew I would have bitten off a little more than I could chew if I had stayed there.

After all that happened, I realized that I was missing something very important......PHOTOGRAPHY! Most of you who are students will know how hard it is to get into a class normally, but when the semester has already started and every class has been filled, what can you do? Well I found the only way I could possibly get into the correct class this semester: beg. I jumped onto my dying laptop and raced through every page and search engine I could to find the email addresses for any of the photography instructors on the campus (which by the way, really wasn't easy). Finally, after half an hour of compiling my resources and digging through everything I could possibly dig- I found two names. With everything I could muster I wrote an email begging and pleading to be let in. I explained all the reasons I could think of for them to allow me into any class that was open (I mean this email would make you cry). I said I would buy the book at full price, stand in the back of the room, and wait until someone dropped so that I could claim a seat. I know I sounded pathetic but when you need something as bad as I did...well, you sound like me.

I was on edge waiting for an email back, a whisper of hope, anything...I was refreshing my email every other minute just to see if it was there. And finally it came. An instructor who works for the college campus but teaches further away told me that if I was willing to drive out to where he was, he would accept me! WILLING?!?!?!? Hell yes! I agreed and was allowed into the class...

So, finally everything is back to normal in life and I hope to get right back into blogging; since I know my two followers are dying for something to read.

My next article will start where my last one left off, I just thought that I would explain (in detail) why I have not been able to write.

Factoid of the day!

I want to put in a little fact here that I have read in many of the photography books I own.

Important Notice: To all of you future photographers like me out there. Do not, I repeat, Do not put up every photo you take. Now I know some of you are reading this and saying, "dduuuuhh, everyone knows that!" But I will correct you. No, everybody does not know that. I have seen some really pathetic excuses for PHOTOGRAPHY and don't take that to heart because I have taken some very pathetic excuses for photography. We all have to start somewhere and sadly that means many of us are going to suck- including myself (on multiple occasions).


I read a really good article in one of my many books and I would give the title if I knew which book it was from; but I don't. So I am just going to do my best to describe it...even though I really can't remember the article  verbatim, I'll just do my best here.

Lets say you have a photo session and you take 300 photos. You first delete the blurry photos and any others that might not have come out as you expected. That leaves you with 225 photos. Then you delete the half dark half light photos in which some faces are seen and some are not. Down to 175. Then you choose the absolute best photos-20. Then choose the top 10. Now go back and forth through these photos and choose the ones that people would actually pay for- 6. Here is where you stop. The six photos that you have chosen are the best ones of the 300 you took- these are the ones you should be proud of and that other people will be excited about.

Now I am completely sure that this is in no way written like the author of the book; so if they ever see it I offer my sincerest apology. Anyway, what I really wanted you to get from this article is that it would behoove you to only show photos that you would pay good money for, or no one else will. You should only show your best work or it will seem like you are just like anyone who randomly bought a camera and call yourself a photographer. Again, please, no one take this to heart. These articles are just about what I have experienced and read in books. I only wish to pass on the information that I have gathered from my sources.

Then what happened?

The test of my skills was a little scary. I don't know how other photographers felt about their first shoot, but I sure know how I felt about mine-scared _______(enter word here). I was very lucky, however, for the wonderful lady (who was the first to let me photograph her) is GORGEOUS! Miss Margarita Prado, who worked with me for a year until I moved away and had to quit my job. Anyway, Miss Maggie is a beautiful girl and she needed some very important photos for an interview with a school in which she was applying. When she told me this, I almost told her that I couldn't take her pictures. I didn't want to be the one responsible for her not getting into the college of her dreams- just because the photos weren't AMAZING! But I didn't; I agreed to take her photos because:

1. I need the experience.

2. I could take her pictures for much cheaper than any photographer in Stockton.

     So, the next day I brought all of my camera equipment (which, might I remind you, is not very much) to work and had it all ready for when we were off. I was still catching little bits of luck because when it was time to clock out, the golden hour was just starting and we made it to the park just in time for me to capture a good 500 photos. Now let me just break in here and say that if anyone would have told me two years ago that I could be capturing 500+ photos in an hour with a great camera and future career in sight, I would have laughed and went back to daydreaming at work.

But I digress. I was able to get a large amount of photos that I could search through and edit for Maggie and I was feeling very good on the drive home. However, it was after I got home and uploaded those photos when I decided the amount of photos really doesn't matter....it's all about quality. And after going through all of my 500 photos I found about 5 I could really work with. It was an odd sensation to find that after looking through so many photos and having to rotate all the little thumbnails, I only got 5 photos. GO ME!

Well, at least there were five. To think that I could have gotten even that many made me proud of myself. And I know that Photography is going to be the best part of my life!

In the beginning... part II

    For the next I don't know how many weeks, I read and I studied everything I could. I gathered information from books, websites, blogs, and other photographers. Needless to say, I was obsessed (and loving it). I was shoveling so much information into my brain that there was no outlet. I started to have dreams of photography; poses that I could use, the different styles of photography, things I would need to get done to start a business, etc. I was up at odd hours to write down everything that was going through my mind and it started to disrupt my normal schedule (not that I minded). Although everything was hitting me all at once, I was still very excited about photography and needed to learn more.

    I now know that photography is a never-ending process. Every year new products come out and there is always something new to learn and I hope to learn all that I can. However, I am getting ahead of myself. Lets begin again from when I started reading the first books...

    The manual that came with my camera was okay, information wise, but honestly you can only learn the very basics from a book with no pictures and tons of very...small...print. However, it was a good starting point for me. Once I had gathered all the information out of the manual I went out and picked up a three-book pack titled The Step-to-Step Secrets on how to Make Your Photos Look like the Pros'! By Scott Kelby. This man is a great writer and he kept me interested throughout my reading. The best thing about these books are that Kelby keeps things short and sweet. Therefore he offers a large amount of information  but only the basics of each topic; this way you learn about many things and you know enough to continue researching by yourself (or at least that is how I see it). I really enjoy all of the tips he gives, and I feel as though I have learned a lot from Kelby's advice!

     After I had read through his three books I wanted a more in-depth study of my own camera; so I went out and bought The Canon EOS Rebel XS Companion By Ben Long. This book was definitely a the most helpful one I bought. This book went further into detail on my own camera instead of just generic advise (most photography books provide information for the top brands of cameras- Nikon and Canon). This means that If you only have one of these cameras you are spending the whole amount of money for your book and only half of the information is useful.

     There is something everyone should know about me; I work fast at everything in life and photography is no exception. I see no need in waiting when I know what I want. So, about a month after I got my camera and started reading, I wanted to take photography to the next level- Showcasing! The first thing I did was go down to my local store and print off copies of the best photos I had taken so far. Then I bought a photo album that doubles as my portfolio. And, of course, since technology has become a major contributor in career expenditure, I created a website to show off my work. I know what your thinking, "You have no experience?", "what could you possibly be showing off?" However, the truth is that I just wanted to be ready and I was in the right mind too. For, not long after, I got my first opportunity to test my skills...

In the beginning...

    My name is Jordan Coleman and I decided in early 2011 that I wanted to become a photographer. I felt that it might be a split decision since I had been in college for two years and still had no idea of what I wanted to focus on as a major, but after thinking about it for a while I found that I had always been the one behind the camera. Of course, the camera in question was just a  twenty dollar point and shoot from a store around the corner, but still, I had always been the one capturing the special moments in my life- a camping trip with my grandparents, or a field trip with my friends from school. Thinking back on these times, I knew I had created memories on cheap glossy print paper that I would cherish for years to come.


    Now, with these thoughts in mind, I really did feel that photography was my path and I wasn't just choosing it on a whim. I saved up every dollar I could and finally made a purchase of my new career path. This was the first purchase among many that have led me to this day. The camera I decided upon is the Canon Rebel EOS XS. I was so excited that I tore off the packaging and started snapping photos of everything around me! And of course, seeing as though this was the most expensive camera I had ever bought, every photo I took was AMAZING! This was going to be a cinch, I am going to be a great photographer with this camera-or so I thought.
   
    After a few weeks of snapping mediocre photos I found that I really didn't know much about my camera's functions. Sitting on the "automatic" feature I didn't even think that my photos could be better. However, I decided to flip through the pages of the manual just to see what I was missing. As it turned out; I had no idea of the meanings of the words in my book...White Balance? Shutter speed? Aperture? In other words I was lost; drawing a complete blank. Maybe I should read the manual and (dare I say it) buy more books. I went out and found myself a few books on my specific camera and some on photography in general. After picking out three or four books I came home and skimmed a few pages. Wouldn't you know it; I was even more confused than when I started...Lighting? Lenses? SD cards? Photoshop? I might have known the basics of these words, but there was so much more. To think you have to spend so much money just to learn about photography...maybe I was a little hasty.
   
    For a couple days I ignored the books on my desk and went on with my regular schedule thinking I would sit down again soon and start focusing on my new hobby. Finally, after googling a few photography websites, It was time to read. That was just the beginning...