My photography.

[Locut0s]

I've shown some of my fav shots to some on these forums (recently 2 or 3 people) and may even have posted these shots here a long time back but I thought I'd do so again. Photography is something I've thought off and on of getting into as a career. As many of you know I'm really in depressed anxious limbo land right now, at times I was almost suicidal, with no job and no idea what I'm going to do. Anyway despite rarely doing it one of my hobbies (I have many) is photography. The shots you see below are a collection of some of my fav shots over the years. Like I said I rarely do much photography. I take my camera out mainly on vacations and the rare day trip outing. Even on vacations I tend to shoot no more than 2-400 shots. So I think this is a fairly good ratio of total shots to good shots. A lot of these were taken with my old Canon G2 camera back in the day. The more recent ones were taken with my Pentax K20D. I know very little about the details of photograph beyond what I know in terms of composition, lighting and the like. I shoot in aperture priority and I know how to roughly control DOF but beyond that I'm a newb. I now shoot in RAW+JPG mode for everything but most of these were shot just in JPG mode. Anyway take a look and let me know what you think.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v333/Locut0s/Favs/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. You are talented

The shafts of light are amazing by the way.

[Suich]

2. It's hard to believe you don't do much photography, Locut0s!

Very nice!

K&R!

[canetoad]

3. I like those pix

They are calm and well composed.

[Speck Tater]

4. Very nice. Very professional quality compositions. nt

[LooseWilly]

5. So... is this where I post a link to my writing, too?

http://smartasspress.com/

(from the Breakfast in Barcelona link)

(To start in the middle)




5 Playing with the knife-rest


You know Bob, on second thought, maybe you should just stick to small talk... it works from time to time... true enough, it does lack a certain... a certain punch.
You could talk to her about the weather...
She'd nod, and polish off her latte and be gone from you life forever, sure... but she might smile a little.
Ok, that's no good.
No, Bob... we both know the answer, or at least that, if there is one, we'll find it here in this drink...
Ok, I think I have an idea. The service here in Barcelona is snail speedy... gives a man a chance to think... where the hell's my octopus?... It gives a man a chance to sweat too, but I'll get used to that again soon enough. I wasn't in Amsterdam that long.


Ok, let's think this over now. How is she gonna react? There're several options, I suppose, there's the 'ohh it must've been terrible...' reaction... then there's the patronizing nod to keep me at arm's length, the 'I don't want to get too close to a man who's been sleeping out of doors reaction'... Not altogether not-understandable come to think of it...
Then there's the possibility that she's had to sleep on a bench before, that she can relate...
Who'm I trying to kid?...
Ok, here's how to play it. "It really wasn't so bad... I mean, yeah, sure, Dude at the train station kicked me out, and I had to stagger exhaustedly off to the park bench... but as it turned out there were those two other guy's sleeping on the next park bench... I saw them during the night, on the way past them, and they looked like fellow travellers rather than tramps. I know tramps, we got plenty of them in... uhh, Barstow. There's ungroomed, and then there's 'I pissed myself and there's nothing for me to do about it but keep wearing these same clothes' transience. These guys were just guys who'd been on the road for a while. They looked alright.
"It must've been terrible' I don't know what I would've done if it'd been me..." I could hear her saying. I could see a respect in her eyes for my strength of character. She could respect me for having been through that ordeal, and especially for maintaining my head and my sense of humor in the face of it. 'Wow, that takes a real man...' she would think.
Now this is important Bob, you have to press on at this point, keep the story moving past your sorrows... press on to the good points, or she'll just think you're some sort of downer... a pain in the ass who's just gonna bring her down. This is a squalid thriller to excite her and get you into her pants, not some sort of slave narrative sob story to gain understanding or sympathy or any of that bullshit.

It's really a great novel, as long as one is a fan of cynical assholes... lovable cynical assholes, that is. ;)

[Tunkamerica]

6. I like this one:

Maybe because it's the only one with people... but it's cool and it reminds me of being in europe in my 20's

[Locut0s]

7. Thanks guys. Not sure how I would make a living out of it though. nt.

[secondwind]

8. Can you show this portfolio to a magazine or Nat'l Geographic?

[handmade34]

11. and...

why are you not sharing in the photography group???

[Ferretherder]

9. Great shots!

I think you could have a career in photography.

[Pharaoh]

10. Wonderful!

I like this, where is it?

Here's a tip, you can post pics directly by copying the image code and paste it into the conversation box.

BTW, there is a photography forum at DU also.

[babydollhead]

12. Nice!

[rdking647]

13. great shots

come join us in the photography forum
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=280

[mindfulNJ]

14. Hi Locut0s

I'm a professional photographer making a living from my photography. Here's some advice that I hope you take in the spirit in which it is given:)

First of all, don't put the cart before the horse and start thinking National Geographic magazine. National Geographic has seasoned staff photographers that are the tops in their field...it's the Holy Grail for nature and journalistic photographers and they do not hire hobbyists. Being published in that magazine is a lifetime aspiration, not where you start out. In my experience it's very difficult to make money with nature photography because it's a hugely popular subject with a very small market.

You may want to consider portrait, wedding, or commercial stock photography if you really want to make a living at it. These are huge markets that will always be in demand. This will involve learning lighting techniques of course. In the beginning I used nothing but natural light. It's easy to get some stunning portraits with it, in fact, there is a top headshot photographer that uses nothing but the natural light in his garage for his headshots. He does amazingly beautiful work and gets paid quite well for it!

If you are serious, start asking friends to model for you and really learn how to use your equipment from the inside out. Read books. Volunteer to assist a working photographer in your area. Take classes and join a photography group. Learn how to market yourself once you learn your craft.

You have a good eye for composition, now just use your eye and expand your horizons:)

[jtrockville]

15. Saw your post last night. Saw this today (LINK)

I was very impressed with your photos - Rome is my favorite city. I hope to move there one day.

So I was just browsing through the usajobs.gov site. I'm not looking for a job, but I know someone who is, so I thought I'd check to see if there was anything for him. Then while I was there, I was browsing around, saw this, and thought of you:

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=102559322&JobTitle=Photographer&q=visual+basic&where=&x=0&y=0&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&pg=1&sort=sl&re=12&AVSDM=2011-09-19+14%3a11%3a00

Your profile shows you're in Canada, so the location of the posting won't suit you. Plus it requires paid (or volunteer) experience in a museum setting. But it got me thinking. Are there any museums in your area? It might not be a bad idea to volunteer (if you can afford the spare time). Museums are a great place to hang around in, and you never know where it might lead.

[HopeHoops]

16. I think you are missing your calling.

Candid shots of random people in public - elderly, children playing, someone passed out in the shade of a tree, etc. That's what your talent screams at me.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Those are some cool pics! :^)