A Boy with Shoes

So,my motherboard was feeling like it was messing up and I shipped it back to have it replaced. I was thinking that it would be two weeks before it came back but I think I did my math wrong. It’ll be closer to three weeks. It’ll give me time to work on a couple things, but this is most likely my last post until my board comes back in.

Do you think I should ask the people I photograph to sign in signature book. Those who aren’t busy, that is. I will get their first names for use with the portrait, just not sure if I should go so far as to ask them to sign a signature book for me.

When I was younger I had friends pressure me to do things I feared, like climbing ladders to sit on the roof of friends’ houses. Then at some point I stopped listening to the pressure and just fell into the habit of listening to my fears. Now I am a socially awkward, 33-year-old recluse who is afraid of heights, deep water, and talking to strangers, especially those with a vagina.
But I climbed a ladder Friday, which has put a new spin on thing for me. If I can conquer the ladder, conquering a bit of my fear of heights while I was at it, then why can’t I start doing things like normal people? I can start talking to strangers, which I have mentioned a few times being a big fear for me.
Also, I started watching a show that is becoming a guilty pleasure for me since it is meant for teens, and on Mtv (Directv has now decided to drop it because of money disputes with Viacom, which also means no Nickelodeon or Comedy Central.) The main character receives a “care-frontation letter” with a list of things to do to help her with her identity issues.
Since I won’t be posting photos for a while because my tutorials are a bit longer than I expected (One is 12 hours and I think the other is 8 hours. But I am slowly digesting them and writing important things in a notebook so I don’t forget them) I will start back up on my list of things to do, a bit revised, and this time with deadlines. My deadline is one week per list item.
So in honor of my small victory and my new guilty pleasure I give you week one of my new list:

1. Stop being a pussy.

So this week I will be working on my biggest fear: Talking to strangers. I will be carrying my camera, since I want to identify myself as a photographer, so I will hopefully come out of it with a few portraits. At least one portrait of a stranger, that would be a step in the right direction, right?

And I have been thinking about my blog. I think since I want to focus on being a portrait artist I will be doing a complete reboot. And only post portraits, and all updates will be posted through my Facebook page (Unless it is something major.), so like my Facebook page for updates and alerts when I post something new. Also, if you have a Facebook page for your blog leave a link in the comments for me (and others who stop by to read) to like your page.
So with the reboot I think I might remove my past posts. That way my blog is completely focused on portraits. If I decide to remove old posts it will be a day before I post a portrait, so if you stop by one day and I have nothing you’ll know that a portrait is coming soon.
And as for posts, I think I will start posting in the mornings. And I was thinking about a good number of portraits for the year; 52 seems to be a good start. That’s one stranger a week, which seems like a lot to someone who doesn’t really talk to anyone.
I am hoping to have at least one portrait taken and ready by next week.

So, as I have mentioned, I am planning to start portraits soon. And the more I say it, the more I post about it, the higher the chance I will start. So, I am starting this week. At least the taking portraits part. That part isn’t the actual update.
I have decided that since I am starting portraits and that will be my main objective I will be postponing blog posts for a bit. I have decided that I am going to watch the tutorials, search for tutorials on portraiture, and really study the art and artists for a bit. I will be updating my blog as well, maybe give it a new look.
I will still be around commenting and reading blogs, just fewer posts from me, and most likely no photo posts. I will keep updating if I come across something that needs mentioning. After the revamp and if my portraits really shine I will be doing a lot more publicizing as well. A lot more. Everywhere I can I will be telling people about my blog. I will even be promoting myself around my small town in hopes of people coming to me, or at least calling me, to take their portrait.
I have even been thinking about how I could turn this into a hobby that generates some money. Maybe even turn it into more than a hobby if I am good enough.
Hopefully you all won’t forget about me on my little hiatus and will come back to see what i have to offer as a portrait artist. But I feel this is something I need to do instead of watch a bit of tutorials, play with an image, learn more, play more. Instead I want to be able to do it all to one portrait instead of learning Photoshop as I take portraits. That way they will be more consistent.
No more than two weeks, unless something bad happens. And the only problem I can foresee is it taking me a lot longer to process a portrait than I am hoping, and I am hoping that is only take a couple hours each until I learn to streamline my workflow.
I could, theoretically, get some plug-ins for Photoshop and have them do all the work. But I would rather learn it all on my own instead of rely on plug-ins.

~jeremy

As I have mentioned I have been watching tutorials on Camera Raw. I learned a better way to convert to black and white. This is the first photo I used that new technique on. I think I like this new technique even more than my old technique.

I am still learning the ins and outs of the program, and haven’t even made it to Photoshop yet. And I still need to go take some new photos, some better photos, but it is just too hot to go out for too long.

Been a while since I posted my shoes. So today I found one to post.