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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> One Day at a Time
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Showing posts 1 - 15 of 15, (reverse)
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06/17/2013 10:18:51 PM · #1
Hi DPC, nice to see you guys again! It's been four years since I was active here and over three since I picked up a camera on a more than forced basis. So I am a bit rusty, completely overwhelmed with a new camera and trying to remember the basics and then new versions of Lightroom and Photoshop. But all that being true, not shooting has left me incomplete. As a programmer my work is rather stressful, and the downtime is frenzied to say the least, so I think it's time to get back into creating. I've been lurking here a month or so, and finally put in an entry, but some of the things I've read from the current active crew make me pause in my diving in. Challenges here are tough, always have been, I've never had the formula to make pictures the DPC voters like. However, looking at the pictures and tutorials and how tos, and talking to many many others here, is how I learned anything in the first place. The gold mine of DPC is the way the community helps each other. The side challenges, the here's my pic what did I do wrong. The you got robbed comments on your worst photo. I missed all that and truly hope that those who are unhappy here, consider what the real worth here is.

So to end a long rambling note, I want to challenge myself ( and I'd love to have some of you join me ) For the next month at least, I want to post a picture. I may not take it that day, but I need to relearn photoshop and learn my camera and the only the way to know if I've found it is to share.

So... here's my first one. Thanks in advance for the time you spend looking/reading anything I do or write. Missed you guys.

Ches

06/17/2013 10:22:03 PM · #2
Welcome back, Ches!
06/17/2013 10:31:41 PM · #3
oh what a cool frog!!!

Don't pause in the diving in -- dive in. The sharks may chew on you a bit, but you really don't need all your appendages to swim... :)

I came around when you left, and the comments are way down, the entries are way down, and people tend to grump a little more.

But what's still here is: ask for help and there's always someone willing to help.

I don't know why you entered the challenges in the first place, but I entered them to push myself. Sometimes it was just out the door -- I needed to get out and shoot, sometimes it was a push in a new direction, sometimes it was a kick in the rear. But it doesn't matter if you don't get any comments -- you get a huge amount just going out and challenging yourself with the topics of the challenge (and they've definitely been challenging recently!!)

Sometimes when it's quiet, people just like bitching and moaning because it gives us something to do... (those threads get more responses than the happy ones anyway. ;)

So I'm happy to see you, and I'll join in on the fun. :)

(but I want you to get much closer to that frog -- because I really want to see him in all of his glory -- that is one really cool amphibian!)

Message edited by author 2013-06-17 22:32:17.
06/17/2013 10:48:08 PM · #4
Thanks Robert, you're one of the ones I missed the most!

Wendy, I came in the first place, because I was bursting with parental pride. I had a new DSLR, and a 1 year old daughter (she'll be 9 in a couple months) and thought the world revolved around her. After being thoroughly schooled in that my daughter's beautiful face was not the perfect picture to the entire world, I read all the tutorials, and tried them, and all the How tos and tried them and kept shooting and technically got better and better (not that you can see it now lol). We had an opportunity to chase a dream and opened a studio right about the time the economy tanked and lost it about a year and a half later, which made me stop shooting. And coming here just hurt it was a constant reminder of how I had failed. What I learned here, made my clients very happy, I've been in a few local shows, and even won first place at the state fair. One thing about here and my shop. When I told my husband I wanted to give up my job and open a studio, he told me he would support me if I could actually post a picture here every day for a month.

Now I need to do it again, not for him, not for clients, but because deep down inside I like creating art, which this is. MY Art, it's different from the mainstream and that's ok, every comment teaches me something new, every picture that beats me in a challenge just spurs me on to do better next time.

And I'll definitely schedule another trip to the Zoo, I loved the Dart Frogs too!
06/17/2013 10:54:19 PM · #5
Sounds like an awesome reason to get back into things -- you should have your outlet and your art. It's cathartic. If the other stuff comes -- that's great too. But getting happy with it again is the most important part.
06/18/2013 12:07:21 AM · #6
Hi again. It's good to hear that you are feeling the inner desire to shoot more. I hope your return will rekindle that fire.
You are right about how much you can learn by sharing and absorbing techniques and ideas here on DPC.
I'm not as active as I used to be here, mostly because portfolio space is near full.
06/18/2013 08:57:45 AM · #7
Second Day

06/19/2013 08:53:37 AM · #8
Third Day

06/19/2013 10:22:46 PM · #9
Fourth Day (A little early)


06/20/2013 01:05:42 PM · #10
Ches!!!!! It's so nice to see you again! Are you still in San Antonio? Glad you are back! I feel the exact same way about DPC, and even tho, I get so busy, my challenge entries are wayyyy sporadic, this community means the world to me, and I seriously hope it will be a part of my life forever. And some of my best Facebook friends are current and old time DPC'ers!



Message edited by author 2013-06-20 13:07:54.
06/20/2013 01:16:04 PM · #11
Still here :). Busy busy life, but you and. Really need to get out and shoot together!
06/20/2013 03:07:34 PM · #12
I'd like that. I've been doing alot of "for hire" work, so those lovely days that I can just get out and shoot for myself aren't as easy to come by as before I quit my job to chase my dream, but I love them when I get the chance. Even a Starbucks break would be nice sometime, tho.
06/21/2013 07:47:48 AM · #13
Fifth Day

No one seemed to like the boy... so how about these little ones?

06/22/2013 06:57:55 AM · #14
Sixth Day Just 24 to go :)



Running out of material... time to go back to the zoo. I've been taking some of your suggestions into consideration however and have a mini reflector on it's way.
06/22/2013 07:44:41 PM · #15
Seventh Day (12 hours early)

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