There's a First Time for Everything, So Just Try It.

I've been wanting to shoot the night sky for long time, but the whole getting out somewhere past the invasive glow of city light pollution and the need to stay up into the wee hours of the morning was always a major scheduling challenge between juggling work and school. 

The peak of the Perseids meteor shower was technically on Thursday night, but I shot this series on Friday night - definitely one of those "done is better than perfect" moments.  Usually one to research and prep every last detail, I definitely use photography as my test and learn creative space.

That being said, I expected this series to be terrible and it came out pretty well considering I did virtually no prep beyond grabbing my gear and jumping into the car to Joshua Tree National Park.  The biggest learning is definitely to pre-focus my lenses to infinity and mark them off - prior to this shoot, I'd always shot the moon or city lights, which I could always refocus on - not an option when you're in near pitch black.  Manually focusing in the dark is pretty rough, so most of my shots aren't as pin-sharp as I'd prefer. 

Stars and Joshua Trees - a little blurry, but a great learning.

Shooting meteors is probably the most challenging subject I've encountered yet - they're not exactly predictable in terms of which part of the sky or when they'll appear, so it makes composition nearly impossible.  I saw some amazingly bright and streaky meteors, but didn't happen to have my camera pointed that way or actively exposing.  Still, I got lucky and even caught a couple meteors - hurray for the law of large numbers.  I'm definitely inspired to head out to the middle of nowhere more often and shoot the night sky, with or without meteor shower.

Active Shooting Hours: 3
Review Hours: 1
Hours To Date: 357

Moon set around 2am and a faint meteor to the left.

A meteor and the blinky red lights of a passing plane.

The Milky Way behind a Joshua Tree.

Surprise meteor from behind the rocks!  Weird composition, but I'm glad I caught it nevertheless!

Taking Calculated Risks & Failing. Hard.

"Thank you for submitting your entry for the above division and class. Unfortunately, your entry was not chosen to advance for further judging."

That was the terse and template response I received, 5 times in rapid succession, to my local county fair photography contest entries.  AKA thanks, but no thanks.  I didn't even make it past the general submission round to be actually judged in the judging rounds.

Hilariously, the judges/organizers voiced their sympathy under a separate "additional information" area towards the end of the email and not in the main rejection message, as if it's just an inconsequential, nearly forgotten footnote:

"We understand your disappointment and encourage you to try again next year. New judges are empanelled each year."

Over the past ~350 hours and couple years of shooting and editing, I know my photography has improved.  I've been encouraged by photographers, mentors, and friends alike - all reviewing my photos and giving me notes on composition, lighting, and perspective.  People have requested my images and paid for my work.  I spent untold hours poring over all of my favorite shots from the past 2 years and asking people with an eye for photography for their opinions - which would they submit?  Then, I put $40 behind my submissions and placed my bets in landscape, animals, plants, and things.  

It was a calculated risk - I'd improved a ton, but would I be good enough to even make exhibition?  The answer was: not this year.  And yet, I'm not discouraged - if anything, I'm more determined and ready to prepare for next year.  Even with the perfunctory "try again" note from the judges.

Don't get me wrong - failure sucks.  The work and the anticipation naturally build towards reaching a peak, not falling off a cliff.  But if you don't take calculated risks and try, you'll never be sure if you could have reached that new apex.  Not to mention, my calculated risk was putting up $40 to back my work - a minor potential loss compared to major potential gain of personal satisfaction, public awareness, and $400 prize money. 

I didn't start this project with the intention of winning photography contests, but it is another benchmark to progress and improvement in an artistic space where subjectivity plays a role in addition to technical competency.  And I like what I've shot.  And I want to win.  But, I'm patient and recognize that unlike some of these professional photographers who won, I'm an amateur with work and school dividing my attention.  Nevertheless, I've got winning in the back of my mind.  I'm still navigating the new role at work and now embarking on serious primary research work on my master's thesis, but ready to continue shooting when I can, even if it means shooting just a few hours here and there with the DSLR.

Of course, you don't need fancy equipment to work on composition and perspective - as all of those "Shot on iPhone" ads, I just need to open my eyes and look as I'm jetting around from place to place - hence how much more active I am on Instagram than on the blog.

TL;DR: When it comes time again to submit for a photography contest, I'll be ready to take another calculated risk, even if it means failing.

Reviewing/editing for county fair entry: 5 hours
New Hours to Date: 353

Failed Landscape - lunar eclipse over Huntington Beach

Failed Plants - dew drops on moss in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii

Failed Animal - a bird at the San Diego Zoo

Failed Thing - Foucault Pendulum, Griffith Observatory

The FOMO is Real

FOMO or The Fear of Missing Out, is a term that I never heard until I started grad school.  It’s the idea that there are so many interesting and fun things going on, you feel compelled to do it all because you’re scared the one time you don’t, you’ll miss out on something epic.  The problem with avoiding acknowledgement of FOMO is that eventually, you burn out.

As a woman in business, this is not a new phenomenon to me and the drive to overachieve is all too familiar – I want to do and have it all. Realistically though, it’s not possible to be on top of everything at every single given moment.  I’m pretty sure there’s even a clever little ditty that says trying to do everything results in doing nothing.  There are definitely days and even whole month stretches where my apartment is a mess, my to do list has several items left incomplete, and my fitness tracker shows fewer than 10,000 steps.

And so, for the past 6 months, blogging took a hit since I was managing a transition into a new role at work and taking on an additional class during Winter/Spring quarter that took me abroad to China for a couple weeks on the school front.  I still managed to get behind the lens; I just didn’t have time to drone on about it.

Sorry, I’m not sorry.  I think more women need to get behind that – define what matters and go after it unapologetically.  And it’s normal to pivot when something new shakes up the routine.  I'm confident that once the excitement at work and school calm down, I'll have more time to write the 1,000 words behind the pictures I took at San Diego Zoo, Death Valley National Park, Hong Kong, China, and a smattering of other events.  For now, you'll just have to fill in the blank yourself.

Last Progress Update: 283 Hours
Since then: 25 hours shooting; ~40 hours reviewing/editing.
New Hours to Date: 348

Giraffe - San Diego Zoo

Salt flats and bad water - Death Valley National Park

Hong Kong