As for the rest of my assignments, I think all has been going well. God is So great, yes we will go through trials in our lives but life is more than just the bad situations we find ourselves in. There is so much more meaning to life than what athiests can offer or teachers can tell you.
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Guys, I want to tell you something...
For all of you art majors out there, how many times have you been put down and disrespected because of your status of 'student'?
You do Great work, probably better than some (maybe most) professionals out there, and clients come your way, attracted to the quality and richness of what you have to offer. They speak with you about how great your work is, and of the project they have in mind that they are in need of. Then you tell them your price. And all of the sudden, they pull out the 'Well arn't you a student?' card. As if that means they automatically receive some kind of major discount or possibly even FREE LABOR for your work (yes I have actually seen people state 'you make this for me and if I like it, I will pay you).
Can we all relate?
Listen, I am here to tell you, that this is NOT OKAY.
Let me repeat that, THIS IS NOT OKAY
Your work as an artist is what makes companies so successful. It is what makes life beautiful to look at. It is what pleases the soul or gets people into action. Whether it is commercial or fine art, it has a purpose in this world. And that purpose cannot be cheapened down to little to no pay just because of the fact that you are a 'student'.
In the client's mind, they think, 'this person is only a student, not even good enough yet to be in the real world, I mean it would benefit their portfolio anyways, so they should be willing to do this for me.. after all, I am doing them a favor by giving them experience'. Newsflash: ALL of our assignments both in class And outside of class are experience and often gets looked down upon. Every photoshoot, painting, product design, etc that you will ever do in the 'real world' will be experience for you and probably add towards your portfolio, but is this a good reason to get work done for free? No client in their right mind is going to pull the 'well I am giving you experience so you should do this for me' card. That is not going to work.
If you are a talented student (and you know it) who has enough quality and experience under your belt to be charging what some professionals charge, then do so!
And you know what, thats right, YOU ARE a student.
YOU are paying for $50,000-$100,000 worth of an education AND equipment with over a few thousand hours worth of practice of trial and error in order to DO what you can do in the one or two hours that you are charging them.
They are not just paying for that one or two hours of work, they are paying for ALL of the COUNTLESS hours you have spent learning the camera, editing programs, lighting, poses and angles, not to mention learning from researching and viewing other peoples work, you name it, in order to get that one shot or that one painting right the FIRST time.
I personally know many photographers that did not go to college. If you are in college, you took the risk of paying X amount of $ to further pursue your education, skill sets, etc. You are worth that much more with a college degree (and not for no reason either, you gain valuable insight learning under college professors that others that did not attend college). Yet some professionals out there who produce cheaper quality work charge X amount of money, and no one complains. So why do they complain when you charge the same price for better quality as a student?
Also take into account the thousands of dollars of loans you will need to pay back starting the moment you graduate. You will probably need to start paying rent and bills now too, oh and you need to eat as well.
So why are we letting ourselves get pushed over by these people?
Your career is Just as important and valuable than a doctors career or a scientists career. God has given You the talent and ability to influence others through your work. Whether that be propaganda to make people familiar with a change to be made (which was powerful enough after WWI to promote WWII), persuading a customer to purchase a particular product, or even as important as convincing someone who to vote for for president. It is VERY powerful. And that is why they need YOU. Businesses need you. Politics need you. Everyday people need you. Because this is NOT a job any one can do.
Inform your clients IN A RESPECTFUL WAY of some of these thoughts, it might be completely new to them.
Therefore, if your work is as high of quality as the professionals, do not be ashamed to charge what the professionals charge.
You are every bit worth it.
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Now that that is off of my chest (sorry, I have been dealing with this a lot lately),
Many people have been asking me about my photographing/retouching process.
I have put my order below each image.
Please let me remind you, this is not easy stuff that costs less than $100, it takes Hours of work to complete. Under some photos you will see the total amount of time it actually takes to produce the photo.
8 hours of editing
3 hours of planning/photographing
All photos mine except 2 birds in the background.
Step 1: Sketched my idea out
Step 2: Found a landscape shot in an old collection of photos taken while in Africa (this was a photo I shot literally in a drive by on our way to another location on Cape Verde).
Step 3: Went out and photographed many pictures of cows and a donkey (at the moment I was not sure which one I would use)
Step 4: Found a model (Cady) perfect for the shoot (Praise God for such a cooperative model to do this for me) and arranged the time, location, clothing to photoshoot her on a semi-cloudy FREEZING day on top of a dirt mound where we could shape the pile of dirt and have her looking like she was sitting on the back of an animal.
Step 5: Photoshopped it all together for 8 hours, and most importantly (no joke, this helped me more than anything)...
Step 6: Prayer!
6 hours of editing
4 hours of photographing and planning
Portrait taken by me, 38 photographs of bees found online
Step 1: Sketched my idea out
Step 2: Found a model (Emmanuel) and photographed him in the studio with the help of my boyfriend Timothy as my assistant
Step 3: Searched for a good hour finding 38 bee photographs online
Step 4: Photoshopped everything all together for 6 hours
Step 6: And of course Prayer throughout all of it (no joke)
Step 1: Researched inspiration online
Step 2: Sketched out my idea first
Step 3: Bought the fragrance I wanted to photograph from Rite Aid
Step 4: Went rock searching for a bunch of good sized looking rocks
Step 5: Rented a studio and filled up a tray full of water to photograph the water ripples, the rocks in the water, and then the perfume in the water all separately
Step 6: Photoshopped it all together
Step 1: Researched inspiration for an idea
Step 2: Sketched my idea out
Step 3: PRAYED A LOT
Step 4: Found 2 models willing to be photographed in the semi cold weather inside a pond of water
Step 5: Photographed the models and the clothing
Step 6: Searched for as many butterfly photographs as I could find
Step 7: Photoshopped everything together for hours
Step 1: Researched inspiration for an idea to photograph
Step 2: Sketched my idea out
Step 3: Bought watches from Target
Step 4: Found models (the model above was Rachel) willing to lay down and have their hair photographed
Step 5: Rented a studio out and Photographed the models hair
Step 6: Photographed the watches in different positions
Step 7: Photoshopped and retouched hair and the watch laying within the hair for hours
10 hours of editing
3 hours of photographing and planning
Portrait (Gifty) taken by me, tentacles and underwater scene found online
Step 1: Sketched my idea out first
Step 2: PRAYED A LOT
Step 3: Found a model and photographed her in the studio
Step 4: Searched for over an hour finding as many photographs of tentacles and underwater scenes that I could find
Step 5: Photoshopped everything together for 10 hours
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