I had an amazing experience yesterday.

I got behind the camera and started taking pictures and really, really felt like that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  More so than all the other times I’ve used my camera.

We had a little workshop yesterday for the photo students and we were doing portraits of each other or whoever we could get.  I was timid at first, just watching everyone else and trying to come up with my own idea.  My one friend was doing a dark, dramatic portrait but I started formulating in my head that I wanted a white background.  I asked one of the girls if I could shoot her since she had some of the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen and we found a great sunlit room to do it in (I was shooting digital for this).

We had a great helper too (and so freaking HOT.  Every girl there had a huge crush on him, lol.).  He just taught us so much and was so helpful in just helping us achieve what we wanted (rather than telling us how he would do it).

So we set up, put a white reflector board behind her for the background and I just started taking pictures.  It was a total “Duh” moment- like, “Duh, this is totally what I’m supposed to do.”  With in the first 10 frames I just said how I wanted to do it forever.  I’ve always known I was drawn to portraiture, but because I’d never had a real opportunity to do something so set up like this, it wasn’t as concrete as a desire.

Now I’m certain that I really, really want to shoot people.

And I’m even more excited to be helping Barbara Nitke tomorrow (I also feel like I’ll be of a little more use because of how much I learned).

(I also feel a little ready to start transitioning to digital, but I would never abandon film.  I’m just beginning to try out medium format!  My first roll right now!)

I have a portrait assignment coming up for class this semester and I can’t wait to do it.  I think I’m gonna do my mom, or maybe both her and my step-dad.

It took me a little while to get to this point (and lots of random majors beforehand) but I’m so excited to finally have a direction (and also feel like I’m good at it).

Because not only do I get to spend Sunday with my Desire, I also get to assist at the photo shoot she’s doing with Barbara Nitke.

That’s right bitches.

I am so freaking excited- I can’t even tell you.

Weee!!

New pictures are up from the Giants Parade last week.

These are the digital ones I took.  I’ll scan the B&W whenever I get a chance.

My Photography 

In the madness that comes after the 0 hour (midnight), I created this image (please pardon the pathetic way I took a picture of it, I don’t have access to a scanner right now).

As soon as I flatten it and mount it, it’ll be for sale. And I have 3-4 available (I can print more if there’s interest).

(Click for larger)

What do you think?

3 new pictures are up!

And in color!

Check ‘em out.

http://designingintimacy.com/photography

The bad news is I ruined 3 rolls of film trying to do 1 hour developing even though I knew it was the wrong kind of chemicals in that machine.  (I wanted to cut out the drying time of the film.  I know, I know.)

The good news is that it was just landscapes, so I can easily shoot the pictures again next week.  Plus one roll did get spared. We’ll see which one the gods were merciful on.

The better news is that Target gave me $80 for only being able to develop 1 out of the 5 rolls I brought in (it was color).  Oh yeah baby.  That’s a bright and shiny silver lining!!

I just spent $20 of it already on some stuff I was already planning to get, but I’m wondering if maybe I’ll spend the rest on SingStar 80’s which I had just eyed today…  We’ll see.

I’ve been a spreadsheet making fool these past couple of weeks. I made one the other week when figuring out how much it would cost to go to Shibaricon. I half did it for me to see what the cost would be, I also half did it for Jefferson’s sake, who I’m dragging along (for my benefit as I want him to learn mad rope skills). He says I’ve found my calling somewhere between running a business and negotiating Jefferson. Yep, sounds about right.

If one thing’s for sure, I’m damn good at making lists and budgets. I made different calculations of whether to include air fare, or if we stayed 3 nights instead of 4, or if we drove. God I’m so glad I learned my algebra and basic arithmetic. You really do need this stuff when you grow up!

(If you drive 1600 miles round trip and your car gets approximately 25mpg, how much do you spend on gas when it’s 3.15/gal? Can you figure that out?)

Then tonight I worked on a list (yes, instead of studying) for my photography getting different prices for products I need to make pictures and then I worked out basically the approximate cost per image based on different sizes.

By the way, this business stuff is hard- which I mentioned before, but I was chatting with Jocasta who has her rope store and was giving me pointers. I guess I should maybe file for a Tax ID? I dunno- I’d have to think hard about making this into a serious business rather than just a little side venture. Because I don’t have any capital for overhead (other than my parents, and I don’t know how willing they’d be to front more money than they just have for this first batch of supplies).

I guess every business starter faces this dilemma- can I afford to fail? In my case, no I can’t really afford it.

I think what I’ll do is start with baby steps. If I can sell at least 25 prints through you guys and through people I know in real life, then I’ll take the next step and start a small website.

So, I think for the near future, I’ll deal with purchases on a more informal basis- once I make some work to sell (after Christmas at the earliest), I’ll set up a dedicated blog, or page, or something to list what’s available and what the prices are, then people can e-mail me and we can just do the transaction through PayPal.

I guess I kind of have a good head for business, huh? Provided people buy my photographs, I have the potential to be decently successful here! (And really, a lot of the success lies in getting people to want my art!)

Plus, I think I get off a little bit on making spreadsheets. Just saying.

I made a purchase last night from B&H for film and paper that I think should get me a solid start in my photo selling project.  $400 I spent just for film and paper.  Hopefully my parents won’t pitch a fit.  Or ask for me to pay it back.  But I got 20 rolls of film and 250 sheets of 11×14 paper and also a few rolls of infered film I want to try out, though I also need a red filter to make it truly awesome.

As of now I’m working on building an online store.  I’m putting it together right now, and I’ll put up the link when I’m ready, but it probably won’t be until after Christmas, possibly the new year because 1) it’s going to take me a little while to figure out how all the features like shipping and taxes work on it and 2) I need to make more product.

I’m figuring out right now about what to do for shipping.  I don’t want to kill anyone on shipping, but I need to charge enough to cover postage and packaging.

And then I also have to figure out if I collect taxes on purchases (from NJ residents only I’m assuming), and if I do collect any taxes, what the hell do I do with them?

Also, if I’m selling my stuff, I could essentially write off my photo supplies, but then I would also need to claim my income from the photos which would suck, but probably not impact me much.  Double edged sword, right?

Damn, this business stuff is kinda hard!  I really hope I can pull this off.  Maybe I should get E-commerce for Dummies?

Though, I guess if the whole store website gets too confusing, I can do it much more informally through e-mail and PayPal.

But more photos are up on my photo blog!  Here’s the address again: http://designingintimacy.com/photography

Consider it a preview to what I’ll be selling as a lot (but not all) of those images will be for sale.

So, as we all know, Avah is poor. As usual. See, while I was stupid enough to take 4 studios in one semester, I wasn’t so stupid as to take a job at the same time. But you know, no job = no money.

Except that, well, I need money. And not just for food and gas, but for things in the future like Dark Odyssey Spring (Winter?) Fire in March and Shibaricon in May (and paying off my credit card for Camp would be nice too). So this is big bucks we’re talking about!

This is where my call to you all comes in.

I want to sell you my photos to help send me on my adventures (that you ultimately get to read about!).

I have some excellent shots that I’ve taken already (see some examples here ) and I plan on taking a lot of pictures this winter break. I figure I could set up an eBay store and people could pick out the ones they like best.

I print Black and White on Fiber paper (the good stuff) and have been printing between 5×7 to 8×10, but plan on going up to 11×14 (and perhaps 16×20 if there’s an interest). I don’t have the overhead for framing, but I can dry mount it (attach it to a piece of mat board- standard black, or you can pick an alternate color).

Speaking of interest, I’d be happy to do any kind of “commissioned” work as well. If you’re interested in helping me out but having something specific in mind, ask me! Obviously no request is too outrageous.  Perhaps if you’re local to the NYC/NJ area, we can arrange some kind of photo session for some agreed upon price?

As far as selling my pictures, price wise I’m thinking $15-25 for prints up to 8×10 plus shipping (what, like $3?), and like $30-$40 for 11×14. I need to at least make some kind of profit after paying for the paper and film and mat board.

(I could shoot color too, but since I can’t process it myself, I would need to include the cost of developing and printing in the price).

If I could sell 25 pictures that would be a tremendous help. I have hundreds (nearly 1,000) of readers out there, there’s got to be at least 25 of you that would want to help support a budding artist!

If this piques anyone’s interest at all, leave me a comment, or drop me a line (avahsascent AT gmail [dot] com).

Also, more in the interest of fun, I made a little “Dream Wish List” at B & H Photo here. I’ve listed things from the outrageous (like a $5,000 Hasselblad) to the common (like $3 film).

I’ve started scanning my pictures in and uploading them to a special photo blog:

http://designingintimacy.com/photography/

There are just a few up right now, but I’ll be adding more as I scan them and edit them.  The scan job isn’t too bad, though not perfect.

Comments are perfectly welcomed and wanted!