My History with Photography

This is a week of firsts…first class, first camera, first photos.

I’ve been taking pictures off and on for over 10 years. After you have been doing something for so long, you start to think, how did I get here? Well, this is how my love of photography started…

It was my second semester at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and I was starting to meet friends. One of my new friends, Ann*, decided to take a beginning black & white photography class and I decided to join her. Photography wasn’t something that I knew much about, but I thought it sounded interesting and fun. After developing my first roll of film in that black & white darkroom, I was hooked even though my first photos weren’t very good.

After the semester was over, I realized how much I was going to miss photography. The university didn’t offer that many photography classes and I realized I wasn’t ready to be at the university so I enrolled at Oakland Community College**. The community college had a full program and numerous classes. I took every class they offered in photography and eventually earned an associate’s degree in photography.

I highly recommend the photography program at Oakland Community College. I really enjoyed my time there and met a lot of great people.

*Ann and I lost touch after I left the university, but I’m so thankful she took that class.

**I did return to Oakland University where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree with a major in general studies and a minor in art history.

Read more...

Giveaway

To celebrate the new Buttons & Pears, I’m giving away a print of Orange Crush. Just leave a comment on this post or answer one of the following questions:

What topics would you like me to talk about?
What do you think of the new direction for the blog?
What do you want to see on the blog?

Please make sure I have a way to contact you. Deadline is Friday, June 11 at midnight. I'll pick the winner on Saturday, June 12. Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Read more...

What to expect from the new Buttons & Pears – Part Two

Yesterday I talked about the inspirations I plan to share. Here are a few of the other categories you can look forward to:

Reviews: I’ll review printers, equipment, books, etc.
Studio Tours: I’ll share parts of my studio, my favorite equipment and materials
Upcoming Shows: I’ll still let you know about upcoming shows. All shows can be found in the right column of the blog.
Sales: I’ll let you know about sales I’m having in my shop
Photographs: New photographs will still be posted on the blog. I’ve been planning on sharing a few before and afters to show what a photo looks like when it comes straight out of the camera and the Photoshop work I do for the final version.

Stop by on Friday for a giveaway!

Read more...

What to expect from the new Buttons & Pears – Part One

Yesterday I talked about the new direction for Buttons & Pears. Today I’ll give you more details on what I have planned for the blog. I’ll start next week by sharing my discovery of photography and how I got started. I’m going to try and dig up my first photograph from my very first class. I still have every negative and every photo, even if they weren’t very good.

Here are a few of the categories I’ve come up with:

My Inspiration: This is a big one. Inspiration is a large part of creation and comes in many different forms.

Music: I’ll share which artists and songs inspire me. I believe there is a strong connection between what I’m listening to and how my photographs look. It’s not just while shooting the photographs, but in the processing as well.

Other artists: I’m always inspired by other artists. I’ll share artist’s work that I love and I’ll also bring back Flickr Inspiration. There are so many great images on Flickr and I love playing curator. So be on the lookout for Flickr mosaics.

Objects around my home: There are so many things that inspire me and a lot of the time it’s something in my home. So I’ll share what those things are and how they are transformed into a fine art photograph.

I’ll pick back up tomorrow with a list of the other categories.

Read more...

Mission Statement – A New Direction for Buttons & Pears

Over the last few months I have lost focus with Buttons & Pears (if I ever had it in the first place). That loss of focus really got me thinking about what I want to share and what I hope to get from Buttons & Pears. Recently, I discovered Tara Gentile’s e-book 52 Weeks of Blogging Your Passion. I decided to give it a try and it has really helped me create a focus and mission for the blog.

My mission for Buttons & Pears:

Buttons & Pears is an insight into my life as an aspiring fine art photographer. I’ll take a look back at the past and explore how I unexpectedly found my passion for photography and how I’ve evolved as a photographer. I’ll share my inspirations, goals, successes and failures. Through all of this I hope readers will have a better understanding of how I come up with my ideas and the process I use to create photographs. I also hope to inspire others to create, take chances and work towards their goals.

Of course, this will probably change and grow, just as I’ll change and grow as a person and an artist.

This week I’ll talk about my plans for the blog and what you can expect in the coming weeks. I’ve been working hard and have come up with some great ideas that I can’t wait to share with you. I hope you’ll stop by again soon!

Read more...