Things have been crazy busy for me the last few months, but I have finally managed to find a few minutes to put together my 2010 calendar.  This year I’m offering a calendar in two different sizes; a larger, slightly more artistic 13.5″ x 19″ or the standard size 11″ x 17″.   This year’s calendar features shots mainly from around California’s San Francisco Bay Area which hosts some truly stunning landscapes and beautiful architecture.

See the below links for more details on each calendar available.

UPDATE: A larger slide show preview of the photos in the calendar is also available on my website.

13.5″ x 19″ – 2010 Calendar – $32.50

11″ x 17″ – 2010 Calendar – $22.00

In the few years short years I’ve given my heart and soul and dove head first into the fabulously entertaining world of photography, I feel like I’ve learned enough to fill the Atlantic Ocean.  Ok… maybe Lake Michigan.  Granted, my Polish genes ensure that I’ll really only retain about 1/32 of the information I’ve come across but still, what I know now compared to what I knew 2 years ago is almost beyond comprehension.  There are plenty of books out there that will tell you the ins and outs of photography; how a professional will do this or that to get their amazing photos.  For me, I’ve learned the best way to get a great photo is to read those books, promptly forget everything I just read, go out and shoot using all the wrong settings on my camera and then learn from those horrible, horrible mistakes.  I retain my information best by doing.  Not reading.  So yeah, I’ve taken plenty of bad photos.  But I’ve also learned a lot too (and the books helped when I finally got back around to rereading them.)

At any rate, I’ve compiled a list of the little and not so little things that being a photographer has taught me.  So here goes.

• Sometimes it’s okay to be afraid: Any one of my friends will probably tell you that I’m a big scardy pants.  I hate horror movies or anything that has the potential to seriously creep me out and make me check for monsters under the bed (and don’t think I won’t check!)  As I’ve progressed as a photographer, I feel like I’m making a lot of huge steps to get to where I want to go.  Huge, scary steps.  Steps that make me want to hide in the closet and wait until it’s over.  But sometimes that fear is a great motivator.  It’s helped teach me that if it’s important enough, I’ll get past that fear and if I really want something I won’t let anything stop me, including myself.   But I’ll still check under the bed for monsters.
• Doing your own PR is a pain: Well, at least for me it is.  Sales is not something that comes easy to a lot of people.  I happen to be one of those lucky people.  It makes it even more difficult when the product your trying to sell is yourself.  Yikes.  The internet is a public relation person’s wet dream.  For me, it’s great for uploading photos, having my own website, and blogging about random things but trying to form relationships and get contacts?  It’s a nightmare.  I’ve learned there is an exceptional amount of energy that needs to be invested in meeting, forming and keeping up on relationships with other people in this field.  So I mostly avoid doing it, at least until I can find my own PR person.  And this is probably the reason why no one’s ever heard of me.
• Most photographers are super helpful: A generalized statement, I know.  But true.  I’ve found that people in this field are really willing to help out their fellow man (or woman.)  People gladly share editing techniques, tips on composition, great books they read, the scoop on the latest equipment… it’s a giant community of helpfulness.  I can honestly say this surprised me in the beginning.  I fully expected those who were pros and advanced amateur photographers to snub the “little people” (such as myself.)  Why shouldn’t they?  They’re so much better.  But advice and tips are willingly given.  There’s always the occasional jerk-face, but most people are great.
• Change it up: One thing I’ve noticed a lot on the different photography sites I belong to is people have a tendency to only shoot within their comfort zone.  And they’ll also post the same picture 17 times with just a slightly different composition.  While I, myself find my own work fascinating to look at at every possible angle, I have realized that it’s pretty damn boring for others to see the same scene with almost no variation.  Another thing I’ve learned is to stretch myself as a photographer.  Don’t always shoot the same things.  I started out only shooting nature and absolutely refused to take photos that had any people in them.  It really limited my capabilities.  People didn’t interest me much then, and also I knew how bad I was at capturing that perfect expression on their face.  As I developed my skills and got more involved in the photo community, I was blown away by the people photos some of these photographers took.  Just astonishing.  I decided I wanted to give it a shot.  I was ready.  Sort of.  So, I started practicing.  I’ve found that it’s a different challenge altogether.  People move a lot faster than most things in a landscape but now I find people almost as interesting as a scenic vista.   I’ve discovered that as my ability to capture shots of people in action enhances, that also enhances my skills in general.  So when I actually do make it out to capture that glorious sunset, I feel more comfortable with my abilities than I used to.  My main rule for myself is to take pictures of anything that peaks my interest whether it be a waterfall, a kid in a playground or some random object on the side of the road.   It’s served me well so far and produced some cool photos!
• Find your own style: Yeah, I’m still working on this one.  But my point here is this.  We all have those photographers whose work just blows us away.  And we want nothing more in the world than to create just like them. Well, here’s the skinny.  Never gonna happen. Sure, you can try to recreate that cool thing they did and it may kinda look similar to their work, but in the end it’s just not the same.  I’ve tried to try it.  I see a lot of really great photos and of course I think, “wow! That’s freaking awesome!” And then I try, in a very sad and pathetic attempt, to recreate what cannot be recreated.  I usually end up frustrated and annoyed.  So I’ve learned that everyone has their own style.  I suppose this is what makes us different and interesting although, quite frankly, I’m excessively jealous of a few people and their styles… At any rate, if I force my photo to look like something it doesn’t want to, then neither me or the photo will be satisfied with this and I’ll just have to redo it again at some point.  So I have learned the hard way to go with the flow.  I go where my photo takes me.  Sometimes it takes me to the Recycle Bin.  Other times, I really couldn’t tell you how I got the photo to look that good.  And then there are the times when I know exactly what I want to do with it and it just happens.  Those times are the best.
• Back up, Back up, Back up!: I’m not talking about trucks here.  Backing up your work.  Wow, did I learn this one the hard way (my favorite way, apparently.)  It’s amazing how vital this is to anyone who stores anything on an electronic device and yet how few people actually do it.  It’s astonishing how many people stupidly think that keeping everything on an external hard drive means it’s safe (*raises hand* yep, I’m one of them.)  I think external hard drives are probably the most fragile piece of equipment I’ve ever encountered.  They’re unbelievably wonderful for storing everything.  Just pray you never drop it.  Like I did.  Without a backup. Things to keep in mind – data can potentially be recovered from a damaged/drive.  They have “specialists” for these things.   BUT, getting your whole life back from that one little drive comes at a hefty price.  It’s probably just easier and cheaper to back up your work.  Life lessons.  Where would we be without them?

Here’s what’s been going on with me:  Let’s see… about a month and a half ago I decided to spend a day in San Francisco, just walking around taking pictures.  I hung around Chinatown mostly but walked up one of SF’s notoriously big ass hills to get to an area of the city called Nob Hill.  I had thoughtfully parked my car in front of the gorgeous Grace Cathedral and had decided that after taking pictures there, I would just walk down the hill to Chinatown… knowing that at some point I would have to walk back up the hill, but of course that would be a problem to tackle later.  About 3 hours later.  After walking for miles through cramped streets and doing my best to directly avoid the strange people that Chinatown seems to attract while inconspicuously taking their pictures at the same time.  Worked out pretty well.

Not long after that, I flew to the Chicago area to visit family, some of whom I haven’t seen in almost a decade.  We had a big party, children running everywhere and reeking havoc as kids so love to do.  It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to take some interesting kid (and adult) shots.

I got back to the area just in time for the Power to the Peaceful Festival which is held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.  It’s a festival of peace and music.  This place was spilling over with hippies.  Totally not my thing (give me a little Dido, Incubus or Frank Sinatra and I’m a happy gal,) but a bunch of friends were going and it sounded like a great opportunity to get some really interesting photos.  You know, the kinds of things you wouldn’t see in your ordinary day.  Boy… was it worth it to endure the chilly San Francisco weather… the fog, drizzly rain and wind.  People running around bare foot in the mud, smoking lord only knows, the smell of incense and patchouli everywhere.  Absolutely worth it.  Hippies look excellent on camera, I’ll have you know.

Anyway, right after that (last week actually,) I flew to Minnesota to visit family and attend a wedding.  My mother is currently trying to sell her house to move out-of-state and as we all know the housing market is just fabulous right now for sellers, so it hasn’t been going as smoothly as she’d like.  I thought I would help her out by retaking her real estate photos since the ones she had on the listing were taken by her agent with a crappy little point and shoot.  This was my first opportunity to take real estate photos.  It was pretty interesting trying to take the cute house I grew up in and make it look really great on camera by pull out all the little interesting details of each room and highlighting them in a way to make it seem cozy and inviting.  This being my first time, I didn’t quite pull it off in the way I’d imagined, but I think they came out pretty well.

While on this trip to Minnesota, I had the chance to take some landscape photos.  Finally.  It’s been months since I’ve gotten out to do that.  My family and I drove up to Duluth, which is in Northern Minnesota at the tip of Lake Superior.  We spent some time around there, walked around the scenic downtown area so I could take some photos and then headed a little farther north to Two Harbors, MN and finally to Gooseberry Falls.  Beautiful area.  I wish I could have spent more time there.  I was hoping the leaves would have started to change color that far north, but sadly there was barely any change.

My main reason for going to Minnesota was to attend a wedding.  Ok, well I wasn’t just attending and it wasn’t just any wedding.  My best friend got married and she asked (begged?) me be her informal wedding photographer.  My job was to take photos of both the bridal party and the groomsmen getting ready before the wedding at the hotel room and then cover all the photos at the reception including toasts and cake cutting.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in a wedding from start to finish.  Man, what an exhausting day that was!  But beautiful.  I was so happy to be a part of such an important day and get to capture every damn moment I could on camera.  Of course, the downside is now I have to sort through all those moments and there certainly were a lot of them… 

Here are a few pictures from each little adventure I’ve had in the last two months (minus the wedding – the bride see’s those first, but I’ll be posting them soon enough!)

That’s right.  I entered photo contests.

Okay… so that was just a little anti-climactic, wasn’t it?  But, I was a little nervous putting my photos out there in the open, for people to judge.  Literally.  That was a new experience for me.  I hadn’t had anyone “grade” my work before.  I mean, sure my family likes my stuff, but really? What do they know?  (just kidding guys, I love you.)

I entered about 4 contests in February and most wouldn’t be awarded until summer.  The anticipation killed me for about a week and then I promptly forgot about them until I got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago.   One of the contests I entered was the 2009 Annual Spring Photo Contest hosted by Photographer’s Forum and one of my photos had been chosen as a finalist.   Out of 3500 photographers who had entered, me and about 100 other lucky winners were chosen.   I was over the moon when I read the letter.  Not only was I chosen, but everyone who was picked will have their photo published in a hard cover book which comes out in December.  This was certainly more than I expected.  I figured if I got anything, it would be a piece of paper and a pat on the back, but published?  Excellent!

I have found out since that letter that I didn’t win 1st place in the contest.  I didn’t expect to anyway.  I came out with a respectable Honorable Mention.  And I still get published in the book.   Considering this was the first time I’d ever entered any contest, I’d say I’m doing pretty damn good so far.

Here’s the winning photo.

Insanity.  But fun.  At least until the cop showed up.

But I also think that in order to get that really great photograph you have to be just a little bit insane.  Or maybe a lot insane.  That’s a tough call.  Anyway, the point is – nature, architecture, wild animals – all the really interesting shots are usually difficult to find and get to.  Which is just a pain in the ass, by the way.  But I suppose it weeds out the pros from the amateurs.  Serious from the dabblers.  Or the sane from the insane?  Again… tough call.

Sometimes we all need a little insanity I think.  My trip was well worth it.

I’m going to attempt to keep these blogs short and sweet which will hopefully entice me to post more often since I previously attempted to write long diatribes about my love for photography which mainly ended up with me rambling on about nothing. I’ll do my best to spare you from now on. But no promises, sometimes I just can’t help it.

At any rate, welcome (again) to my blog and I urge you to leave a comment or opinion or just stop by to say hi.

Here’s a taste of my work. A few of my favorite photos. Some new, some not so new.  If you’d like to see more, just head on over to my website http://www.vangeestphotography.com.   Enjoy!