day 1/365

dino

today i am starting a 365 photo blog inside my regular CSP blog. so what’s a 365 photo blog?

a 365 photo blog is a blog where photographers, professional and amateur alike, post a photograph every day for 365 days. it can be of anything – there are no rules regarding content except for anything that’s self-imposed. the only rule is that the photographer must take a photograph every day and post it to their blog.

so what’s the point?

this is an incredibly good exercise for all photographers for the following reason:

1. over time, it improves your photography skills considerably and in an overall manner. you learn flexibility and efficiency while handling the camera, fluent manipulation of camera settings, immediate and correct response to any sort of lighting situation, and more intimate knowledge of the way your camera reacts to certain settings.

2. it jumpstarts creativity and refines personal style. although there are no rules on what you’d like your photograph to be of, it’s helpful to imagine a specific scene in your mind and try to recreate it through your lens. this exercise helps immensely with being able to verbalize posing and position models during shoots according to the vision in your head.

3. a year is a long time to take a photograph every day. after a while you wonder what there is left to take a picture of. however, this exercise helps you look at the same objects in different ways. this comes in handy when photographing weddings so that they all have a unique flair.

as you can see, it is very handy for photographers. it’s also interesting to the readers of a blog and their clients. people can see how you take every day objects in different situations and in different lighting scenarios and make them interesting. it also helps clients see a general sense of your photography style.

so why not just take a photograph and call it a day? posting it on your blog holds you accountable. sure, you might take photographs every day, but after a while professional photographers get bogged down and get “shooter’s block”. they start going through the motions, repeating the same poses, and stop trying to think outside the box. they also become complacent with lighting conditions and photography skills. this blog not only pushes the boundaries of subjects and scenery, but it forces you to strive for the highest quality and most creative image you can achieve because you are accountable to your blog readers.

i attempted to post every day to my blog in the past, but it just doesn’t work. i get busy – very busy – and stop posting. this forces me to post every day.

and what’s perhaps more important than anything is that this allows a very creative outlet for me. i shoot almost entirely weddings and people, but this is not where i started from. i originally started in my teens taking photographs of city skylines and landscapes accompanied by a heavy interest in macro photography. since my business takes up a majority of my time traveling, shooting, editing, creating coffee table books, etc, i don’t have time any more for my original love of taking photographs of just plain random stuff. this will allow me to take photographs of anything and an excuse to post it. :)

PLEASE feel free to leave comments, post suggestions, ideas, or challenges. it’s going to be an interesting ride!

so now for entry 1/365, an out-of-focus me…slightly representative of the fact that i am beginning a new adventure to mold and “focus” my skills for the 365 challenge. :)

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valentine wedding special!

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to celebrate a recently won award (more on that later) and the holiday with the most chocolate hearts, we’re having a valentine wedding special until march 14, 2010!

there are always a lot of engagements around this time of year, so what better way to say “congratulations” than 10% off all our wedding packages? we can’t think of one. our packages range from $1800-$2700 and are all full-day inclusive packages with no overage fees. any weddings booked before 3/14/2010 will be eligible for the 10% discount. please visit our pricing page for more details.

contact carolyn directly via any of the following methods to book. we are currently accepting books for the remainder of 2010 and 2011.

e-mail: carolyn@carolynscottphotography.com

phone: 919-807-1763

twitter: http://twitter.com/csphotographync

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happy holidays from csp!

happy holidays from CSP! the end of december marks the end of our package sale as well as new changes for csp in january 2010. we’re so excited for next year, the busy schedule, the fabulous clients, and the changes in not only our packages but in our professional printing company. look for more details and news next year.

*note to clients: i will be responding to e-mails during the holiday season, although probably not as quickly as usual. :) the eggnog and gingerbread slows me down a little.

thank you to all my family, friends, and clients for making 2009 a wonderful year. happy holidays!

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