I will admit that this whole blogging/website activity has me a little vexed.  I spent an hour and a half updating my website, (shameless promotion alert)  www.poolephotographystudio.com tonight.  I have no problem with the uploads, but I did have a bit of an issue with the writing.  I decided I hated what I had written in the “ABOUT” section of the site so I erased it with the intention of writing a witty, clever introduction about myself.

All I got accomplished was staring at my photograph for an hour.  I did decide I need a new photograph.

My problem is threefold.  I hate clichés and I hate sounding like everyone else, and I hate stereotyping or pidgeon-holing myself.  The advice from others in the business is to be yourself, people want to know you, they want to like you and other such sage pieces of wisdom.  All great advice, and it is advice that works for many people.  But if  I really followed that advice, I would write “hey, I’m taking pictures now and would love to do your wedding.  Look at the work I’ve done and see if we are a match.”  In fact, I am going to put that on my “ABOUT” page.  It’s the first spontaneous truth I have come up with tonight!

And as for the blog, do I write everyday?  I could, you know, because I am my favorite subject, and I can ramble on about me for hours.  This might not be a bad thing, because the advice is to be myself on the blog.  This is supposed to be the behind the scene look at me and my business.  So maybe I should try that open and honest and spontaneous deal like I did above.  Ok, how about this:  I want to do something that has the potential for good money, I want it to be fun, and I want it to be something I am semi-good at, and I don’t want to be a Wal-Mart greeter.

So what does “Dreaming the Dream” have to do with any of this.  Stick with me, all will be revealed.

First, I want to share the with the reader the week I had this week.  Thursday I went to the Meet and Greet and Free Open Model Shoot as part of the Arizona Photographers Group headed up by Nick Pappagallo.  It is a great learning opportunity, at least it is for me, because studio lighting and posing are not my strongest areas.  I didn’t teach much of that, and certainly did not have the expensive equipment that was used that night.  They also have professional models there who are volunteering their time in exchange for being able to use your pictures, if they deem them as good enough, in their portfolio.  It is a win-win for everyone.  The meetup also had a seasoned photographer that was giving tips and advice on how to set up lighting and posing situations.  I took my pictures of model Cheryl Denise.  I sent her some of the  images.  Later she posted them, along with several other photos that were taken by other photographers that were there, on her Facebook page.  Let me say this, it was always a thrill to put a white piece of paper into the developer and see the image come out onto the paper.  I get that same feeling anytime someone other than me posts a picture I have taken.  (I just haven’t decided if it is cool to “like” that post or not. Haha)  Thanks, Cheryl, for posting the pics I took of you.  I look forward to us working together again in the near future.

On Tuesday, I met Kimmie.  Kimmie owns a couple of businesses.  One, called Fuzzi Bunnies, has handmade hair ties and bows for babies and kids.  The other does websites and other business type designs.  Kimmie is doing the design for my “Poole Photography” business cards.  One of my friends told me “Don’t do that.  You can design your own and get 1,000 for $10.00.”  Well, I don’t want to design my own business cards.  If I did, I would be a business card designer instead of an event photographer.  Nothing wrong with going first class.

It had a good time meeting with Kimmie.  We met for about an hour and a half, and maybe talked business cards for 20-30 minutes.  We filled up the rest of the time with good conversation.  We talked about our cats, who look remarkably like each other, we talked about a couple of mutual friends we have, how she ended up in Arizona, my teaching career and a whole bunch of other chit-chat.  But Kimmie’s eyes really lit up when she talks about her newest business venture, her newest passion, which is designing her own jewelry.  She shared with me the designs she has so far and some of the details she has in the works for making her dreams a reality.

Kimmie also helped me with some business questions and rocked some great knowledge in that area.  And as of tonight, I am happy to say, she sent me the first and second drafts of the designs she came up with.  There are 4 really great ones that are going to be tough to choose from.  They have all been my favorite at least 5 times tonight.  I look forward to the her final design.  Thanks, Kimmie for the advice and your creativity on my cards.

We are now at the dream part.  And there was much rejoicing.  I never dreamt about school, except the night before school started, either at the beginning of the year or the night before we came back from a break.  And it was usually the same dream; I wasn’t going to school and I had neglected to schedule a substitute.  Since my retirement in May, I HAVE DREAMT ABOUT SCHOOL EVERY GOSH DARN NIGHT! The worse one was my dream that I was trying to decide between going back to work at Apollo, or going to work in a copper mine.  Where did that come from?

But last weekend I knew that things were looking up.  I experienced my first dream about shooting a wedding.  I know I woke up smiling.  I look forward to the day when the school dreams are pushed out entirely and the wedding dreams are rule rather than the exception.  In my dream of Apollo vs the copper mine, I remember I was really leaning toward taking the copper mine job.  If  the dream is between shooting a wedding or the copper mine, I know I will be humming “Here Comes the Bride.”

Links:  www.arizonaphotographersgroup.com  http://www.nicholaspappagallo.com/  www.facebook.com/cheryldenismodel  http://www.fuzzibunni.com