Saturday March 15th, 2008

Awesomely Bad Spam

I get plenty of spam in my inbox which I need to deal with on a daily basis. I’m just too darn stubborn to change my email address because its like being forced to move out of your house just because you have loud neighbors. Why should I have to be the one to leave?!?!?! Spam is illegal!!!! So this news story hit quite close to home when I saw it on Boing Boing just now. I just wish my spam was as entertaining as this….

Awesomely Bad Spam

Bruce Sterling’s received a totally awesomely bad spam from the “Redd Cross” of Slovenia, a triumph of unintentional comedy and machine translation:

“Good time of day. You are disturbed by the charitable company Redd Cross of Slovenia. We have the business offer for you. We can offer to you of earnings, thus your salary will make from 1000$ to 2000$ per one month, at an incomplete working day. Your earnings can be and higher. The more and forces you will give time, the there will be your salary more. If it is interesting to you, you write on the address of e-mail of our agent: manager_on_connections@yahoo.com he will contact you within 24 hours and will throw off to you all details, and will answer you on all your questions.

Thank you for attention Redd Cross of Slovenia!”

Woo-hoo! I think I just might like to work for the Redd Cross of Slovenia if they can promise me all of that! Who’s on board??

Posted by Amy on March 15, 2008 at 12:16 AM | Permalink |
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Wednesday March 12th, 2008

You know you’re getting old when…

1. You watch the late night infomercials on tv and sadly, you want to buy it all.

2. Getting the mail is a stressful event in your day. You hate the mail man for inflicting this on you.

3. While playing with kids you attempt a cart wheel- afterward you feel like you’ve been thrashed in a severe car wreck.

4. After eating just one pack of Starburst you feel like you’ve been sugar poisoned.

5. When you ask your 8 year old neice what year she was born and she says 1999, you think, “Liar.”

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Posted by Amy on March 12, 2008 at 03:52 PM | Permalink |
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Sunday March 9th, 2008

People often ask me….

“How did you get your start in photography?” I would like to start sharing answers to alot of the questions that roll in to help people get to know me better.

I just remember the pressure in High School of trying to pick a college major. NOTHING on those long lists: doctor, teacher, accountant, engineer, architect, biologist, seemed to fit me at all. I felt broken. Like something was wrong with me. It was like I was seeing all the other smiling students in slow motion as they ambitiously checked the “happily ever after” career box that was meant just for them. How could nothing on the whole list sound remotely appealing to me? I wanted to cry every time I had the career discussion with anyone. And deep down I was plagued with the fear, “Am I just lazy? Do I just seriously not like to work?”

I was a frustrated college student. Going to college to go to college because my parents said I had to. After my sophomore year, my parents picked me up to drive me back to Michigan and they had a long talk with me on the way. I remember them saying, “Honey, you are never going to make it through school if you keep on like this. You just need to get a degree, ANY degree. Pick something you are interested in. What interests you??” The only response I could squeak out through my depressed lips was “Art.”

So Art it was. With some renewed hope I threw myself headfirst into an art program and learned to draw, paint, & design. I really enjoyed it but I had no idea how I would make a career of it. I always found myself browsing the catalog for a photography class. Sadly my school didn’t offer one. The next year through a turn of events, I went another school and this time, voila, they offered photography classes. I signed up immediately and my Dad and I went camera shopping to buy an SLR for the class. I was beyond excited. Like Christmas morning times one million. In fact I was so excited that I cried after we bought it. I had never taken a “real” picture, yet something in my soul just knew.

I graduated with an Art degree and a couple photo classes under my belt. But that didn’t solve the problem of making a living. So I waitressed. I worked in an office. I did extra work for tv shows. I worked as a nanny. I sat around unemployed. I was sad. I’m not going to lie, it was a very rough time for me. I had worked 6 years to get my degree and afterward I had never felt so lost. One thing I didn’t forget though was that when I was working as a nanny I would take photos of the little boy at the park and give them to his mom. She loved them. Her friends loved them. Her friend asked me to come take pictures of her daughter. I think that is when the first thoughts about starting a business entered my head. Months later when I was looking for a new job, I started doing research online and found resources for starting a photography business. That was the EUREKA moment. NO WAY was I going to do anything else with my life but take pictures. It was the only thing I wanted to do. The only thing that felt right. I knew it was meant for me. Armed with an iron will and sheer determination, within two years I had a full time photography business on my hands. And praise God for it!

I believe that we have to pay attention to the things that we are truly passionate about, even as children, to find our way to our destiny. Let me say that sometimes I am so frustrated that I didn’t figure out the whole photography thing sooner. As a kid I constantly took my parents camera to take pictures of my cat or whatever. As a teenager I tried to take modeling pictures of my friends. I wanted the photos to turn out so beautiful, but they never came back from the Meijer photo lab looking they way I had envisioned (thanks to my cheap point and shoot). I even remember during the career discussions being presented with the idea of a photographer. But then I would picture my older sister’s wedding photogapher- her formal suit and pantyhose, her frenzied stressed out demeanor, her big bag of equipment and giant reflectors, her awkward assistant always lurking two steps behind like a frightend forest creature, and then of course the multitude of staged group pictures that came back in a binder. After reviewing what I had experienced a photographer was I would think, “No, thats not me. I don’t want to do that.” I guess I just had to see that photography could be a beautiful and personal expression of myself in a low key way.

So I want to thank all of my clients for hiring me to take photos of your kids and family and allowing me to express myself in this “career” that I find so rewarding!! I love, love, love my job and I hope that it shows. Here is a session from a few days ago that was the epitome of what I love about being a photographer. For my new readers, don’t forget to click the white button to view the photos from the shoot.

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Posted by Amy on March 09, 2008 at 12:14 AM | Permalink |
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Wednesday March 5th, 2008

Okay,

I’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to think of a topic to write about. I can hear my cat in the background making howling noises and running through the house. My computer has been trying to eject the same cd for an hour and is making a horrible cranking noise. I want to throw it against the wall. I’m watching the traffic wiz by out my window and still…no inspiration comes. The dirty melting snow is a sight to behold. I dreamed last night that Spring was here and I got to go spend $1,000 on new clothes. That was a pleasant dream. Maybe David can come home from work early and bring a nice bottle of wine and we can have an indulgent night of eating dinner on the couch and watching American Idol. I think it’s so funny how much America loves a winner.Here is another one of my lovely seniors.clickphotos.jpg3124.jpg

Posted by Amy on March 05, 2008 at 04:35 PM | Permalink |
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