fəˈtɒgrəfə

An acquaintance posted on her facebook status recently, "Who isn't a photographer.... geez.... I mean really.... It means nothing any more." Of course the poster is a photographer, and I admit she has a great eye. I think she has boo-coos of talent. She's also taught me a lot of what I know in Photoshop. But it's this type of mentality that drives me crazy...

So what is it that bothers "professional" photographers so much? Why do they even care if Joe Blow wants to pick up a camera and put his spin on the craft and call himself a photographer? I mean, if they think the amateurs are lacking in talent, then what threat do they really pose? Be glad they suck; it's an up for you if they do!

I'm sure some will say that these "amateurs" are ruining what it means to be a photographer - or something like that. But I just don't get it. I'm an artist - in a vast sense of the word - but who am I to declare that someone else isn't an artist because they don't paint the same style as I? - or because their work isn't as "good" as mine?

Is Picasso less of an artist for the weird style that typically comes to mind when we think of the man? I'm sure the people of his time thought so, but look at his work now...

The irony to me is, this girl's sister is an artist (she paints abstracts). But don't you know she'd defend her sister's gift if anyone called her anything but! Do you think she'd agree her sister is less of an artist because she just does abstracts??

I talked about this with my brother and bro-in-law, and I'm the first to admit I'm probably taking this comment too personally. I mean, look at me: I've already called myself an artist, and I consider myself a photographer, as well. Sure, I don't make my living at it; I don't have the most expensive camera; I don't even have lights and all that fancy equipment. But what I do have is an artist's eye, and I think I produce quality work (and if I don't take a truly amazing picture, I bet I can Photoshop the crap out of it and make it cool! haha). ;)

What I'm saying is:

What makes a photographer (or artist, or graphic designer, or any profession/hobby, for that matter)?? Does it state somewhere in the manual that a gazillion of dollars be spent on equipment to qualify? Because all I see in the dictionary is:

photographer [fəˈtɒgrəfə]

n

(Business / Professions) a person who takes photographs, either as a hobby or a profession

There's Always Next Time

After a long day of work in "Put on Your Happy Face" Hell, I made the mistake of trying to take a little cat nap on the couch...

It didn't help that I stayed out at the karaoke bar with a good friend of mine and her crew til 1AM and had to get up at 8AM (princess needs her beauty sleep), but it was so worth it. I didn't actually brave the stage, but I wish I had. It took me so long to decide on a song that I actually knew most of the lyrics to that the KJ never got around to calling me out in front of everyone - er- I mean, calling me up on stage. I really, really didn't want to look like one of those girls. You know the ones: they look like they've had far more than one too many and stumbled up on stage only to create a sound dogs would howl to. Yeah. Those girls. I don't make a habit of singing in front of anyone except my kids, and they know no better (yet).

I also did lots of heavy lifting and cleaning prior to this outing last night, as I was on setup duty at work. And this cleaning/setup process takes a few HOURS to do.

All that is just to let you know the state my body and mind were in today after a long three days of peppiness and some manual labor. My body finally told ME to take a nap. And nap I did.

...or tried.

Sure, I could have gone in my own little room and taken a nap. But the couch was so inviting, and should my mind not let me fall asleep, there's the TV right there to entertain and possibly bore me into slumber land.

I didn't even spell REM before wonderful Husband#2 and his buddy come crashing through the door to the apartment. Clearly a blind man could see I was asleep on the couch, but did Mr. Wonderful make any attempt to keep it down?? Of course not. That would be decent of him. Oh, no, he started banging things around, turning on all the lights (because you know how dark it is at 4 in the afternoon), and talking above a normal volume.

Did he at least apologize?? -you ask.

No. HIS FRIEND, however, felt a twinge of guilt or decency and apologized for him. My sister, upon hearing this, asked if my response to his friend was, "You see why I'm divorcing him, right?" Unfortunately, in my groggy state, I didn't. Dang it.

Next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time) I'll have my ammo ready.

Hazwoper Personnel Needed

In my search for a job in MS I came across this posting on Craigslist.

The title reads "Hazwoper Personnel Needed". I'm always leery about postings: not sure if they're real or some twisted sort of SCAM (Please tell me what kind of kicks people get out of fake Craigslist posts?? I just don't get it).

Anyway, I have never heard of a Hazwoper - and think it's a funny word - so I googled this "Hazwoper" business, and yes... It is an actual word. er. title. Whatever. Let me share my findings:

• HAZWOPER is an acronym for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. It refers to five types of hazardous waste operations conducted in the United States under OSHA Standard 1910.120 "Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. ...

blah blah blah - you learn something new every day.

And, no, I will not be applying for a position as a Hazwoper - in case anyone was curious. But I might use the word as some kind of bad name to call my closest friends/family.

Class ajourned.

Facebook Friends

We all have them... Cause everyone has a Facebook these days. And on there we have our friends, and then we have our Facebook friends. They're easy to tell apart: your real friends are the ones you talk to on a regular basis and even, technology forbid, see them... IN PERSON.

Facebook Friends, however, are the ones you either requested because they have a private page and you couldn't snoop their life without asking to be their "friend" - or maybe you accepted a friend request from them because you think maybe you remember someone with that name going to your high school back in the day. Or perhaps you just accept any ole person as your "friend" to get those numbers up...

But my brother: He has over 900 Facebook friends... NINE HUNDRED, people!! I don't know if I've even met 900 people - let alone have that many friends! But if you know my brother - and if you're breathing, you most likely do - then you know that he probably actually does have that many friends - possibly more.

Everywhere my brother goes he knows someone. Either people recognize him or he recognizes them, and they seem almost excited to be in his presence. And who wouldn't be? He's one of the greatest people I know - and I'm not just saying that because he's my baby bro. Besides being gorgeous and incredibly intelligent, he just has a wonderful soul. He can be friends with anyone.

I see these traits in my son, too. I used to think he was going to be my shy, quiet child - but now I know better. He's the one that will walk up to any kid and ask if he can play with them. He has such a sweet soul, and if he grows up to be like my baby bro, I will be so proud.

Krystal Chick

What can I say, I'm a Krystal Chick: I love me some Krystal burgers. Give me a #1 with cheese plain, and I'm a happy gal. What I DON'T love are the incompetent people who work there. I mean... How hard can it be to place the mini cheese on the mini meat on the mini bun?? This predicament has ruined many a meal for me. It's one thing to be lazy and just give me the preheated burgers with mustard and onions... It's an entirely different thing to throw cheese around.

I'm one of those (if there even is a those and there's anyone else like me) who has to "fix" my burger before I can even eat it. I have to take each of my 4 minis apart and place the misplaced cheese where it should have gone to begin with. So, basically, I have to do their job for them [hmmmm... I wonder if I can get paid for this??] I realize my OCD is showing here, but COME ON!! When 2/3 of the cheese is still in the box after I pull my burger out, something is wrong. I mean... If I had wanted half of it to be a cheeseburger and the other half to be just a plain ole hamburger, I would have ordered it that way.

But it's okay. I know what they need to do. The Krystal people need to empliment a new step in their hiring process: The Tupperware Shape-O-Toy Examination. In order to work there, this test MUST be passed. You know the one...

EVEN A CHILD CAN DO IT!!!!

And they don't have to use this exact one; It need not even be this fancy. Really, they could use one with just squares - since that's Krystal's thing, ya know. Get it in red, yellow & white with their logo on the shapes or something... Or maybe just give prospective employees boxes to practice with. "Place the square lid on the square box. There you go! You've got it!"

So I turned a year under 30 yesterday…

And I received so many “Happy Birthday” comments via The Book – which really made my day special. I feel fortunate to have had so many people recognize my birthday. From my sister dedicating her status and a blog post to me, to new friends who also made my big day seem important – I am grateful for it all.

That being said, that’s kinda where it ended.

Husband#2, who travels for work and is never here during the week, wasn’t due home til around 6:30pm on Friday. I told him the kiddos and I would wait for him to eat my birthday dinner so he wouldn’t be excluded (we normally head for dinner around 6). He called when he was about to get on the plane and said it was my birthday, so I could pick where ever I wanted for dinner.

Well, he was late getting back from the airport – which wasn’t a big deal, as my kids had been turned into zombies and were playing games on the computer; and I wasn’t in any danger of starving or anything.

In his defense, when Husband#2 did finally arrive, he was baring 5 red sun flowers – which I thought was pretty cool. He commented that he had just recently discovered that I don’t like roses, reading my ancient myspace account. {{seriously??}}

Anyway, I told Husband#2 I wanted to go to Chow Baby – one of my fav restaurants, but we rarely go. He said he really wasn’t that hungry, as he had eaten a late lunch, and probably wouldn’t be up for the size portions you get at Chow Baby. Um... Okay... So I suggested we find some new restaurant none of us had ever been to – something I love to do. Don’t know why, but I do.

His suggestion?? “I think there’s a Zaxby’s the next exit up.”

I know what you’re thinking: Was he kidding??

The answer is NO.

I made a shocked face like, “How could you possibly suggest ZAXBY’S for my birthday dinner?!?!” – my birthday dinner that would be the only big thing we’d do in honor of My Day.

He just looked back like, “What’d I say?”

I gave him the benefit of being a male and let it go… until he started throwing out Applebee’s and O’Charley’s as more ideas.

Hello – Did anyone else hear me say somewhere NEW? – that none of us had ever been to before!

omg.

Well, I finally got that concept through to him, and we got in the car and gps’d it: searching for restaurants near us. I threw out a bunch of names, but HE wasn’t into any of them. He finally said, “How bout hibachi?” Okay… This I can work with. It’s fun, and we never go somewhere like that.

But it was harder than expected to search for via gps. We found a Japanese place right beside our apartment, but they only served sushi – a definite no go for me. The man at the counter suggested Mt. Fuji, so I gps’d that, and off we headed.

All along the way we got our usual dose of negative energy: Husband#2 even cussed out a car whose way he got in… sigh.

Our gps unfortunately gives us a pretty big general area to work with some times, so we ended up not finding Mt. Fuji. :( We did see a small fair that was set up where it led us, though. The kids were excited, and I must say, so was I. I hadn’t been to the fair in a couple of years – and never here in Georgia – so I told Husband#2 to stop there. But... HE didn’t want to go, so we didn’t.

Are we seeing a pattern here???

By this time Husband#2 was STARVING, so we couldn’t look for Mt. Fuji any more. There was an Atlantic Buffet, or something like that, across from the mini-fair. So we settled on that. The food was horrible, the staff not very friendly, and no song or anything for the birthday girl.

Also for my birthday I got to hear how crappy my third child (aka: Husband#2) felt all through dinner.

I guess I’m being selfish or self-centered here, but it all just really bummed me out. Going from my mom’s over-doing EVERYTHING for every holiday and birthday – making sure every one of them felt like something special - to nothing being done at all…. Well, it’s a huge leap.

Decision Time

So I shot a wedding for some friends a couple of weekends ago...

I thought I'd go ahead and post a couple of pics on here - since I'm always saying I need more pictures throughout my blog. Hopefully it will entice some people to keep reading and offer up their advice.

What I need advice on is this: At some point during my trip to shoot said wedding, I not only managed to send a personal invitation to the fire department... I also lost my glasses. And they (in my opinion) were pretty awesome.

I had some red frames that I had gotten as a birthday gift from my whole family a couple of years ago. I'm practically blind without 'em (so if you ever find a typo - I'm blaming my poor vision). I really liked them and even opted to keep my old reds (instead of getting new fancy frames) a few months ago when I updated my lenses. I have a hard time finding frames that I think look good on me. My family will tell ya: I'm pretty much the pickiest person in the world - or maybe 2nd pickiest, with my daughter being 1st place (I think that's evidence of karma in action there).

I finally found some frames that might be runners up. They're pretty nifty, if I do say so myself. They're actually reading glasses, but that isn't going to stop me from transforming them into my new eyes.

So what's the dilemma, already??

They come in this coppery-brown color and purple, and I can't decide!! If the lenses weren't so expensive (I'm blind, remember), I'd just get 'em both.

I suppose I should argue for both sides:

* I've had a pair of brown before, so I already know that shade would look good. They were actually brown on the outside and a light blue on the inside. And the coppery ones would match more outifts...

I don't know - maybe I should do something different, though? I love "different".

* I'm not a huge fan of purple - though I have been into it lately (my new swimsuit for this summer is purple). And how fun would some bold color like that be?

Not that you can really tell much of a difference in the picture.... but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Thoughts?