My sister-in-law ...

....the Artist

Drove to the coast this last weekend to take photos for my sister-in-law Julie's website...she is an amazing jewelry creator and was struggling with getting a decent photographer to take the pics without costing her a fortune...so instead she went with the hack she is related to and who just happens to be free! All kidding aside, and nowithstanding the couple of good pics I did get (see above:) mostly it was (yet another) disaster....I'm beginning to wonder if the lessons learned part of life ever gets past the painful lesson part. I must admit I'm getting tired of trying to find the silver lining...the character building part...the painful part...that's all I seem to get.

The photos that worked, the ones that are the most like what I do...the ones in my comfort zone...the ones that are portraits of jewelry, I like some of those. Everything else was ....not bueno...(to quote my children). Colors were off (and I mean apple green is YELLOW) lighting was off (splotchy...possibly a direct result of using my son's desk lamps for lighting) and worst of all, the tripod I borrowed from her husband kept listing (one of the leg locks was broken ...which took us a while to figure out and then we had it propped on paint cans....long story....AND the piece that locks onto the camera and fits into tripod kept coming loose so every 10 photos or so I had to take it off and screw it back in again...what more can they do to me?...suffice it to say that at one point I told her we should take a photo of the set-up just for fun..of course it would have been more fun if the shoot had been successful) And I have no remote release for my camera, so to counter any possible camera shake I used the timer for every shot...which just prolonged the agony of the whole situation. 7hours of work (she has a lot of jewelry and I'm slow) But at least that part I know can be taken care of with a purchase...or 2. The color issue is something I have had to deal with a LOT lately...and no one seems to be able to figure it out...ugh. The frustration is monumental and I am once again questioning my abilities and what direction my photographic life is going in. I need prayer...or at least wine :)