Vickie Oakley Photography

A New Perspective

2009-06-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

In earlier posts, I have related that I have been very frustrated with my photography work. The frustration continues somewhat, but I have discovered that frustration is part of the sacrifice you choose when you chase your dream. I really do not like to admit this, but I had become very relaxed in my techniques as a photographer. I suppose that I had become very comfortable with the way that I saw things and the way that I went about recording my images. Most people have come to realize that when you become comfortable with any situation that is usually when you lose perspective on what you thought you had accomplished. When I discovered this concept, I became even more frustrated with myself; however, I resolved to work myself out of this situation. I believe that it is not good for a photographer to become sloppy in the techniques of photography and that is what had happened with me. Unintentional as it was; none the less it had happened. So I set about to "study" my techniques or the lack thereof. Every Saturday or Sunday afternoon for the past three weeks, I have set up an outdoor studio on my front porch and I have done studies of different flowers or groups of flowers using different photography techniques. The first week I studied Gardenias. I love Gardenias or as my Grandmother use to call them "Kate Jasmine". The Gardenia is a very, very old plant, but in June of each year they produce the most beautiful, white flowers with a Heavenly smell. My Gardenia bush was a gift from a lady that used to go to church with me and my husband. She rooted it from her bush and gave it to us as a house warming present when we moved in our home thirteen years ago. She is in the nursing home now, but every time I look at the Gardenia bush I think of her. I also studied the magnificent Southern Magnolia. My neighbor has a magnolia tree in her front yard and she was gracious enough to let me gather blooms from her tree this year to photograph in my study. I have wonderful neighbors, I am constantly gathering flowers from their yards to photograph and they never say anything. Matter of fact, they will often come out and help me or wave at me through the window. Then last, I studied several flowers such as the Hydrangea, the Cala Lily and blooms from my white, butterfly bush. I gathered them together and put them in a pitcher that used to belong to my Grandmother made out of "Carnival" glass. I also studied and photographed one of my favorite flowers-the Day Lily. I have several different varieties in my yard. I can tell you that taking the time to study has certainly paid off and I really enjoyed shooting the different groups of flowers. Yes, I did not get every shot correct, but I am returning to my "first love" of photography. I have a new perspective. Thanks for viewing my blog and I hope that you will come back again.

Happy Shooting!

Vickie O.

Three Weeks of Spring Left

2009-05-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

I heard the comment today that we are celebrating Memorial Day this weekend so this is the official start of summer. I thought about what had been said and this was my response in my mind. No, actually summer does not begin until June 21st. We still have at least three weeks of spring left and we are having the spring showers to prove it! I have not been able to devote time to my photography work and that is some what frustrating as well. If you have been following my photography blog you have read where I am frustrated with my photography work as of late. I believe that I have gotten sloppy with my technique and that is not acceptable. At least not to me or the photo judges. I have even bought a new lens and I have not devoted the time to learning how to use it properly. I was recently encouraged by another photographer to "just enjoy the journey". Now that is a novel idea. Yes, just enjoy the journey and here are some new images to let you see that I am trying to enjoy the journey.

Happy Shooting!

Teaching Photography Classes

2009-04-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

I sometimes teach digital photography classes on weekends. Teaching photography helps me to learn more about photography as I teach others. The class that I taught today was a basic photography class. The class usually lasts 3-4 hours and the time goes by very fast. There are four main points that I try to cover in the basic photo class and they are: Exposure and shutterspeed, ISO, White Balance, and Shooting Mode. Of course there are some other points that I tried to include such as how to use the historgram and shooting in JPEG vs. RAW. I have been shooting for a number of years, but I find that I still do not know everything there is to know about photography and that you can always learn how to do something different and possibly even better. The one point that I really try to drive home to my students is to know their camera equipment and the only way that you can do that is to: Shoot, Shoot, Shoot! Will you make mistakes, I certainly hope so! You can learn so much from the mistakes that you make. Photography is a skill that anyone can learn if they are willing to spend the time and it does take time. The camera industry today would have us to believe that all cameras are easy that all you have to do is just point and shoot. However, if you ever want to be able to have the shot that is truly a work of art, you will move from your comfort zone of shooting program auto and start shooting in other modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority or manual, yes that is what I said manual. Enjoy the experience of learning something new or different. Do not be afraid of your camera. If you are afraid of your camera; pack it up and sell it. I encourage you to enjoy an afternoon of shooting and learning about your camera. Let your camera teach to see things in a different way. You will not regret it if you are truly interested in photography. Until next time......Happy shooting!

Frustration leads to a new way

2009-04-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

So far this year I have been very frustrated in my photography work. Those things that I want to do it seems that I can't do and those things that I do not want to do, I do. F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-I-O-N....Frustration! However, I have about decided that frustration often brings about change where change is needed if we allow it and we do not give up. I love photography, but I have been very frustrated with my work recently. So I have been trying a new technique, something new in my work, actually I have gone back to using some old techniques that photographers used to use in the "film days" and I have recieved some complements with the outcome in my work. However, more than just complements; I am starting to feel, to be satisfied, fulfilled, pleased (call it whatever you would like) with my work again. Gratification; that is the word I am searching for. Yeah, gratification. That creative nature of mine is feeling gratification once again.

Keep shooting and God bless!

O What a Night!

2009-03-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I have just returned from Atlanta, Georgia where I attended the Tots to Teens Photography seminar taught by Sandy (Sam) Puc. And oh what a night! The trade show began at 4:00 p.m. and the seminar started at 5:00 p.m. Both shows were jam packed with information on just about anything a portrait photographer wanted to know. The show ended at 11:30 that night, but as I said before the show was jammed packed with information right up until the very end. I was amazed at the information she was willing to share with other photographers. Marketing plans, shooting "secrets" such as how to maintain a child's attention, and posing secrets as well, equipment information, etc. She certainly inspired this photographer as I had been very frustrated with my lack of creativity lately. She plans to do "families" next year and you can bet that I will be there if I can! Let me recommend that you attend one of her seminars in a town near you. It will be worth the time. O what a night!

Spring is coming!

2009-03-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

My husband and I went to Panama City Beach this Friday to check on "our place". Friday was a beautiful day and Friday evening on the beach was beautiful as well. You can tell that Spring is on the way! Recently I have tried my hand at some night or late evening photography and I have found that I enjoy it. It is a bit of a challenge until you learn the principles behind it. As I stated in an earlier post, I have been frustrated with my photography work so I was wanting to do some fun shooting. I am very fortunate that my husband understands my creative nature and he gives me the freedom to be who I need to be. We wandered down to the beach about 6:00 Friday evening just as the sun was setting and I was able to capture some shots. I decided to change the lens on my camera and use an old 50 mm lens that I had not used in a while. I have become more accustomed to using my 18-200 lens. The 18-200 lens is a good lens; however, the 50 mm lens has an aperture of 1.8. Yes, I was able to shoot at very, very low light without loosing any details and/or also using a flash. This photo was taken through my husband's truck window.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed using the 50 mm lens. Matter of fact, I believe that it will have a permanent place in my camera bag.

Frustrated Photographer

2009-03-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

I suppose that there is a time when all photographers become frustrated with their work or their skill; however, you would like to put it. Recently I have had a strong sense to photograph a landscape image that can be printed and framed as a beautiful piece of art. A fine art piece created from one of my photographs. Yes, I have many photographs that are framed, even printed on canvas, but I want a fine art piece. So to make a long story short, I have been trying my hand at landscape photography. My neighbor has a flower bed that has beautiful tulips and daffodils blooming and I thought the flowers would be a wonderful subject to create my art piece from. Late yesterday my husband I decided to take Grand Dog for a walk and I carried my camera with me. As we got closer to my neighbor's yard, I could see the tulips and I begin to vision in my mind the art piece that I would create from the digital images that I would take. I had my favorite lens that I consider to be my "workhorse lens", Nikon 18-200 (telephoto lens) 3.5 -5.0. I checked the settings on my camera and changed them to meet the time of day that I was shooting. As I begin to shoot, I quickly came to the realization that I was not doing something right. The depth of field was wrong, I had some tulips in focus, some were out of focus. The more I tried to correct what I was doing, the worse I got. Here I was down on my stomach, crawling on my knees, sitting on the cold ground and it seemed the more I tried the more I failed at trying to photograph these beautiful flowers. Finally, I was able to get what I thought were at least 10 good images. That is until I got home and downloaded the images. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth as I reviewed the images. As you can see from the photo below, the out of focus stem and the fuzzy tulips. As I viewed the images I was thinking to myself,"what were you doing?!" I have managed to salvage the same image by retouching the image in Photoshop, but I have not found my art piece that I had visioned. I hope that the tulips will last until Saturday when hopefully I can try again. However, I do plan to use my "normal" lens which is a Nikon 50 mm, 1.4 lens. The vision may have become fuzzy, but it is not dead. Yet.

A New Thing

2009-03-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I have created a blog for the photography website. This is a new thing for me, but I am trying to learn to let others know about what is going on in the world of Vickie Oakley Photography. I just recently posted the portraits that I took of several church members that were attending the Valentine's Banquet at my church. I really enjoy portraiture work. There is such satisfaction in creating a portrait that people enjoy. I know that it is true for photographers the world over. And.... there is so much to learn about photography. I do not care how long you have been shooting you can still learn something new about photography. This is a new day, a new time to learn a new thing.