Sweet Tuesday.

I've been having a bit of a challenge in my first ever photography class lately, which has irked me to the core. I love photography and believe I'm fairly good at it. So when I entered the class I thought this should be an easy-A and that I should be the best in class. I quickly learned that I was missing the fundamentals of photography in my knowledge and that means there is a LOT of room for improvement. No matter how good I was to start.

I've been a little discouraged. And then today happened.

I arrived to class a mere 20 minutes late (a great improvement for me, who usually misses nearly the entire lecture portion of class) to find that I had received 110/110 points on my first assignment when I felt that this was not my best work ever. The rest of the assignments on the table said 100. I was second-guessing myself when I shrugged it off.

In the lab a few moments later, my partners for the second class assignment were getting ready to finish that assignment. About 5 minutes after I started making my contact sheet, Boko came over and said "I know you took this picture, but can I use it to make an 8x10 enlargement for that portion of the assignment? I really like it a lot!" (to show that you know how to enlarge). I said okay. 5 more minutes later, the other partner comes to ask "Marisa, I know you took this photo of me, but I really really like it. Can I make my 8x10 from this one?". OK!

More minutes later, I, who felt like she had to ask everyone else for help in weeks before, was asked by several people to help adjust their image. And so I spouted my knowledge. And it was right. Boko eventually needed some help on her(my) print and so she asked the teacher what he recommended, which was "burning in". She asked how to do it and he explained that it would take some work and it all depended on how much she wanted the image. "Really, really badly" she said. And so off she went for the rest of the class period to get that image just right. And she did and was so proud.

Moments later I hear people commenting on the print in the developer "oh wow! That's really good! Who's is that?" and then "Wow, that's a great photo of you... who took it?"

I continued on my own work. My own negatives, my own enlargements. Several people passed my work and said "Oh wow... that's cool! What is that? Who took it? Is it Randall's?" (the teachers). I even heard two "that print is perfect!" from one particular student.

Talk about an ego boost?

Then there's work. I go in. I'm the only person and I'm required, then, to work three posts all at once. Photographer, sales, and reception. I fall behind. But the people are so so kind and understanding. The printer runs out of paper and I've never changed it. Manager takes 2 hours to come down to get things all settled. But the people are still patient.

I take the photos, I interact with the parents. And while we almost could have had super low statistics on our sales per sitting at the store, each client I saw bought fairly sizable packages and came to pick them up that same night, despite the delay in time. Our sales per sitting was 30% above where we needed to be. Even at the end of the day when I had been alone and behind. All four of the people I saw wanted to come back and take holiday photos with me. "When are you on schedule?"

It was awesome.

AND THEN there's the song work with Adam. It started that I hated the first vocal track but was okay with the second. We added some different effects to the song and are still not done but have greatly improved it to the point where I can listen to it loudly in my car with no shame as to if someone hears me. It's pretty cool. That's a little huge for me.

So in the end of the day here I am, feeling like it's only noon when it's 1 Am and I need to be up in less than 6 hours. It's beautiful! What a sweet Tuesday!