The Landing, and some thoughts on my direction in life

"The Landing"
ballpoint pen- about twenty minutes of sketching
small leather sketchbook

I've been remiss in posting, largely because my time and energy has been eaten up by preparing for an interview for a job that I didn't get, and also by my re-entry into the horse world.  It's probably better that I didn't get the job, despite what would have been a significant pay raise.  An administrative position, while lucrative, isn't truly what I want.  To be honest, what I really wanted was more money to play with ponies, especially now that I'm riding and leasing again.

I did my first horse show photography since the WEG trials at Gladstone nearly five years ago in mid-April, which you can take a look at here.  This quick sketch is based off of one of my photos from that day.  It was a laid-back and very fun event.  I took my Nikon D100 with the 135mm lens, which telescopes.  The multiple frame feature wasn't as effective as I had hoped, so I really had to focus on each horse and rider, count strides to the jumps, and try to time the photo so the horse was in the position favored in most jumping photos- knees up and forelegs tucked underneath the body.  Since I am a rider, I had pretty good luck with that.  I unfortunately had some issues with blurriness in the more distant shots.  

The folks at the schooling show seemed pretty happy with my work though, and I even sold a few photos.  My price was much cheaper than what the professionals at the big shows charge- according to my trainer, $75 for a small photo.  I'm not a full-time photographer in the least, and I want people to buy my work- so I suppose I could consider this an introductory phase.  Were this a full time gig, I would charge much more.  I have to live, after all, and roughly $70 for six hours of work (plus editing, uploading, and printing photos) doesn't cover the labor.  For now, this is for fun.  I think I would enjoy specializing in schooling shows and lessons.  I'm not very comfortable with the tense atmosphere at rated shows, and I do think that people would love to have photos of the hard work and fun put into their horses.

Part of me still longs to drop the full-time job and jump into full-time artist status, lack of a steady paycheck notwithstanding.  Or at least go to a part-time job, to alleviate things like having to eat and keep a roof over my head, and devote the rest of my time to what I really love.  It may be worth the sacrifices required.

This was shared with me recently, and is making me rethink what I'm doing right now.