Work Work Work - A never ending journey to finding the pro

My week long vacation is almost over and while I exhausted from my whirlwind time off from my day job I am nowhere near ready to head back to the daily grind of the real world.

My first three days off included a night sky shoot with my photo club that kept me out until 1:30 AM. This was an absolute blast.

The next morning I was up at 8:00 AM to head off to the State Fair Photography Judging to see how I fared in the judges eyes.

That evening I spent two hours with Bob Olin shooting some head shots and creative scenes with him. Bob was an absolute pleasure to work with, but by the end of the shoot, I was absolutely wiped out.

Then comes Sunday morning, I promptly process a half a dozen shots for Bob and email them to him to meet his deadline of having to get a fresh head shot to his new director by Monday morning.

At noon, it was time to start packing for our trip on Monday.

 On Monday I hope on my motorcycle, with my wife in and kids in the car and we head over to coast for two days of relaxation.

This shot on the left is what we were presented once we got settled into our room. The rest of the two days were cold, foggy and gray days which were a great reprieve from the summer heat we experiencing in the valley and much needed considering we are experiencing triple digit temps for the last two days.

The day we get back from our trip I have two hours to prepare for my photo group's monthly meeting.

I truly have one of the best photo groups. We are active, knowledgeable and so sharing.

To the right is one of the members, Terry. This guy is an amazing photographer, yet is so humble to boot.

He is only one of the 100+ members of the group that makes it so an enjoyable experience.

Thursday, I spend two hours finishing my job with Bob. I process his images, burn them to a CD, prepare a model release, print a sample print (of my favorite shot) and email letting him know that I will have the CD and print ready for him at the meteor shower shoot.

Processing images is 70% of the enjoyment of photography for me. This is where I get to see the actual results of my efforts in the field. I get to experience the successes and the failures. Sure my DSLR has a preview screen, but a little three inch screen pales in comparison to seeing my work on a 21" wide screen.

Just as an FYI... never delete a photo from your camera based on what you see in the three inch display. Even if it is obviously out of focus or poorly composed. That little screen could be hiding a big gem of a secret. Wait until you get home and look at your shots on your monitor. Many times I still delete the shot, but every so often there is a something in a photo, that I would have deleted based on the camera preview, that is actually something very special. Memory is cheap and if you don't have enough, buy some more.

It is 8:00 PM on Thursday and I drag my family out yet again. We head out to Baskett Slough to photograph the Persied Meteor Showers.

While I didn't get any shooting stars in my shots, I still got a few gems worth keeping.

The bright star above the telephone pole is actually not a star at all. It is two planets; Jupiter and Saturn.

The photo club had a blast. And while we got home at 12:30 AM, my wife and kids had a lot of fun as well.

Friday at last. Nothing on the agenda. Time to sit at my computer and go through the hundreds of photos I shot.

A true celebration of the cumulative time off my day job, which was the first time off I've had, that wasn't related to illness, since December.

So how did I celebrate? As I said, I spent the entire day in front of my computer going through the hundreds of photographs I had shot since Monday.

And my oh my, was it a relaxing day.

While I did this, my kids played a new Wii game called Endless Ocean (a beautiful, educational and entertaining game for the whole family). My wife came into the room and we talked, in depth, about my future as a photographer.

We both agree that I need to take this to a professional level. We both agree that I have the talent and the passion.

We just didn't agree on the method for making the transition. But after two hours of discussion, some tears being shed while fears were being shared, by my wife, we came a suitable medium on a plan moving forward.

Now it is Sunday and I am wrapping up my week, sharing the joys and pains of my "vacation" which was anything but a staycation. Still working towards my goal of going pro full time. I know I can do this, but the real question is when can I do this. I almost need another couple of day to recover from my whirlwind of a vacation.

Tomorrow will come and over time I get back into my normal daily routine, but someday I will be repeating last week, every week. Sure it will be work, but it will be a little slice of heaven and who doesn't want some of that?