Shoutout to Chontelle!

Who informed me earlier that she is one of my fifteen!  I was so excited to hear that someone besides my family and friends subscribed!  It's really quite flattering.  Because Chontelle is a photographer.  And she's  good.  And I wish I could steal her studio name, because it's about as cute as can be - Cotton Blossoms Photography.   And something I never told her, but she is personally responsible for me singing the same song about 2 THOUSAND times from here to Seattle and back.  

(Seattle!!)

What song, you may ask?  Sometimes, by Francis England.  I LOVE this song. And so did my 2 year old, who was 16 months at the time.  And  hated flying.   [We now have several pairs of headphones donated from others on the plane who hoped that Josie would watch a video.  No such luck.  Sobbed the whole way home.  But would sob more quietly if I sang, "Sometimes".   So I did.  

(only time she was quiet.)

And I sang it in the hotel room to help her fall asleep.  And I sang it while we were walking around town, and she was done,  just DONE, with being in the stroller.  

And sometimes I still sing it.  Because it's a fun song.  But alas, she's since moved on to "One Was Johnny", sung by Carole King.

[When Ian was that age, I had to sing, "When I grow up" by Michelle Shocked.  And then he moved up to Jazz Bird (from My One And Only).  And now, his favorite song is Ironman.  Egads.  I blame his father for this.]  

I love that my kids are into such a variety of music.   I have some children's CDs.  Some of them I don't think my kids have ever even heard (Jack Johnson, you say you're for children, but please.  You're mine, all mine!)  And some, well, let's just acknowledge right now that just because you have a CD doesn't mean your music is any good.   Blech.

Music.  wait, how did I end up on music?  I wanted to talk about Chontelle.  And her website.  Because I saw her website before I ever met her.  And I use the term 'met' loosely, because we knew each other first on a photography forum, and it wasn't until we went to the PPA convention in Tampa that we met F2F, as they say in the World of Lazy Thumbs. (You texters who don't write in complete sentences, you know who you are.)

So Chontelle.  And her website.  A while back, before I really knew what I wanted my work to look like, I spent a lot of time looking at other people's work.   And I was jealous, because it seemed like so many of these photographers knew each other.  And I didn't know ANYONE.  Photography can be a really lonely business.  You work alone in the studio (well, except for your clients, of course), and alone while you're editing.  You have to figure out the 'how to make this a business' part all on your own because you don't even know who to ask.  It's pretty solitary.  (And it's improved - remember the darkroom?  We all worked with the radios on for company.  Remind me to tell you someday about when someone called the cops on me for that.)

But it can be pretty lonely until you meet some folks.  You really don't even know what to ask, or who to ask to find out.  And this is where I'm going with this post. (Hah!  You thought it was going to be about my kids again, didn't you?!)   I remember when I was setting up my business, getting registered, figuring out how to pay taxes, looking for insurance... I remember thinking that there was SO much more to having a photography business than taking pictures.  Taking the pictures is the smallest part of it all.  And I wondered if it was what I really wanted to do.  I loved creating the images.  But the business part... it was so much work just figuring out HOW.  I wished I had someone to ask.

And I kept running into this guy Jeff, who kept trying to get me to go to a VPPA meeting.   VPPA is the Virginia Professional Photographer's Association.  But... I don't know.  It was a little intimidating - I didn't know anyone.  I didn't know if I even knew anyTHING.   I didn't want to make a fool of myself.  Eventually, though, my resolve weakened and I went to a meeting.  And I met some amazing people.  And they were all willing to answer just about any question I had, no matter how basic.  And then I found PPA, which is (come on, I'm sure you can guess!)  The Professional Photographers of America.  Again - amazing people, willing to answer anything.  I can't begin to tell you how important both of these organizations have been to me, and how much my growth has been directly related to my membership with them.  

Now I know that at least one of my 15 is a client, and by now has probably fallen asleep.  But I'm hoping that maybe one of you is a new photographer.  Someone who is doing what I did - looking at everyone's sites and blogs (which weren't even around when I was starting).  And I'm hoping you've made it this far.  There's only a little bit more to go, I promise.  There really is a payoff.

So back to the PPA/VPPA/SEPPA (Southeast).  They've given me more than I can ever quantify.   And one of the things that everyone should do, when given the opportunity, is to give back.  PPA has a way for you to do that.  It's called Super Monday.  Twice a year, spring and fall, PPA sponsors peer education.  If you know something, chances are, there's someone out there who wants to learn it.  And now that I've been at this gig for a while, I feel like I might know a thing or two.  So in November, I'm going to be teaching a Super Monday class.  The class is The Business of the Art.  And it's about all those things you need to do to make this photography thang an actual business.  (Trust me, there's a lot.)  So if you're new to this, and you don't know who to ask what, this would be a great class for you.  And I'd love to meet you.  

So to summarize, Chontelle's was one of the sites I looked at when I was green and learning and didn't know anyone except my children who cry on airplanes except when being sung a song that I first heard on Chontelle's website that I looked at when I was green and learning and didn't know anyone until I joined VPPA which led me to PPA which led me to a forum where I met Chontelle.

Ya got that?  :)