When the Universe Tells You What You Need To Hear

Today, I'll admit I was a bit grumpy.  I was taking my daughter to a gymnastics camp and I was grumpy about it.  A little background:  I was a swimmer.  My mother and father were swimmers. And when my daughter started swimming and showed a good deal of talent, we were beyond excited.

Fast forward to today and the possibility of my daughter NOT wanting to swim anymore.  "Mom, I want to try gymnastics."  to which I replied that most girls in gymnastics started when they were really, really young.  "But I just don't think I want to swim anymore."

Whhhhhaaaaat??

So begrudgingly, I enrolled her in a gymnastics camp for a week.  And this morning, when I took her, I was quiet.  So quiet, that she asked if everything was alright.  "NO!" I screamed on the inside, "NO! You don't want to swim anymore!! It's your gift and you're leaving it behind!"  But on the outside, "Everything's fine--let's get you inside and signed in."

Standing there waiting, a mom with her child started talking to my daughter.  Something ordinarily I would do in an effort to facilitate a friendly connection for my daughter in the class, but was too grumpy to do.  She asked if she had done gymnastics before and I answered that she was just trying it--she's actually a swimmer.  "Oh, how great to do gymnastics--great for cross training and strength--great experiences! I was a swimmer and I did gymnastics for a little bit and it really helped my butterfly!" And BOOM, just like that, I realized just how wrong I have been.

When I was in college at the University of Arizona, I moaned and groaned about taking classes that were NOT photography.   Not general ed classes, but the ones I was required to take for my degree--painting, graphic design, jewelry, drawing.  I ONLY WANTED TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHY.

I. AM. A. PHOTOGRAPHER.

But looking back, I realize just how well rounded they made me.  They gave me structure, experiences and framework that I never would have gotten had I had only photography classes.  And several years after graduation, after working in the photography industry from the time I was 16, I left photography for a while.  And when I returned, my path in that other career lent structure, experiences and a framework to my photography.  Frankly, I might not be where I am now in my photography career without having left it.

And maybe my daughter would leave swimming and never go back or maybe leave it just for a while.

I almost cried.  You know that feeling you have when you realize you've been so wrong and want so badly to apologize?

I introduced myself and thanked her for her words.  "It's so ironic to meet you today and hear your thoughts, I really needed to hear those words."

And then she introduced herself to me... "I'm Angel."

Here comes the New Year!

A little more than two weeks away from 2016 and I've been thinking about WHAT A YEAR! 2015 has been!

Laura Schmidt Photography (and I) grew by leaps and bounds this year and I find myself so thankful and grateful for the opportunities to grow and shape my business and to reach toward my goals.  I am so lucky to have worked with and for amazing clients who have trusted me, my direction and vision.

I am so grateful...
to be trusted to get the job done, done right and done on time
that my clients recognize and tell me how appreciative they are of my work
to have made so many amazing connections, both professionally and personally with my clients
to hear how fun it was to work with me and how much my clients actually enjoyed the experience
to be pushed into new creative areas, challenging me to be a BETTER photographer, a BETTER business owner and to learn something new everyday
to you, dear internet, my followers and website visitors for your time, your interest, your feedback and support

It's time to think forward to the new year and its possibilities and goals--I already know it's going to be a doozy of a year--full of change, both personally and professionally--and I'm ready--Bring it!

Thank you so much for your support--it's been an honor and a pleasure.  I wish you a New Year filled with good health, laughter, sweet moments, a little magic and spectacular success and look forward to seeing and working with you soon!

The History of Me.

I've been asked more times than I can count how I got started in photography.  And I can't remember just how it was that I ended up with my first camera at 8, did I ask for it, did my parents just think I would like it?--I just know that opening that box at Christmas was AH-mazing.  And from that moment on, I have called myself a photographer.

I got into a darkroom for the first time in middle school--and couldn't get enough printing (and experimenting!) time.  In high school, I shot for the yearbook, loving assignments that got me up early to shoot the surf team or out late at a baseball game.  It allowed me to roam in and out of every group in the school and chat up just about anyone.

My last year of high school found me working as an intern for a local portrait and wedding photographer and when my internship ended, I was offered a real paying job that took me through my first two years of college.  It was there that I started to learn a little about the business of photography, lighting, posing and building a loyal clientele.

When I left to go the University of Arizona, I began working for a very large and busy wedding and portrait photographer.  Here, I learned a lot more about business and sales.  And on the lighting side, I learned all I could from another photographer working for the studio, who is still one of my close friends.  A friend gave me a darkroom setup he found at a garage sale, and when I wasn't in the darkroom at school, I was in my darkroom at home.  My favorite darkroom memory:  printing a monster mural print (a self portrait with a friend), rolling and unrolling it through the developer, wash and fixer and proudly hanging it to dry.  My love of creating in the darkroom still holds true today, in my digital darkroom, but I do miss the smell of the chemicals.

My education in college taught me about the history of my craft and how other photographers and artists saw and created.  And as much as I complained that I ONLY wanted to take photography classes, from drawing the models in drawing class to melting silver to make jewelry to oil painting to graphic design classes, they all made me into the multi-dimensional artist that I am, still seeking to create.

Along the way, this path has led me straight, (straight, via switchbacks and turns!) to today.  And I've finally realized that it takes the sum of the parts to make the whole.  And I'm still working on that.

What I know now.

This morning, I dropped my daughter at theatre camp.  It's the last week before school starts and she's been looking forward to it all summer.  During the parent orientation, the director made a comment that was something like, "it's the week before school starts and parents AREN'T YOU EXCITED!!!!" And my daughter looked back at me with a quizzical look and I shook my head no.

It's been the shortest summer on record.  School starts earlier for us this year and that certainly doesn't help.  This being a summer full of worry for my daughter (she's starting middle school--eek!), we've been hanging out a ton and talking, talking, talking.  And it's been really cool.

And for some reason, I've been very affected by the parents of the high school seniors I shot this year, watching their kids go off to college.  Perhaps it's my own kid heading to middle school or perhaps I'm just projecting into the future--I don't know, but it just seems like it's going really, really fast.  And I just can't savor the time enough.

The first thing people said to me as a new parent was to savor the days, they'll go by so quickly.  I didn't know.

We were at the store the other day, and my daughter was picking out something for her room--so excited because it was something that she really, really loved.  As she stood, deciding between blue and pink, a woman came up and watched her.  I asked the woman if I was in her way and moved to the side of the aisle so she could pass, but she said no, she was just enjoying watching the obvious joy my daughter was emitting.  And then she looked at me and said, "Tomorrow she'll be married."

And the trouble is, now I know this is true.  And so I savor the moments with this girl as much as I can, because tomorrow will be here before I know it.

In my datebook: Ansel Adams, Edward S. Curtis and Edward Weston: Photographers of the American West--Exhibition at Bowers Museum

It could be that most of the image in the show are on loan from the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography and that I've had a chance to see them at one time or another during my time there as a student--however, I still can't wait to see this show.

Since studying them in college, (particularly Adams and Weston) I have loved the idea of Adams and Weston's group f.64, called that in reference to the smallest aperture opening on their large format cameras enabling them to create images with incredible depth of field and sharpness.  (Contrasting with the wide apertures and concurrent bokah that are so in vogue today) (I especially loved photographer Willard Van Dyke's home gallery space called 683 "as our way of thumbing our nose at the New York people who didn't know us."  Brilliant.)

The influence that Adams had on photography, still today a growing and changing art, is so vast--from the Zone system to his idea of (pre)visualizing an image prior to shooting it, to an understanding of light like few others.

But my favorite has, and I think always will be, Edward Weston.  Perhaps it is seeing the growth in his work or romanticizing his life in the Daybooks (his personal journals) or the way he took ordinary to sublime.  I was so excited last year, when we took our trip to Pt. Lobos where he took his last images brought me that much closer to my favorite photographer.

Whatever you think of Adams' landscapes and Weston's Pepper No 30, their work helped shape photography as we know it.  Well worth the visit.

Now through November 29, this show with three of the most well known 20th century photographers is happening at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.  I'm planning on it, how about you?

Succulent
Laura Schmidt

My idea of fun!

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking photographs in a roller rink for my goddaughter's 9th birthday.  I'm out there on the rink, (I think I must have walked around that rink at least 100 times!) with an idea of what I wanted I wanted my images to look like.  And let me tell you, it was NOT happening.

Honestly, when I left the party, I was soooooo relieved that I didn't shoot for Roller Derby magazine and frustrated with myself for not being able to figure out how to accomplish what I wanted in camera!

But when I got back to my darkroom, I realized I could create the image I was looking for with a photo composite.  Okay, so I might have thought about this while I was walking the rink ;-)  I had shot several images that were exposed specifically for the colorful lights (helllllo 80's!!) and the movement and several images exposed just for the people, some with flash and some without.  The frustrating challenging lighting situation is that it's an on and off lighting situation--the lights are flashing on and off and changing with generally very low ambient light.  But combining the two images gave me exactly what I was after: a well lit image depicting the motion of my fast moving subject in a low light situation and the colorful lighting behind without looking, well, overly flashed.

Combining the two images and voila!  Exactly what I was looking for.  And instead of being frustrated, I ended up enjoying the challenge, creating a little playtime in my darkroom.  

Has a frustration ever turned into something positive for you?  Share it with me!

Happy New Year!

2014 has been an incredible year--full of growth, challenges and accomplishments.  As I reflect on the past year and begin implementing plans for 2015, I am grateful--and realize that I couldn't have done any of it without my family--my husband, daughter, mom and dad and friends.  Their support has allowed me to capture more than a few cool images along the way.  2015 is on it's way and it feels like the possibilities are endless.

May your new year be filled with life-changing, purposeful, extraordinary, thrilling and awe-inspiring moments!

Moving forward.

I recently read a short little article  on 99u.com about moving forward--and when you should.  Should you wait until everything is perfect and you feel comfortable before you make your move?

“Move before you are ready…Most people wait too long to go into action, generally out of fear. They want more money or better circumstances. you must go the opposite direction and move before you think you are ready. It is as if you are making it a little more difficult for yourself, deliberately creating obstacles in your path. But it is a law of power that your energy will always rise to the appropriate level. When you feel that you must work harder to get to your goal because you are not quite prepared, you are more alert and inventive. This venture has to succeed and so it will.”

Robert Greene

It reminded me of the experience that I use to bolster my confidence on many occasions.  I remember walking into The Bob Poe Gallery in Bergamont Station in Los Angeles with a girlfriend several years ago.   We went up to see a show on Lillan Bassman.  Bassman was a fashion photographer from the 1940's through the 60's, working with the likes of Richard Avedon and Robert Frank.  (Helloooo!!) She essentially got fed up with fashion and quit for a while, but in the 90's her work was rediscovered--when she was in her EIGHTIES.  Not only was her work beautiful, but in her 80's, she and her work experienced a resurgence of popularity.  Her story spoke to me and I wanted to see her show hanging at the Peter Fetterman gallery.

After we saw the Bassman show, we wandered around Bergamont Station, and came upon the Bob Poe gallery.  Poe produces large scale canvas using his iPhone to create abstract and very painterly images.  We chatted with the gallery manager and I asked several a questions about Poe's images.  He asked if I was a photographer and when I said yes, asked if I had a portfolio.  They were looking for one final artist to complete an upcoming show.  He gave me the submission information and asked if I was interested.  Umm.  In all of Los Angeles, you haven't found a photographer?  His response?  In a nutshell:  Most people don't follow through.  They say they will submit, but they don't.  It's not perfect, it's not this or it's not that.  Fear.

"It is as if you are making it a little more difficult for yourself, deliberately creating obstacles in your path."

My girlfriend and I went to lunch and she talked me into submitting.  We sat giggling and imaging the opening night of the show....Then I still had to go back home and gather my images and push the SEND button.  Lots of opportunities to back out.  I hadn't had my personal work in a gallery setting since college!  But, somehow, I pushed past the huge amount of fear and push send I did.

"But it is a law of power that your energy will always rise to the appropriate level.  When you feel that you must work harder to get to your goal because you are not quite prepared, you are more alert and inventive.  This venture has to succeed and so it will."

And my work was chosen.  Was it perfect?  No.  Was I ready? Definitely not.  But it was going to be up in a Los Angeles gallery in a matter of months, ready or not.

Since then, I have used the memory of that experience on many occasion in which I have felt fearful, unsure and unready.  Deep breaths, push send.

"...the law of power that your energy will always rise to the appropriate level."

What do you do to push past the fear and put yourself out there?