A Day in the Life of a Photographer

A Day in the Life of a Photographer

The flashing alarm clock rings loudly in my ear as I awake from my dreams. I hit the snooze button many times before I actually get up and out of bed. Today I have plans to meet with a friend for a photography shoot at her house. These photos will be added to my ever-growing portfolio. Although still groggy, I am, however, incredibly excited that I have photography as one of my plans today. For me, photography is a part of my everyday life. I take my camera everywhere I go, whether it is down the street, down town, or just to a friend's house; there is always something to photograph. Something is always going on around, so it never gets boring. After I get dressed and do the normal morning routine, I sit on my unmade bed and stare at my dresser. I have a decision to make: 35mm or digital camera. For this particular photo shoot I decide to go with the digital camera because I figure I will have to do some digital photo editing whenever I get back to my house. I use the 35mm camera, usually, on still life photographs and not so much on photographing people because people and their expressions are so unpredictable when on film. When I am using a digital camera I can see the photograph right after it is shot but with 35mm cameras I have to wait until they develop and it may not be what I'd hoped for. It saves me a lot of money on printing also. So, after I decide to use my digital camera, I pack up all of my equipment and head off to her house. As I pull up to the gravel driveway I honk my horn a couple of times to signal her to come out and help me with my equipment. My friend comes running out of the front door. We get all of the lamps and the backdrops for the photo shoot out of my car. With our arms full, we struggle to balance everything and get into the doorway without dropping anything. I enter the living room. She has cleared out a large space for me to use for the shoot. I tell her to place my photography tools on the ground and to go upstairs and get herself ready. "I'm ready!" she yells as she gallops down the stairs in the massively puffy pink and white dress. I would compare it to Barbie's wedding dress. I am just finishing up getting everything organized and ready to photograph as she waits patiently on the bottom stair. I tell her that I'm all ready as I flip off the living room light and flip on the spot lights. "What exactly would you like me to do?" she asks. She has never been photographed before today so I assume she must feel a bit awkward. I tell her to just relax and to look natural. I do some sample shots and show her what to do and how to pose so that she feels comfortable. We start the session and it is going better than I thought it might have. One hour and some minutes later, we are done and I am ready to proceed home to start on the digital photo editing. I get into my car and wave out my window and yell back at her "Thank you!". On my way home my mind starts to drift. I start to think about the photographs and how great the photo shoot went. I can hardly wait to get the photographs uploaded onto my computer and start to fine-tune them to perfection. I pull into my driveway and rush out of my car and into my house, almost forgetting to grab the camera. As I turn on my computer and open the Photoshop program where I do all my editing, I take out the memory card from my camera and insert it into my computer. The photographs appear on my computer screen one by one as the download into my folder labeled ‘Photographs'. DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. I open one of the two hundred and sixty photographs I took that day and study it intensely. I begin the simple alterations first; I make her face look flawless, make her short hair flow all the way down to her back, I can take off ten pounds with the click of a mouse; all the power in the world seems to be in my hands. I then advance to the more difficult levels of photo editing. Adjusting the lighting and cropping the photos are the final stages of the editing, and I complete them with ease. Being so familiar with this program, all of the editing comes especially easy to me. Finished. To bed I go. I curl up and snuggle up into bed ready for another day. I lie in bed and think about what I should photograph tomorrow. I think I will walk around Downtown Pittsburgh and find something interesting there. Photography will always be a part of my life. Everyday is another adventure and will always be enjoyed.