Life After Instagram/ Advice to young artists

I personally feel like instagram isn’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon because it is so popular and it has been around for several years now. I would say instagram is one of the bigger platforms that artists use to promote themselves and I think it’s very beneficial. If instagram were to die out I’m not sure what I would use. Im not sure if there would be another social media platform just as popular by that time or not but if not I would most likely use twitter Facebook and any other promotional cite. 

The advise I would give to young artists, struggling, or not, is to always keep making new work. It is important to always be creating new things. Also never give up. Artist block is a real thing and happens to a lot of people and it may seem impossible to keep up with work but keep brainstorming. Other advise I would give, if you are  a student and struggling as to what major to go for, do not panic. I promise you will figure it out. I changed my major 5 different times before finally deciding what I want to do. 

My advise for any photographers is to keep posting your work to as many platforms as possible. It’s important to get your name and work there to be more recognized because you never know what could happen. 

Combatting Procrastination

There are several instances where I catch myself procrastinating. The worst time is around spring time where it is just starting to become warmer outside which is also towards the end of the semester making it even harder to stay ahead of everything. I also procrastinate pretty bad if I forget to take my ADHD medicine. I also have a bad habit of prioritizing my photo work before any other work (not sure if that necessarily a bad thing) but if I have a lot of gen ed work to do I push that off as long as I can by doing photo stuff first.

            The things I make sure I do to keep me from getting too distracted are number one, take my medicine, but I also need to make sure there isn’t a tv show playing where I know I will get easily distracted. That’s not as much of a concern when shooting but when editing I tend to get distracted by some tv shows. I also get very distracted by friends always wanting to make plans and have fun so a way to keep me on tract and not distracted is by making them model for me, that way I am able to hang out with them and do work.  I also like to sleep a lot so I need to make sure I get myself up and out of the house when I need to shoot.

            Sometimes when I get stuck in a rut or get artist block its hard to get myself out of it so some of the best ways I am able to get myself out of it is by making work about how I am feeling in that current state of mind or if that’s not so easy I will just try to think of ideas to continue my other in progress projects, and by doing so is when I usually think of other or new ideas to make work about. I also like to get on Pinterest and follow a lot of photography accounts on Instagram to get inspired.

 This gif describes how i feel when i procrastinate:

https://media.giphy.com/media/xl1puJZB0P0JnbRWzD/giphy.gif

Making my friends model for me.

How to make yourself cry

In this video I show you how you can easily make yourself cry without putting yourself in a depressive state of mind.

Burning House

If my house were to burn to flames these are the first things I would grab:

1. My hamster son, Goose. He is the absolute love of my life and I cannot imagine not having him in my life.

2. My two favorite sweatshirts I wear all the time.

3. My camera, the most important thing needed

4. All of my lenses for a variety of photos

5. External flash to help take photos at night

6. My laptop that has all of my stuff on it.

7. Golden Rule book my boss who is really like my older sister gave me to “get through life”

8. I mean if my house is burning down, it would be wrong to not grab tequila.

Interview

1. Were you always interested in photography?

   Growing up I always liked taking pictures but I was never in love with it and never saw myself doing it forever but looking back I was always buying disposable cameras and constantly making scrapbooks.

2. How did you know you wanted to become a photographer?

   I actually didn’t know I wanted to be a photographer until i was in college and a professor, who is now my professor and mentor spoke to my class about the photography program at NKU and it interested me a lot which is what made me want to take the class and try it out.

3. Did you have any experience with photography before deciding to major in it?

   I never had a DSLR nor shot with one until my photo 1 class in college. The only experience with a camera that I had was disposable cameras and cheap digital cameras.

4. What inspires your work?

   I get inspired by different things it depends on what my mood is what the situation is. Different people inspire different compositions.

5. Do you have a preference or a specific type of work you like to make?

   Im still discovering who I am as an artist but I do know that I definitely have a preference for portraiture work.

6. whats the hardest thing about being a photographer?

   That is a hard question to answer because there are many hard aspects as to being a photographer. Artists block is the number one issue i have but I think also in this stage of my life one of the harder things is the not knowing what is coming next career wise.

7. Do you prefer shooting in black and white or color?

   I prefer shooting in color but it depends what work im making

8. What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to photography?

   When people thing photography doesnt take talent. When people say “photography is just a click of a button”

9. Do you like studio photography more or the more fine art work?

   I like both a lot, studio photography is a lot more technical but they both have their pros and cons.

10. What advice would you give others debating on photography?

    I would say to try it out and keep up with it. Dont give up on it when it gets hard because it’s going to be hard. I went into photography knowing absolutely nothing about it but now here i am 3 years later and I can personally see my growth and I am proud of it.

Trends

some trends i would like to see more of are the trends of posting the editorial process of photography. I see a lot of before and after edits in peoples photography and i would love to see more of that i think it really shows how involved, detailed, and sometimes complicated photography can be especially to those who dont understand photography.

the big trends that i see all the time that i cannot stand and really want to see less of is the trend where people will post pictures, especially on snapchat, post pictures of them with a snapchat filter that completely washes out their face. A lot of the snapchat filters make every single pore disappear on your face making you like youre painted or water colored. I think when people post pictures with those filters constantly are annoying and it makes them look fake. love yourself the way you are sis.

10 things you might not know about me

Here are a list of 10 things you may not know about me:

1. I have a dwarf hamster named Goose and he is the love of my life.

2. I have two younger brothers, Mitchell and Cory.

3. My celebrity crush is Demi Lovato.

4. I guess you could say I have 3 jobs, I work at a paint your own pottery studio, Paint and Bake Ceramics, I house sit all over, and do photography commissions.

5. My favorite Youtubers are Shane Dawson and Jenna Marbles.

6. I have 9 piercings.

7. Ive never been on a plane.

8. If i could go anywhere right now it would be to the pink sand beach in Harbour Island Bahamas.

9. I watch The Office, Friends, and Bobs Burgers on repeat.

10. Im gay.