Hi! Newbie from Edgewood...

[rldedinsky]

Hi Ya'll,

My name is Rhonda and I am so glad to happen upon this site!

My father, whom departed this world in February, was a photographer and I developed my love of photography through him. Now that he has departed I feel almost as if it is my mission to carry on with his work so to speak.

I had been self taught until recently when I took Photo 101 at Green River this past fall using my Dad's old Minolta XE7, what a beast that thing is and I LOVE it. I also fell in love with the darkroom. I could spend days in there. I have EVERYTHING to set mine up except the materials to actually make the room. Hopefully soon though.

I have switched over to digital and I am using a Nikon D80 which I love. I am finding myself becoming a little lazier and I have no idea how to use Photoshop so I get pretty frustrated sometimes, lol.

I was hired last May for my first "paying" job. It was the grand opening of a business called NSO (never sold out) entertainment and I got to shoot Stephanie Pratt of the Hills, Amon Gordon of the Philadelphia Eagles, Justin Forsett of the Seahawks, and Jamar Adams of the Seahawks. It was so much fun, I was terribly nervous but everything turned out pretty much perfect.

I also entered Art/Not Terminals Annual Photo Show and Contest and I actually won first place and they can still be seen there until July 2nd. I really did not expect it. They are a series of three prints, some of my first, and you can see where my camera had light bleed and dust on the negative, very amateurish to say the least. But they were the originals, and my dad actually got to hold them and see them before he passed, so those were the ones that were going. I was terrified that some snobby critic was just going to pick them apart, all I could see were the flaws. It was so nice to know that what others saw was the photos themselves. I'm posting them here, if anyone would like to give constructive criticism please feel free.

I feel like I sound like a braggart but I'm really not. I haven't shown too much of my work to people other than family members so I guess I just wanted to take a little leap and see what people really thought.

So, I look forward to learning and meeting people with the same love of photography that I have, and who knows, maybe I can help someone else out!

The clock is the first in the series, then my father, then my step-mother. I don't know what happened to the sizes, lol....they really are the same size. See I need to learn some things!

View attachment 701

View attachment 702

View attachment 703

 

[Cher O]

Welcome, Rhonda.

This is the place. First, sorry for your loss....
Congratulations on your inherited talent and the rest. I like your photographs very much, especially of your stepmother. You seem to have caught her in a 'moment.' (You said your father held these, so it is not grief you caught, is it? Then again, perhaps it is....) As for sizes, posting can be tricky sometimes. There are experts here who will help you if you don't figure it out yourself. If those 3 were the same, I'm stumped too. So glad you found your way here. C.

 

[rldedinsky]

Thank You!

Thank you C for your kind greeting.

Yes, in fact it was grief, exasperation, desperation, despair and then some. My father was terminally ill for two years, in and out of the hospital constantly. These photos were taken about three months before he passed so she had been through so much already.

And yeah, I don't know what happened to the sizes. I used myspace to crop and edit, lol, and they are scans so...I would like to get them in order though, I feel they are much more dramatic that way.

Thanks Again!
R~

 

[BobH]

Hello and welcome to the forum, thanks for posting your photos.

And yeah, I don't know what happened to the sizes... I would like to get them in order though, I feel they are much more dramatic that way.

Don't worry about the sizes, it's OK. As for the order, I've edited your post slightly, so now they should show up in the correct sequence.

 

[BobH]

I also entered Art/Not Terminals Annual Photo Show and Contest

Who are they? I'm not familiar with that one... (Then again, I don't do competitions, so I'm not familiar with most of them.)

 

[rldedinsky]

A/nt

Art/Not Terminal is a completely volunteer ran gallery in downtown Seattle. It was originally a bus terminal hence the the name. There are no paid employees whatsoever. That was pretty much the reason I chose to enter the contest. I loved the idea of it being ran completely for and by the love of art, not for profit. So, it was not a big prestigious contest I won but it has helped give me the confidence to start sharing my photos and to keep going with it.

 

[BobH]

Thanks for the info. By the way, don't be afraid to post links to places like that, we certainly permit it, and in fact encourage that you do so. You may also want to consider adding them to our resource directory here: http://www.pnwphotos.com/links/

(Also, if you have your own photography website, add that too!)

Here's the website for A/nt http://www.antgallery.org/

Art/Not Terminal Gallery opened in October 1988 in a space previously occupied by a bus terminal, hence the name. Ten months later, it was incorporated as a Washington State non-profit organization. Since that time, Art/Not Terminal Gallery(A/NT) has provided the Seattle metropolitan area with the city’s only all-volunteer, artist-run gallery. We provide an attractive gallery setting where Puget Sound artists of all skill levels can display their work. A/NT is a non-juried, non-censored venue where anyone may participate.​

 

[rldedinsky]

Sweet

Hey Bob,

Thanks for all the information. I didn't even think to add a link and it's such a great resource. The prices are fair and the people are wonderful. Members get a super deal and all it takes is seven hours of volunteering to become a member. My husband and I have our orientation next week! Unfortunately I don't have website of my own set up yet. If you have any suggestions to one of the better, nonpaying, sites please do tell. I would really like to start getting some constructive criticism from some professionals or even amateurs for that matter. I started studying my D80 guide last night and almost fell out of my chair, there is SO much to learn about the camera alone. I can tell you that I am really looking forward to setting up my darkroom.

Again, thanks for all of the information and for putting the pics in the right order.

Rhonda

 

[BobH]

If you have any suggestions to one of the better, nonpaying, sites please do tell. I would really like to start getting some constructive criticism from some professionals or even amateurs for that matter...

Well, I guess I'd start with the obvious. You can post your pictures right here. Both in the forum, which is a great place for critiques and comments, and in the photo gallery.

The photo gallery even creates a portfolio for you, so you can show your work. Each member gets their own, here's a link to mine as an example:
http://www.pnwphotos.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1

So this would be a good, and free, place to start.

As far as personal websites go, I really like SmugMug, but it does have a (reasonable) cost to it, at least for the pro version. I'm not sure if they have a free option or not, I think they might.

 

[rldedinsky]

Info

Thanks for the info again...I checked out smugmug and I think I could feel pretty comfortable there.

So, I put some pics up here, along with my introduction book, I think i babble a lot sometimes. I'm hoping to get some feedback so where do I go from here. I will check it out tonight and hopefully figure it out. Just asking just incase I don't.

And again, thanks for all the information and making me feel welcome!

Rhonda