Photojournalism

Someone sent me a link to this the other day:

Basically, if you don’t get a major in photojournalism, you clearly aren’t a real photojournalist. Without that $100,000 piece of paper, how will anyone know that you are a real photojournalist? Students of Ohio, Mizzou and Western Kentucky are the true story tellers of American photojournalism.

But what these students love more than their worthless majors, is talking shit on other photojournalism programs. While Brooks students like to take pretty photographs, we all know they can’t put a story together for shit. Ohio kids get so wrapped up in shooting lens flare and poverty, that they forget how to work on other subject matter. Mizzou students get off on expensive gear to make up for their inability to shoot more than a daily assignment. Western Kentucky? Let’s not even go there.

When it comes down to it, photojournalism graduates all have one thing in common: unemployment, with the bitter taste of watching photographers with no degree make more money than they do.

From: http://shitphotojournalistslike.tumblr.com

I thought it was pretty funny even though I was not a photojournalism major. However, I WAS a lowly photography major. I say lowly because the last sentence of this quote is very true. I have the kind of degree that will never make money unless you happen to be the next Peter Lik (unlikely). It is a bitter taste seeing people with no formal (or informal) training being able to make a living doing what you have been trained to do. The fact is, most of us are snobs. These "amateur" photographers are making tons of money doing wedding photography and family portraits. When it comes down to it, us "trained" photographers do want to do wedding photography, we all have our reasons. For some, its seen as being a sell-out to your trade, for those like me, we simply are not interested in that form of photography. We're especially not interested in dealing with nasty little bridezillas who threaten to sue you because you "didn't full fill your contract" when really she's just trying to get your service for cheaper. I AM interested in some form of photojournalism, which means I have to eventually have to get out of my comfort zone, get off my butt and take my portfolio in. Of course, being pregnant with twins and possibly moving out of state in a few months put kinks in that plan. But more than that, I would have to get over my fear of rejection. Being in this field, you are very vulnerable, you take photographs that you love and are happy with only to have them shot down by people with more experience. But guess what, thats part of the job and thats part of life. Being vulnerable and being crapped on comes with the territory of being human, and honestly that is one of the reasons I love this field of work. Having your tush handed to you now and again is a good thing, thats how you grow in your craft. Whoever wrote the quote above has it right, only its not relegated to just photojournalists. I know, because I have fallen into that myself, sure there is a part of me who looks down on every Tom, Dick and Harry who picks up a camera and is suddenly a "photographer".....but they are the ones with work, not me.

Wow its been awhile! Part of the reason is, I have no idea if anyone even reads this thing. Anyways, as it usually does like has been chuggin' along and a lot has been going on in theKrause household. Mike might possibly have a career change (well, career change still within the AF) coming up that was spurred by some health problems. Everything is fine and this its actually a huge answer to prayer. At this point we are just waiting to hear anything.

I graduated from The University of Oklahoma in December 2010. I'm pretty proud of myself, it was a long time in the making. It was a very long and difficult road. But now I'm done and I feel like after 4 years of marriage, we are actually starting life. Another reason I feel like this is we are expecting the birth of our identical twin girls, Susan Fiona and Penelope Lynn, in June!

So these days I'm busy cleaning the house, planning dinners and planning ideas for the nursery. There is so much more I could write it I had the energy, but I'll just leave it as life is always challenging, but we are blown away at the blessings God is continuously heaping on us!

Our 4th wedding anniversary just passed us on July 1. It was a great time to reflect on the last few years and look at how we have both grown as individuals and in our marriage. Since we are still enjoying not having any little ones to worry about, we spent a lot of time planning an overnight trip to anywhere we wanted! Ok, maybe not anywhere, I mean, we still live on a military income. We just took an awesome trip to Dallas about 3 weeks ago so we decided to stay close to home. We found this historic hotel in OKC, The Skirvin. The pool (in the basement) left a little to be desired, but the rest of the place was just beautiful. We swam for a while, went to the room and got room service for dinner, and went to Nonna's Purple Bar for some live music. It was a rainy weekend, but still very nice!

The big D

I feel like so many people I know are getting divorced right now, just out of the blue. As if they just woke up one morning and decided they didn't want to be married anymore. I don't get it. Well, I'm married so maybe I sort of get it. I love my husband but there have been more than a few times during an argument that I thought how easy it would be to just pack my stuff and head home. BUT, that's MARRIAGE. I think feeling like that is fairly normal...to an extent. It is sad that people get married and don't take their vows to heart. Marriage is hard, it is tough, tough work every single day. I have a lot of respect for people who decide NOT to get married, who decide they don't want that work and don't want to ruin someone else's life when they decide to leave after 10 years of marriage because their suspicions were confirmed. Good for you for not hurting your spouse with a divorce and emotionally maiming a child by leaving. For those of us who have chosen to marry and share our lives with someone, you have to know that marriage is not going to be happy fun time with candy canes and peaches everyday; and when things get rocky, stick it out, find help. Unless your spouse is cheating on you repeatedly or abusing you, I can't imagine what is so unfixable. If you just decide you don't really like this person that much and you want to be with someone else...guess what, you took vows saying you would be there when things are good and when things are crappy. I can pretty much guarantee that if you get divorced for weak reasons, you are going to divorce your next spouse when things get tough there too.

Dreaded AHI

Michael is coming home at the end of the month, so that is all I can really think about. Which is not helpful right now because I have my art history final at 9 am Monday morning and I haven't studied at all. I am lacking the motivation. All I want to do is stuff around the house. Part of me loves when he is gone because I usually get a few new things for La Casa to spruce it up a bit, I have a very sweet husband, and even tho he scolds me for spending the money, I love that he shows me how much he likes whatever I did. Most men wouldn't even notice and if they did they certainly wouldn't care.

Anyways, I think I'll blog for awhile and do a marathon session of studying tomorrow. I've been told that's what being a college student is all about, procrastination and spending money on things you shouldn't!

90 day challenge

Some of you guys know I started going to a Crossfit gym a few months ago, its been super fun and I'm kind of addicted. Crossfit is a combo of running, rowing, lifting weights and some gymnastics. I signed up to do a Leaning out 90 day challenge, it is $30 to buy in, all the money goes into a pot and the winner at the end gets all the cash. You take before and after photos and follow a pretty strict Paleo diet.

Anyways, I'm starting tomorrow, taking my "before" picture. I'm a little nervous, but I REALLY want to win. Who knew I was so competitive?

I'm not sure what to title this one...

So I skipped class this morning (SHHH...don't tell Mike!). I had some really weird dreams last night, it's not unusual for my dreams to be weird or disturbing in some way (which again makes me think, maybe I SHOULD be in therapy). Anyways, I woke up pretty early and was just lying in bed thinking for awhile about the "what ifs'" of my life. Few people know how difficult school has always been for me, those who are very close, know the reasons why. Anyways, my parents always raised us to think that your education does not end after high school, you are not done until you get a college degree. So after high school my parents, my sister and I went up to Washington to look at a college...wish I could remember the name. It was beautiful up there, rolling hills, sprawling fields, everything was so green. I found myself wishing I had decided to go there instead of CBU. I chose CBU because it was comfortable, ALL of my family, starting with my Grandfather went there. Not to mention, thanks to their low academic standards at the time, I was actually accepted. I spent this morning wondering how different my life would have been. I realize, thinking of "what might have been" is not a new concept, but its interesting when its about your own life. It's interesting because only you know the weight of the decisions you have made, the things you love, things you regret, things that caused you pain. I didn't enjoy my time at CBU, I made a few good friends there, but I found that people were unfriendly and created cliques quickly that I never fit into. I wondered what the college in Washington was like, I imagined everyone (being away from the superficial so. Cal.) being really nice. I pictured myself with a big group of friends I felt comfortable with, meeting a guy I married after we graduated. We would stay in Washington because thats where he got a job, we had all the same great friends, we bought a house and started having kids after being married for two years.

But life is messy, and in my personal experience, I am where I'm at because I made stupid decisions. Stupid decisions that led me to the happy place I'm at now. It is kind of a weird thought. I met Michael because I did not have the good sense to break-up with my loser boyfriend after high school, I moved home for this guy, eventually broke up and I went back to school where I met Mike after a moth of being single. With as much pain and baggage that relationship gave me, I would not have met Mike at the exact time I was supposed to. Yes I know everything happens for a reason blah, blah. It is a heavy thought that every decision you make is going to effect you either negatively or positively...and of the bad or negative decisions you make, something good will eventually be the result. Just think about it for a minute, EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE, WILL EFFECT YOUR FUTURE. Such a simple idea, with really lasting...consequences? Effects? Guess it's up for debate.