A lotta business stuff and FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHER info.

Hello everyone! Hoping it's as beautiful where you are as it is out here in Eastern Ohio! GORGEOUS today!

Shanda was bogged down with school and stuff this week and asked to reschedule her feature Friday. No prob Shanda!! It gave me a good chance to put an update on the changes that are happening here. So, here is how things will go from now on:

VOTING:
After taking into consideration the things that were voted on for voting (yes, that sounds totally weird), here's what we will do:

I would like to have 8 categories (besides the BEST OVERALL) that we can rotate through. That way everyone knows the 8 things that might be used for voting. We won't actually announce the vote category until the voting day. That will help people keep on their toes! :)

We did have some people ask for a most improved, or something to include people who may not feel like their photography skills are up there yet. I absolutely agree and think this is a great encouragement as you learn. So, I want to include that as one of our random categories.

I would love some feedback in collecting the list we use. So far we have:

1. Most Improved
2. Most original idea
3. Best use of lighting
.....the rest needs to be filled in still. What are your thoughts?


As for the professional vs. amateur...it's a tough call. I mean, there are people with point and shoots who have no real previous experience that are winning challenges and whose photos look professional...people that have really chosen to step up and make their camera work for them, instead of limiting themselves to what they think their camera can do. And there are people who have "fancy cameras" that have only had their cameras for a few months, with no previous experience and yet they are always winning challenges. Just because their pictures LOOK professional, doesn't mean they feel like they could be called that. So, I don't know where to draw the line. And because of that, I just won't. We will keep it as is...everyone together. I think that's how we will really learn and grow and feel encouraged.

Now, one more piece of feedback I need!! :)

For our featured photographer piece we will post each week, I would love to know what you want to know about each other:

I figure we will go with 10 questions--so it's not overwhelming for people. You can ask more specific questions in the comments section of their post.

I will then email a copy of the final to everyone and if you could fill it out and email it back to me WITH A PICTURE OF THEMSELVES, that would be great. Then I will randomly select one person each week to highlight and get to know.

so what do you want to know??? Here are some ideas?
--what camera do you use?
--where are you from? Where do you live?(even a state if people don't want to be specific)
--How long have you been interested in photography?
--what is the funniest photography story you have?
--Share a piece of photography advice you have learned...

These are not set in stone..just things to get you guys thinking.

SO---I KNOW this is long and you might have forgotten by now...
PLEASE, PLEASE leave me some feedback for the challenge categories--

and please leave me some questions you want to know about each other. I will get an email sent out as soon as I can get 10 good q's together! :)

Also, Mindy has offered to help me out with the feature Fridays--she will be emailing you guys with a reminder as your time comes up, and will be updating the sidebar with the calendar, etc. So feel free to let her know when you are ready to do one.

And Janelle has been helping with one challenge a week and doing the voting tallies, etc. So thank you Janelle for taking that off my plate. I sure appreciate it!

THANKS everyone for all your input and allowing me to change things here and there as we make it a good place for everyone. :) Any other ideas? Send them my way!