Camera is my Co-Pilot

In the days of the wild west, stagecoach drivers carried a shotgun by their side.

I prefer a camera.

I find it amazing that while on the road, how many things happen around me. Just the other day, while heading north from my recording session at lynda.com, I saw a substantial brush fire alongside Interstate 5.

It was the typical roadside encounter. I'm driving along listening to This American Life podcast. Then I see smoke. And then there's fire. And just like that, it's in my rear view mirror.

Same goes for vivid sunsets, whacky signs, and oddball roadside behavior in general.

If I didn't have a camera on the front seat next to me, I would miss a lot of shots. As far as I'm concerned, a camera is no good in the trunk.

Pulling over and shooting is much, much different than: pulling over, getting out, opening the trunk, finding the camera, and shooting. I probably wouldn't even bother with the latter.

So camera is my co-pilot. And just like the shotgun: I don't shoot often. But when I do,

I'm really happy to have it.

-Derrick

Who We Are and Who We Want to Be

I know many people who feel their jobs don't reflect who they are.

For seven years I mowed lawns to pay the bills while I went to school. My customers knew me as their gardner. I wanted them to know that I was a writer too. But the topic never came up.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I would attend the University where I majored in English and minored in Design. The other three days I drove an avacado green Ford Courier with an assortment of power tools rolling around in the back. I had Sundays off.

My senior year in college I won a poetry contest and was published in three magazines. But the sense of accomplishment I felt wasn't that much different than the pleasure I experienced after finishing a manicured yard. The mowed grass, trimmed hedges, and blooming flower beds looked so beautiful, so perfect. I'd soak it in for a minute, then put the truck in first gear and drive off to the next house. 

Not once did I say, "I'm not really a gardner; I'm a writer." Because that wasn't true. I was both.

Most of us are both. We're the person who takes care of our kids, pays the bills, and supports the community through our work. We also make pictures, write novels, and dream of a life as an artist.

When I was 21, I was sweet on a Portuguese girl who worked at an office that I maintained. She liked me as a gardner. She said my work was artistic. I never told her I could write.

Even then, I had figured out that craftsmanship is really the important thing,

regardless of the activity to which it is applied.

-Derrick

Things I've Learned as a Lefty

My right arm has been immobilized in a sling for two weeks now.

During that time, I've learned a number of valuable lessons that I wish to share with you.

• Put your belt through the loops *before* you pull your pants on.
• Use your legs to stand up from a chair, not your arms.
• Some doors are really heavy.
• Resist the urge to catch things that you drop (this one set me back 2 days).
• Beware of dangling straps in the bathroom.
• Brushing your teeth with the opposite hand is really weird.
• You'll never get used to not sleeping on your favorite side.
• Eating with my left hand makes me feel like a caveman.
• People will always slap you on the shoulder that's in a sling.
• Forget about shoes with laces. Socks are still manageable.
• Get used to going slower with everything you do.
• Make up a good injury story if the real reason sucks. 

And the favorite thing that I've learned:

We are so adaptable.

-Derrick

It's Different When You Work for Yourself

I hear stories all the time of people missing work for trivial reasons.

I don't have a judgment about these workers because I wasn't there. Often there's more to a story than people realize. But I do know it's different when you work for yourself, especially if you plan on staying in business.

I'm in Carpinteria recording for lynda.com. That's this week's day job. It's a great opportunity. On top of that, at night and early in the morning, I'm tending to my normal responsibilities that include publishing and taking care of clients. 

The kicker is, I would love to take this week off - or even a day or two. My right arm is still immobilized in a sling, and I left a house of runny noses with a sore throat and a head full of glue.

My mindset in these situations is to get through today. When tomorrow comes, get through it too. And just keep doing that until things get easier. Step by step, the work gets done.

Are self-employed people tougher? Not necessarily. It's really a matter of understanding the situation.

Then meeting it head on.

-Derrick

To Watermark or Not

When I share a picture online, I want people to think about the picture, not an intrusive watermark,

At the same time, I know that the metadata that accompanies my photos and includes my name and copyright information often gets stripped out of the image. 

I don't like that either.

So I'm faced with the challenge of how to best share my photos and keep my name with them.

First of all, I'm going to continue using metadata. If you're not up to speed with that, applications such as Aperture, Lightroom, and Photoshop, allow you to apply your name, copyright, website, and other data to the IPTC fields that live in the file header of the picture.

As long as someone or some app doesn't remove that information, it's always there. Personally, I wish there were a way to lock the IPTC fields after I've populated them. But as of now, I don't know how.

So that leads to watermarking, which is embedding my name in the actual image. There are all sorts of ways to do this, but my current favorite is an iOS app called Tagg.ly. It's easy and fairly attractive. 

If someone wanted to, they could crop out my Tagg.ly watermark. That wouldn't be very nice, but I'm sure it happens.

What I'm not going to do is put a giant watermark in the middle of my photo. For me, it ruins the viewer's experience.

I'm curious as to how you approach this.

To watermark or not.

That is the question.

-Derrick