Looking Back on 365 Year 1

Time goes by fast when you are having fun...that's for sure.  This past year has been great getting the opportunities to capture these moments and then getting to share them with you all.  I wanted to talk about my experiences and share my own favorites with you guys from the 365 album.

People: With the events and opportunities that came my way, I met a lot of new personalities that I wanted to "shoot". LOL Some of those turned into friendships while others were simply just a one time meeting.  Some were lifelong friends that have been with me since the beginning, and others were simply a photo taken from far away that they never knew I took.  All of these people have one thing in common though and that was that I saw something in them that was worth seeing through a lens 

Places: To me, one of the easiest things to photograph is landscapes.  I love being outside and taking walks and I realized that is where the majority of my pictures came from was nature.  It is a beautiful world being outside.  I got the privilege of doing a lot of traveling this past year.  States that were photographed were Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and Missouri along with the 3rd world country of the Dominican Republic.

VAL'S FAVORITES

 I love the simplicity of black and white photography and this shot was taken as I was staring into the ocean at Myrtle Beach, SC. The thing I love about this one is the cross at the end of the pier and the waves coming towards me.  It was my first picture of the 365 album that I really wanted to print off as a canvas.

My late dog Jada appeared in alot of photos for the album but I loved the added quote to this one.  It is true.  Your dog sees you as a loving person and no matter how much you get mad at them for bugging you LOL they love you unconditionally.  I miss my Jada Bean, but I know she is at peace now.  So many memories with her and her loving spirit.

I went to Starbucks one day after work knowing I wanted to take a cool picture of my frappe. Well I told that to the drive in lady to make it look "pretty" because I was doing this picture.  When I pulled up there was a delay in my order so I waited patiently only to realize they were making me a second drink...just in case the 1st one didn't look "pretty enough".  It made my day and now this picture is on the Starbucks Facebook Page.  FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED!!

Walking around German Fest I spotted this cute little old guy wearing his heritage proudly.  I am not sure why this one is one of my favorites other than the fact that the elderly who are still living it up make me smile.

Oh the joys of being in love!!! I look up to Meagan and Willie so much on their relationship.  Together and happy for 2 strong years.  I also love fairs and carnivals and this one was captured at just the right moment as I slowed down my shutter enough to focus in on them and let the wheel in the background spin.  Talk about kissing and holding still for awhile. LOL

My 2 beautiful nieces come next...this was at a family BBQ and they were just sitting down talking and I told them to look at me and they both gave this cute smile.  They are the same age, same grade, same hair, same personality.  Different moms...my sister Melanie has Addi on the right...my sister in law Jen has Kaylyn on the left.  Love them so much!!

I was having a really rough day at work and I did not feel like taking any special picture that day for this album.  I kept thinking "man I just want to shoot myself!" well...shooting myself turned into this picture here and it is special to a lot of people now. Go figure me trying to get over myself that day turned into a creative self-portrait.

This was an exciting day!! Krystle and Craig got hitched and had themselves a country wedding!!  My first one with boots, beer, and bars!! They had such a fun wedding party too that led me to meet new friends and take more pictures of them later on.

During the Country Star Playoffs (singing competition) I got the chance to meet Shelby and his wife Michelle.  They are such a fun couple and have 2 kids.  We hung out at the park one day and took family portraits.  Even throughout the shoot I remember them encouraging me so much to keep taking pictures.

While in the Dominican Republic on the dental/medical missions trip I was by the ocean when I thought of this one.  I love the FOOTPRINTS poem about how God carries you when you are too weak to do it on your own.  This photo only got 2 likes on my page but let me tell you...it was hard running to get my footprints soaked into the water and then coming back and snapping that photo before the water ran over them. LOL it was worth it though.

I met Krystyna through a friend and she wanted me to take her Senior pictures with her and her horse Friday.  I have always been timid of horses because of weird experiences with them.  I loved talking to her about her dreams and where she wants to go after school.  This creature is not so scary as I once thought. 

Right at the beginning of 2013 I started working for WFFT Local the FOX affiliate in Fort Wayne Channel 55.  This new career has opened me up to new opportunities including getting the chance to meet and interview American Idol Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips.  He was such a genuine and down to earth guy and watching him perform in person was amazing. 

My parents celebrated their anniversary this year by going out to eat at Triangle Park with the family. I told them I wanted to take their picture next to the pond...so we went over there and I could tell something was going on by their laughter.  I'm pretty sure my dad was tickling my mom to get her to laugh.  They are still so flirty and I look up to their strong marriage so much.  

When it comes down to it, my parents are the ones who told me to follow my dreams.  When I first started college I had no clue that I was going to turn my hobby of photography into a career.  They are proud of me and love seeing my work everyday and they are the reason that I love sharing so much. 

Focus Assessment 2010

This is an essay that I wrote back during my last semester at BGSU.  I wanted to share this with everyone because after 3 years I have finally managed to land a job that this essay describes.  The Focus Assessment Test was given to our class which tells you the attributes that you should look for in a job that you like.  With working at WFFT Local and owning Valerie Adams Photography...it goes to show that you can have your dream job. 

            Personality Type:  I tend to be an independent person but I enjoy working with people on projects where I can get their cooperation.  I prefer to work with people but I really enjoy creating new ideas and new projects of my own.  I am a natural leader so I tend to attract and inspire other by my enthusiasm.  I enjoy motivating people and seeing the end results from that but also from seeing how people are growing and getting better at something.  I love seeing how things work and understanding everything involved in a project.  My approach to work and life is to be orderly, set goals, make plans, and proceed with the tasks.   I should have a job where I can help people learn new skills and improve them as a person.  Teaching, counseling, religion, and art are some examples of my occupation assessment from my personality type.

           

            Skills:  My top three skills were designing, performing arts, and problem solving.  With designing, I like to analyze requirements for a new product or service and then creating a design to satisfy those needs.  Dance, drama, music, and things performed in front of an audience are what go into my skill of performing arts.  Problem solving is based on the ability to identify a problem, review information, develop and evaluate options, and implement a solution.

           

            Values:  Creativity, helping others, and working outdoors were my top three values.  Creating new ideas, programs, things, or anything else not previously developed by other person make me see creativity as my strongest value.  Helping others and being involved in a direct way with an individual or a small group is another big value in my life.  I also love working outdoors so a job where I can spend a lot of time outside would be a great value to have.

            Work Interests:  I am a creator, a persuader, and a helper.  I am mostly artistic which means that I want to be expressive and I love innovation.  I do not like structure and I prefer to use my imagination a lot.  Enterprising was my second interest.  I love to sell and promote using my ability to influence people.  I am a natural leader who likes competitive activities which means that I am self-confident, talkative, and energetic.  The third one I got was that I was social.  I tend to work with others and I am highly verbal in a group setting.  When it comes to being social, this means that I am cooperative, friendly, and understanding. 

            Leisure Interests:  They are the same as my work interests.  My top three were artistic, social, and then educational.  When it comes to me being artistic, I enjoy using my creativity.  I am open, imaginative, original, intuitive, emotional, independent, idealistic, and unconventional.  Being social I love helping and advising people.  I am highly concerned with other people’s welfare.  I love seeing people learn and make relationships.  I am helpful, responsible, cooperative, friendly, kind, sympathetic, and understanding.  When it comes to educational, I like to be involved in activities that have to do with ideas and thinking.  I like to observe, learn, investigate, and solve problems.  I like to be curious, rational, intellectual, and modest. 

            Agree:  I tend to do most of the things that the assessment said that I already do.  I love that creativity and artistic abilities were listed more than once on what I should be doing with my life.  Some things that I didn’t agree with were that I like seeing how things work or I research problems to an extent.  I do not do that but I do like solving problems.  It is true that I enjoy helping others but I do not want to do it as a career like being a counselor.  I do that for free so I picked art as my professional career.

           

            Industry:  Three jobs that require a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology would be a Studio Photographer, a Web Designer, and a Graphic Designer.  Some qualifications of all three jobs would include creativity, goal oriented, multi-tasking, problem solver, and knowledge of applications and software such as Adobe Suite.  You must also be a trustworthy people person for all three jobs because you will be working with people on a regular basis.  More and more trends are being created for the typical designer job.  With technology growing and people always wanting visual pieces, there will always be new trends for our industry.  For example, the photography world is coming out with photo booths for weddings and parties to get more memories captured for the clients.

             There will always be a growth in the technology realm.  It will be the same for job growth and outlooks.  People will always need to use technology so that clients will be able to keep their memories with photographs, advertise their company with a website, or get a printed advertisement for their organization with graphic design.  I do not think that if I want to be a studio photographer that I would need to pursue any further degrees or add anything else.  Technically, I could have skipped college in general to do what I want to do for a living because all I really need is the equipment and the knowledge on how to make a good photograph.  School was just something I figured would be a good choice for me to learn so much more.  To make myself stand out above the rest I have already begun starting my studio of Valerie Adams Photography to the point where I have clients and an established freelance company.  I also have had lots of experience with working with studios. When it comes to honesty in this industry, people mostly refer to copyrights, patens, and liabilities.  Stealing other people’s work would be the biggest code of ethics played in our industry.

           

            Compensation:  I searched Salary.com for my salary ranges.  For a studio photographer the starting salary is $33,000.  From what I have experienced with paying rent and bills I would say that the starting salary is what I expected and I can live off of that.  The benefits that are usually included are a 401K, disability, healthcare, pension, and time off.  If I have my own studio though and I have employees, I can decide what benefits to give them.  A typical photography manager position makes $48,000 for their salary.  A studio photographer in Indiana makes $35,000 while in Florida they make $38,000 so there is not much difference for salary.

           

            Work/Life Fit: I have worked an hourly job with a boss that I hardly ever see around telling me what to do for my whole life.  Working at a photography studio, I want the ability to do what I want to do as long as I am getting my job done.  It is also important for me to have time off when I need a vacation or just a weekend to have fun.  Working at a studio fits my personality as long as I get to be around people all day in a fun environment and not sitting behind a cubicle locked away from the outside world.  I may have to take the time to edit pictures at my job so I would like to play music while I am doing it so there is not dead silence around me.  As long as I can make the workplace fun with happy people, I think it fits my personality best.  The only major changes that I see doing this would be moving away.  There may be job opportunities in other cities, states, or even countries and I would love to travel the world before I settle down so that fits me perfectly.  I cannot see any other changes being made from what my life isn’t already like.  This is what I have a passion for most is photography.  I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.  There may be different types of photography that I can get involved with but overall the studio atmosphere is the one for me.  Doing what you love never gets old so I can see myself being happy with it.

            Living Expenses:  I have my heart set on two cities to live in when I graduate.  Fort Wayne, Indiana has always been my second home since it is so close to my hometown of Van Wert, Ohio but I have also thought about living in my dream home of Sarasota, Florida.  If I was to live in Fort Wayne the rent would be around $250 a month when in Sarasota it would be $400 a month.  The average rent for Fort Wayne is $300 when Sarasota’s average is around $600 per month both for a one-bedroom studio apartment.  When looking at home prices, the average for Fort Wayne was $185,000 when in Sarasota it is $375,000.  The property taxes in Fort Wayne are .8353 per $100 of assessed valuation.  Sarasota’s property tax is .9567 per $100 of assessed valuation.  When it comes down to it, my budget would rather live in Fort Wayne because their rent is about the same for Bowling Green so I know that I can handle that.  My dream says go to Sarasota but my bank account says that might be tough to handle.  I am sure that if I save and do not spend money on worthless things each month that I can squeak by but I will be cutting it pretty close.