Delete is your friend

Ever watched that show on A&E called Hoarders?

It's pretty intense really... People just holding on to junk.  Garbage.  Stuff they just can't get rid of. 

If you're like me - you stop and wonder how people get that "out of control".  You may even feel sorry for them (I know I do).

They just collect all this stuff and won't let it go!!!

Luckily those of us in the "civilized" world don't do that... or do we??

Blurry... Nice... We love blurry pictures

Welcome to the digital age - where "they" tell you it's free.  Just take pictures until your thumbs explode and your memory cards are full of the 13,000 images you took of your kids birthday party.  Just snap away!

Download away, put them on one of your hard drives, your memory stick, leave it on your camera's memory card.  It's free... What's the harm!?!

First off... Don't hoard horrible pictures!  STOP IT... KNOCK IT OFF!!!

Do you really want to keep 12,948 pictures that are blurry, poor lighting, exposed with a Crayola set, or just plain bad??  Really?  You like looking at garbage pictures?  

You my friend are a hoarder... in the digital age!

I realized recently that I was hoarding bad pictures.  I had a hard drive full of garbage I didn't need.  Missed focus, poor lighting... just bad shots.

"I might need a random shot of ___________ someday".  Really??  You need a blurry grainy picture of you and your friends out dancing at some random club?  Really??  Seriously??

Good for you... Delete your garbage!  

Let's do it together... I just put 3707 files into my digital recycle bin... over 11 gigabytes of crap... 

3...2...1... Delete!!!!  Refreshing I might add... 

Don't keep garbage, it's gross... what will your friends think?

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com

Giving Back... For Free... The Gift That You Want to Keep Giving...

Giving back.  It's not like re-gifting a fruit cake from Aunt Helen.  Or the gift that keeps on giving... yeah... well... there's a joke or two about that too...

Anyway...

Today's lesson is pretty simple:

Don't be afraid to GIVE BACK.

Recently I was asked to do some shooting at my church (with a camera of course... sheesh).  I mean the Holy Spirit can get you crazy... but not stupid...

The concept is simple - shoot people for a directory at church.  Get their name and snap away... Other than trying to match names with faces (thanks Honey!), it's really pretty simple.

Sure, some people would say "that is beneath my talent" or "that's dumb, you're doing it for free".  Yeah... free... and "wasting" my time downloading and cropping the pictures too.

But guess what... that's what it's all about.  I will be shooting hundreds of people.  Sure the shots aren't glamor shots by Deb... But that's not the point.  The point is helping where there is a need with something I like doing - and can do.

On the business side of things - you never know what this could bring.  Someone sees you acting professional with "professional" gear taking pictures... well... If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... I'm just sayin'... If you don't do it because of the "giving" spirit, do it for the free advertising!

Don't be afraid to shoot some things for free.  I'm a big fan of that whole "paying it forward" thing. 

As a side note - if you go my church and need your picture taken, I'll be the guy with the camera up front shooting away like mad.  There's two of us, I'll be the guy who seriously needs a tan!

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com