It's been a slow couple of weeks for me here, I've only had a few small projects to wrap up, Thanksgiving has disrupted any flow I had for work. Holidays seem to do that for freelance workers, it a work hazard.
So I've had some time to tidy up my photography. I took an estimated 1,500 shots this summer so now I'm processing them all. It's tedious and mind-numbing to say the least, but I hope to make it worth my while. I found an awesome resource in Photo.net. Thousands of amateur and professional photographers posting their work and all kinds of information about the industry. I've never seen so much cooperation among people in a profession and I think the design community could learn a few things from it. I won't go into great detail about the site, you can search it out for yourself, but needless to say I have spent HOURS and DAYS learning. I feel like I've had an infusion of knowledge. I only have a couple of images posted right now, but here's my link: http://photo.net/photos/brucimus
So I've taken all my new knowledge and am now applying it to my own photographs. I'm processing 65 out of the 1,500 images for future stock photography websites. It seems like such a small number, but really, I've selected only the best work, and it's taken me more than 40 hours of processing. I'm embracing the idea of someone buying my photography - this is a big step! For too long I've had the desire to know, but never found the right resource, now I'm glad for this time to work on this. Databases, tweaking, embedding copyright and info into the photo files. The work has really been horribly boring, but I think this will produce some nice fruits in the end.
So I came across a roll of film that I've had around for a little while. It was in my refrigerator, in the butter drawer, rolling about whenever the door was opened. I kept forgetting to take it in to be processed. It eventually made the move with us out to Montana. I forgot what was on the half exposed roll. One day about a week or so ago, I remembered to stick the roll in my pocket and take it in for processing. I almost fell over when I saw the images. It was a roll of film from eight-and-a-half years ago of my second tandem skydive from a hot air balloon. Tia took the photos of my jump, I shot the ground images. I got goosebumps when I looked at them for the first time.
So it's 1999. Tia and I were JUST married, literally, within weeks. She was part of a skydive club and was really urging me to embrace it. Then came the hotair balloon. A company from Tennessee (wish I could remember the name of the company - I later did their logo and it ended up on MTV somehow) The club wanted to do jumps out of the balloon, what skydiver WOULDN'T want to do it right? Well, I volunteered to do my second tandem from it. So I'm the only one in the basket, carriage, whatever, without a parachute, besides the pilot. We're hanging by thread and fabric, all of us. We're clibing through 5,000 feet, then 8k, then 10k, then 11k. The pilot and jumpmaster look over the side and say, "This looks good." I respond, "Oh really, how can you tell?" First jumper goes, second, third. My heart is pumping like it's coming out of my chest. I get strapped to my jumpmaster (who is now one of our best friends). We have to climb up the edge of the basket, some four feet, in tandem. Imagine a four-legged, four-armed, two-headed 300+lb beast that has just been born, climbing up a wall backwards. We get to where we need to be, legs on the rail of the basket, grasping the frame of the burner for the hotair. I'm told to dangle my legs, so I do, inside the basket - "NO - OUTSIDE!" I'm forced to remove my grips, I'm trembling with fear - OF FALLING! THREE! TWO! ONE! A silent moment, a whisper of air, my heart in my throat, we're falling backwards watching the balloon rise hundreds of feet above us in an instant, we catch terminal velocity and roll over, tears streaming from my face, I can hear my jumpmaster laughing and I'm screaming it in at 120mph. When we get together, we still giggle about that jump. I have to say one of my own personal highlights, the kind that makes the cover of the sportpage, or the headline of the reel at the 6 o'clock news, the kind that will live with me forever. Enjoy the pics and smile a bit for me.
