March 8, 2014
-
Grab the camera…just in case.
Deserted on Christmas eve.
First, let me apologize for not keeping this blog more up to date. Life happens, snow happens and business happens. Although the early winter months are predominately slower than the spring months, I use this time to re-evaluate what has worked in the previous year and what has not worked. I change out marketing ideas, take courses to keep me fresh and work on special projects.
Being burned out in one’s business is common. The fall is a typical time when I have to turn down pretty much every invite. The holiday push starts right after Labor Day and continues right up until Christmas eve. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I had to put an early cut off date for ordering prints. Otherwise, the madness would continue for those procrastinators. Seven day work weeks are common for about 12 weeks.
When January rolls around, plans begin for me to find ways to keep motivated. I am a believer that an artist needs to re-fuel. Whether it’s taking a class, scheduling a photo field trip or just doing something different entirely. After shooting portraits all year, I hardly ever take the time to re-fuel and do the fun photography stuff.
This past Christmas eve, I had the wonderful opportunity to go out to dinner at a restaurant located on the boardwalk at Asbury Park. Arriving a little after 4 p.m., I wanted to enjoy the sun setting, take a walk, enjoy a dinner and head home to catch church. Before we left, my husband asked if I was bringing a camera. Knowing that may have been a hot question, he didn’t wait for an answer. I am so burned out by Christmas not only from photography, but from labs, clients, retouching, packaging, deadlines, and last minute orders. Throw into the mix holiday shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, the thought of taking my first free night off in December, taking “fun” photographs was last thing on my mind. Gathering my coat, I grabbed a camera and one lens.
During our pre-dinner walk along the boardwalk, the wind was brutal. The temp was less than 20 degrees. The boardwalk had a few brave soles who enjoyed the ocean air on a December night. I saw no photo opportunities in my eyes at that time. After dinner, we exited the restaurant and the temp outside felt like it had dipped to a whole new level. Perhaps it was the ocean breeze that added the chill, but the boardwalk was now totally empty. It was kinda sad on some level to see an entire boardwalk empty at 6:00 p.m. on Christmas eve. As I exited the restaurant, the lights from the old casino (which was turned into a throughway) glowed like it was asking for attention. This spot was the place to be 75 years ago. It’s “heyday” was over. Sure, there are summer beach crowds, but right now, there was nobody. Asbury Park, once the most sought after beaches in Jersey is trying to come back. I felt the combination of the light inside the abandoned casino/throughway, the night sky and the eerie feeling of desertion deserved to be photographed.
My camera was the Canon 5D Mark III
My exposure was 1/50th second at F 4.0
My ISO was 6400
My exposure compensation was +1
Lens choice was 16-35mm 2.8
