Managing My Star Guard Disease

I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a photographer almost a year ago.I have always wanted to do what I love, to take pictures but there was something holding me back.

 In the 5th grade I was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease. This is an inherited form of juvenile macular degeneration. I can not see very well and there is no cure for it but that's OK because I can still see and I have figured out a way to achieve my dreams.

When I decided to go for it, to become a photographer I was not going to tell anyone about my condition. I wanted to be judged on my work and my work alone. However  I was thinking about all of the doubts that I had when I first started pursuing my dream. I was worried that I would not be able to take professional quality photos because of my limited vision.

I came across a video online of other visually impaired photographers and that gave me the hope that I needed. If I don't share my story than I will never be able to inspire anyone else who feels like they cannot do what they love because of a disability. I would like to share my tips for how I accomplish my photography.

School classes have always been very hard for me because I can not see the teacher's expressions, the boards or the books. I wanted to learn about photography but I would not benefit from taking a class. The way that I learned about photography was all online,  watching videos on a large computer screen.

 All you have to do is go to your web browser and type in what you would like to learn about. For example I wanted to learn about a particular kind of lighting so I typed in, What is the best lighting for men,s portrait photography and I found many helpful videos on that exact subject.

When I decided to purchase a new camera I had a few specific features that I needed. I wanted to make sure that I would be able to see through the view finder so I went to several stores to try them out. I also wanted the biggest LCD screen available and one that could take many pictures at one time.

I have a hard time seeing facial expressions so I made sure to find a camera that would let me take a burst of pictures all at once. This way I would have a better chance of capturing the picture that I wanted. After taking the pictures I view the them on my large screen computer and sort through them.

As far as I know, there are no cameras big enough for me to see all of the controls. There are so many buttons and settings on each camera and when you have a hard time seeing it makes it even harder to set.

On the bright side, high quality cameras usually have an automatic setting that can take great pictures for you. Also I am very lucky to have my boyfriend Justin who will set my camera when necessary. Thanks Justin!

Overcoming some of these obstacles can be frustrating at times but I don't let  that stop me because I absolutely LOVE taking pictures. When someone tells me that they like my work it means so much to me. I really do appreciate everyone's kind words. Thank you to everyone who supports me. You all  help drive me to keep on doing what I love. I hope that I can pass that on someday to someone who needs it.

Secure Your Pictures With an External Hard Drive

If something should ever happen to your home  have you ever thought about what you would save? For me it would be my family and pets first and then my external hard drive. I store all of my photos and home movies on it. However if my house was on fire, running  into flames is not something I  would like to do so I keep my hard drive in a fire proof box. 

Storing all of your digital photos on your computer alone may turn out to be a big mistake. Something as simple as a power surge can wipe your computer clean and you would lose everything. That is why it is so important to back up your files on other devices. I decided to write this because just last week we had a power surge and my mom lost everything on her computer.

Luckily at the time my computer was o shut off so it was unaffected. Luckily my mom was using her new lap top that my family and I had just given her for her birthday. She had only had it for about a week so she didn’t lose too much. For her next gift I would like to find an external hard drive so that all of her files will be safe in the future.

Why Is It Important to Own an External Hard Drive When You Have Digital Photos?

When I switched to digital photography I was excited about not having to develop film. I was also amazed with how many pictures I could download off of my camera at once. In no time at all I had hundreds of pictures stored on my computer.

One day I trekked out into my yard to take some pictures of the big snow storm we had the night before. The snow was more than 2 feet deep and was difficult to get through but I got all the pictures I wanted. I also got a great one of my uncle Dave shoveling his drive way. He has a long beard that caught all of the snow flakes. He looked like the abominable snowman in that picture and it was one of my favorites.

Sadly I only have memories of those pictures because our computer was infected with a virus and it erased all of my photos from that day. Since then I have learned my lesson, to keep all of my irreplaceable pictures backed up on a external hard drive.

My boyfriend Justin is good at researching products online. He always finds me exactly what I am looking for. So he was the man I went to when I was wanted to buy an external hard drive. I didn’t want to spend too much but also wanted one that was good quality and big enough so that I could be assured that all of my pictures were safe. 

The Western Digital WD Elements is a great choice. When I first heard about external hard drives I thought they would be big and heavy but this hard drive is about the size of a paperback book and weighs just over 2 pounds. That means it could easily fit into a fire proof box or in almost any drawer. 

This hard drive could be the right answer for simple, reliable storage. It is really easy to add pictures onto it too. Just plug it into a USB port on your computer and start saving your photos, music, videos, documents and you can even back up your whole operating system.

I have also scanned my grandmother’s old photos onto my computer and saved them onto my hard drive as well. They were kept in old photo albums with sticky pages. I have heard that if pictures are kept in albums like these the acid used in the glue will eventually ruin the pictures.

Sadly some of her pictures were already damaged and there was nothing I could do to save them. We could not bear to lose any more of them so I scanned them into my computer to be assured that we would all have them forever.

All of my pictures have been safe and secure ever since. I’m glad I decided to find an affordable external hard drive because I sleep much better at night knowing that my photos are as safe as they can be.

Picture Postcards

It doesn’t have to cost much in order to brighten up someone’s day. In this article I will share with you how I have been surprising the ones I love by sending them unexpected envelopes of happiness in the mail.

When most people take a vacation they send postcards back home to show everyone where they have been. This makes me wonder, why doesn’t anyone send postcards to share everyday life or memories with someone?

My brother & Me 2009

Just about everyone has pictures lying around just waiting to be looked at. I was going through some of my old family photos when I came across one of me and my brother Jon that really made me laugh. The picture was taken few summers ago when my brother and I had an unexpected good time together. We started off that night thinking it was going to be boring because we had no where fun to go. It ended up being a great night. We hung out with my boyfriend Justin and our friend Bj on our back porch. We all had some beers and good laughs. As soon as I saw that picture It reminded me of all the good times me and Jon have shared over the years. Back then we lived together but now he has his own apartment. I have missed Jon lately and I wanted to share these great memories with him. So I wrote a note on the back of that picture about how much fun that night was and mailed it to him. I think receiving that picture really made his day and let him know that he was still on my mind. This picture was taken with a Nikon Cool Pix Camera

I also send picture postcards of my daughter Lily. We have relatives who love seeing pictures of her. I print out pictures of her on my photo printer and write a note on the back of the picture for them. Yesterday I sent one of Lily biting my nose and wrote about how this is Lily’s favorite way to give me kisses. My photo printer makes it very easy to send pictures whenever I‘d like. I don’t have to go to the store or wait for them to be developed. I have the picture of my choice in seconds. I have also scanned my grandmother’s old photos into my computer so now I can surprise my family with pictures that they haven’t seen in years. This picture was taken with a Nikon D90

The possibilities for these postcards are endless, anyone can make them. If you have a picture that someone will like then you have a picture postcard. Just write a letter on the back with the fond memories that you have about the picture and it will surly brighten up someone’s day. One stamp, one picture, one story, priceless memories.