Holiday Photos, don't suck bady at them.

I just spoke at Worcester Free School hosted at Worcester Photo Studio.
One of the topics that i talked about was photo composition which lead
to Christmas photos and how not to make them suck.

Make sure you get rid of anything that's distracting and non Christmas or
Festivus related if you're doing group pictures. Make sure you're subjects
aren't wearing concert shirts or tank tops or anything that doesn't scream
Christmas or classy.  Sweaters and slacks and a nice pair of shoes for the
gentlemen and something much nicer for the lady. I would tell a lady how
to dress, but i'm a guy and not equipped to do so. So that covers
environment for the most part and attire.  

So what to do about posing.  Make sure clothing is not twisted, stains
showing or otherwise wrinkled and ruined. Look at hands, what are they
doing. The last thing you want is to have these beautiful pictures while someone
is clenching a fist or doing jazz hands.  If hands are in pockets then make sure
that the thumb is out, this will convey a sense of relaxation. You don't want
the people in the picture to look pensive or shy. Point those feet in for group shots,
the last thing you want is to have everyone's feet going every which direction.
Make sure everyone's bodies are somewhat complimenting their opposites.
Slight turns for body angle always is a given, you don't want to have a police line
up. 

Okay, so i'll say this again. For god's sake no direct flash!
I could rant on and complain and tell you exactly why, just reread my previous
blogs about this.

When you take your photos you should know some  basic composition rules
such as the rule of thirds. Google it, i'm not going to ramble on about it. You
also want to make sure you're not including too much overhead, too much space
above your subject or too much space to the side or bottoms of the pictures.
Do not under any circumstances cut anyone off at any joints of their body.
Do not cut peoples arms or heads off in pictures, many a good picture has been
ruined by the bad composition of a poor photographer.

So now that you have taken all these great photos and you're ready to post to facebook,
wait! Go and look back through the pictures and get rid of the bad ones. Make sure you're composition
is spot on. No blurry photos, no photos that are just simply document the event.
Now if you're somewhat hesitant about throwing away those pictures just remember
that these same people will be around next year for you to get it right.

Happy Festivus and please do not say Happy Holidays. It's just lame.

Photographers should date other photographers.

It just seems like a good idea.  My new girlfriend is a photographer
and i love being able to compare my work to hers and vice versa.
A million other little things could accompany this post but i'll keep
it short and sweet.

Photographers should date other photographers.

Going for it, starting your own photography business

You have a camera and now you should have the needs to fund your new obsession, if it's not an obsession i hope it quickly becomes one.


First you should decide how you want to make money, what i mean to say is what do you want to shoot to bring in revenue. You could go commercial and shoot for a company or shoot products such as jewelery or clothing or even buildings. Another is through the art of it, you can take beautiful pictures and sell them at shows or online. You can shoot portraits that range from models to babys and pets and anything in between.  My favorite though is wedding photography. One wedding can land you anywhere from $1000 to $5000 and the workload isn't as bad as you think it is.

So you should figure out your pricing before someone actually proposes buying your art. Don't ever feel guilty about  your price. If someone is willing to pay $200 for an hour shoot then go for it, if someone isn't willing to pay that then politely apologize and walk away from the situation. It's one thing to negotiate but don't just drop your price because they can't afford you. If someone says i really want you to take my picture but i don't think i need a full hour, then you can drop the price a wee bit. As far as selling your prints, don't negotiate; this is your art and you shouldn't compromise.

See my post about shooting weddings, it's worth the trouble if you can call it that. One wedding can buy you a 70-200 lens and a MacBook Pro, think about that.

So starting a business one of the basic things that you want to do is go to City Hall or your Town Hall and apply for a business license which will cost you anywhere from $15 to $50 max.  With this business license in hand you can go down to a local bank and open an account in your businesses name. This is essential so that you can track your finances better with your business.

So now you need some swag for your business, your letterheads, business cards, shirts and invoices and contracts. You can either brand yourself or not brand yourself when it comes to this. Basically do you want to stick with one theme or not care at all, that's for you to decide, i'll be posting more about that later on in another post.

So i know there's a million other little things that go along with having your own business,  i'm not going to get into those million little things. The point of this post was to get you excited and to get you to take those first step.  Some of what i said may apply to you and some may not, but take those first steps and figure it out for yourself; there lies a life of possibilities. 

So you bought a camea from Best Buy with the lenses n stuff.

Going to keep this one short and sweet. Yesterday at Start On The Street in Worcester MA i saw alot of people with DSLR's. I wanted to go and correct every one of them in some manner or other.

So here's some basic things you should know. Don't change your lens with your body facing out into the air, treat it like an open wound while inbetween lenses.  Change your lenses as quickly as possible to minimize dust and debris floating in. Dust on your sensor will show up in every single picture you take.

Don't put the camera around your neck, loop it under your arm. Having it under your arm and at your side allows you to protect it a bit better.  No longer will your camera swing into random things everytime you turn your body. Black Rapid makes an excellent camera strap called the R Strap and it allows you to leave your camera hanging down at your side at all times.

Pop up flash, don't do it! Shooting someone with flash straight on ruins the picture, think about a deer in headlights; no ones happy. Pop up flash is okay for crime scene photos or documenting a grizzly murder but when it comes to your photos you don't want anything to do with it. Consider hopping on amazon or ebay and finding a flash gun for your dslr. Basically a flash that slides into your hot shot on your camera and allows you to bounce the flash off a ceiling or wall or other to create something far more pleasing. There are also many adapters for your flash gun such as reflectors or Gary Fond light sphere or a mini softbox. You can also use a cord or pocket wizard to bring the flash away from the camera long enough to get the right shot.

Take off the lens cap. You can scrap the front element all you want and it won't effect your pictures, just don't mess with the rear element. If you make one little scratch in your real element, kiss good pictures goodbye. Lens caps should only be used for storage. Don't be lame.

Giant kid gets feedback.

One of the major perks of being a photographer is that you get better because of feedback from friends, family, clients and your facebook fans or elsewhere. In some way you're like a giant little kid asking how do you like my photo how do you like my photo. That's one of the perks of being a photographer, getting that attention regularly and getting to work with beautiful people.

The one bad thing about having friends and family check out your photos are positive feedback, they're not going to give it to you straight. Don't believe me, put an average picture up and see what responses you get.

As a photographer when i post an okay picture i usually get a few likes or maybe a single comment. When i post an amazing picture it gets shared and gets dozens of likes and an average of 6 to 8 comments.  When i want real commentary i will ask other photographers to give me real feedback and then when they do i ask them to give me real feedback and usually i get it.

That's how you're going to get better, but getting real feedback and adjusting your style, composition and technique. Again, stop being so terrible and get better.

Take thousands of photos and get better.

Okay a simple lesson that many people don't get, if you want to become better you have to practice. The same thing is involved when you're a photographer or trying to become one. The difference between amateur and pro is about 100,000 pictures.

I was about 60,000 pictures in before i realized that i wanted to even be a photographer, i traveled alot and hiked alot and documented everything. Looking back i saw that every once and awhile i took the time to frame correctly and use the light the correct way and had amazing little victories. Once i realized that i was stupid for not seeing that i was on my way to being a photographer i started to practice. I went hiking and in my head I convinced myself i was shooting for a big magazine or trying to get the perfect picture to frame. I tried alot of different angles and compositions and every time i would end up with something a bit more refined. 

Now i can take pictures and regularly have enough to put a small book of pictures together or at the least something to add to my portfolio. So basic point of this post is that you may suck and your photos may be terrible but they can only get better.

In addition to just taking photos i suggest reading photo magazines from the UK (they outnumber our prints in quality and substance) and check out photo art books. Kill a few hours at Barnes & Noble and figure out why these people have books and you don't. 

Stop being so terrible and get better at photography.

Doing photo triage like a pro.

Ever look at someones photos and they're plain terrible because it's blurry, out of focus or someones arm is cut off? There reason some people don't notice this is because they're in it and it holds a memory and gosh darn it... i like it. That doesn't fly well for me and other photographers.  I'm going to explain how we look at a picture to determine if it's trash or worthy of being archived forever digitally or in print.

The first thing i look at when i'm looking through pictures is if it's sharp and the right things are in focus. The next thing i look at is feet, hands or arms & legs being chopped off in odd places.  I look for people facial expressions as well as posture and exposure and basic content.

If i delete a photo i'm in basic terms nullifying it from any existence, as far as i'm concerned it never existed. I've never looked back and said i sure wish i had that blurry pic of Moses with his feet cut off and the focus was on the background and he was looking away. Think of it as cleaning house.

So no ones hands should ever be cut off or anything, if you're framing the picture for someones face then you can cut it off at the shoulders or around the neck. You can include their top half but make sure you include hands or something of a pose. If taking a picture of someone from head to toe, make sure it's head to toe.

So lets say the photo came out blurry but you love it, unless you have a dozen people saying that it's an amazing picture and they're not zombie liking a picture on facebook... get rid of it. I've taken a handful of pictures that classify as something classic, endearing or special in some way that have been blurry, out of focus or somewhat off but work. A photo doesn't have to always meet criteria to win approval or be a great picture, it's just often that it does. Thinks fries and ketchup, eggs and bacon, you can also do fries and gravy or caramel or eggs and jelly or eggs and ketchup; it may be a little off but still blows you away.

So get in the basic practice of importing your photos however you would like (I personally use Lightroom for my photo management) and start rooting through them. By doing this on a regular basis you will become a better photographer. By seeing the pictures that suck it will become obvious what doesn't suck and what areas you may need work on.

Your photography will improve as a result of giving bad photos the death sentence, you'll also save hard drive space by not keeping crap on your computer.

Get rid of the garbage !

Okay you have a milion pictures (you're idea of a million of course being 500-1000 pictures). You need to start weeding out the bad stuff. Let me use an quick comparison to help put things into perspective. Imagine you're out at a five star restaurant and you've ordered a fillet mignon cooked medium rare with a horseradish butter and a side of fingerling potatoes coated and pummeled rosemary and butter with a  side candied baby carrots. The meal arrives at the table and you have this perfect dish and also you have some meatloaf and a double cheeseburger with a can of chef boyardee and a handful of andy capp hot fries and a candy bar and assorted other side dishes and small meals. The idea here is that while you have all these great little things by themselves they spoil the original meal that you had.  How great would that experience of the fillet mignon be if you also had candy corn and fried chicken next to it, it wouldn't make it seem as special right?

If i've totally lost you here i'll break it down again. When you pair a really good set of pictures with mediocrity it lessens the value of that picture. As a photographer if i handed someone two really great pictures accompanied by fifteen bad pictures it softens the impact i wanted to make with those two great photos. You want to show that you can shoot great pictures and do that regularly and when you present a set of photos and only two are really good out of seventeen it doesn't reflect that well on you, you might as well say it was an accident that those two came out so well.

When looking back on your memories, your photos that you've taken try to keep the beef and get rid of the fat. I've had to do this with my own photos. I've taken a look back at pictures from disney world with my family and seen some great family photos and mixed in there are bad photos of park benches or a ride that will be there for the next 30 years that i don't care about it. I don't need a picture of a bird that was sitting on cement eating crumbs if it's framed horribly and there was no purpose behind it.  You'll be much happier looking back on these photos if you see a pattern in them, family & friends or scenic location.


So stop clinging to mediocrity and start improving your archives.

Weddings, don't be scared !

Okay, you're a photographer and you love photography for the art of it but it's not really paying the bills is it?  I will always advocate shooting weddings, it's the ultimate pressure test for creativity. You have a few hours and you're going to get some amazing shots and the bride and groom are going to love them, but can you push yourself and become better as a photographer?

So it can seem a bit intimidating, shooting that first wedding and figuring out the whole schedule or things and the flow of the day. There are a million different ways to price your wedding photography and what you'll include in your packages and how long you'll stay. I personally keep my packages ultra simple, the bride has enough to worry about and the less details the better. I'm not there to squeeze every last penny out of a bride and groom, my only goal is to capture the day and do such a good job that they brag about me to their friends and family and that's how i keep getting business.  My basic package is a photobook and a dvd of pictures and the rest is up to them.

Okay so back to the flow of the day, where everything starts and goes from. I usually like to meet the bride while shes getting her hair and make-up down and follow her back to where she gets ready. I take posed journalistic shots of her getting ready with her bridesmaids and then i head to wherever the groom and groomsmen are and start getting pictures of them getting ready. The groom usually only takes 30 minutes to capture pictures of, they get ready quick and usually aren't too into getting pictures taken.

The best way to get ready to take all these pictures is to check out wedding photography books and wedding magazines and pictures online of brides and grooms. I usually drill these images into my head and either try to recreate, put a spin on it or do something completely different that what i've seen.

So the next phase of the day is when the bride and groom are actually getting dressed for the wedding. This could be done at one location but more often then not it's at two separate locations so you'll have to divide and conquer. This is your chance to shoot the artsy stuff that you've seen in magazines, books and online. This is your time to shine and you should take advantage of an hour or two of prep that they have to do to get ready.

I suggest typical shots such as groom getting shoes on, checking watch, hanging with groomsmen + a dozen other great ones. For the bride it can be as simple as her talking to a flower girl at the fg's height. The bride helping her dad put on a tie, the bridesmaids helping a bride into her dress. This is one of my favorite times to shoot, it's relaxed and everyone is typically in a good mood.

Now here's the most stressful time if you can call it that. You will shoot the ceremony which will last most likely all of 20 minutes. Shoot as much as you can, cover all the angles and for god sakes make sure you're shooting in RAW! Once you're done shooting now you have to shoot group shots and just the bride and groom.

The biggest thing about the next part is having a loud voice and being able to organize people. Basically figure out what groups are important to the bride and groom (beforehand) and now is your time to shine. Get people lined up, check their clothing make sure no oddities ruin it, make sure shoes are pointed in and a dozen other details which you're going to have to research for yourself.  When it comes to shooting the bride and groom you have to know some basic poses and be very clear about what you want and know what they want. One of the main things you want to focus on is getting to know the bride and groom and making sure they're comfortable with you. By then end of most of my weddings i'm good friends with my bride and groom and it makes things alot more relaxed when dealing with them professionally.


So now that you've done the hard part you are about to head into easy street, the reception. You're basically going to be hanging around taking dance pictures and the typical things such as first dance, mother son, father daughter dance and cake cutting and bouquet toss. After all this you can call it a night.

The next thing you're going to do is process those photos and get them back asap.

The idea of this post is to get people less scared about shooting a wedding, i'm breaking it down to show you that its not all pitchforks and fire and brimstone.

Take my picture!

One of the most annoying things that happens at an event i'll be shooting at is when people ask to have their picture taken and then walk away with no idea how to get it. The people will even ask to see the photo and then remark on how awesome it is and smile and simply walk away.  Did you somehow think this was going to magically show up in your inbox in the morning or appear on your wall on facebook because i somehow knew how to get this picture to you.

So i guess this message is to you people out there that does this, stop doing this.

I have $120, what camera should i get?

One of the most common things that i get asked is "I have $120, which camera should i get". That's pretty simple to answer, it doesn't matter for $120. See my previous post "It's not the camera, its the photographer", that will help highlight the main train of thought on this issue. You can buy a digital camera for $20 now that will snap 5 megapixel pictures or buy a $80 HD video camera from CVS.

When you're in the price range of $20 to $300 and looking at simple point and shoots you're basically paying for style, what looks good on you and what looks the most modern. Some of these cameras do have some bells and whistles that i admire such as the option to shoot in Shutter Priority mode or full manual. When it comes to brass tacks though the sensor that is used is pretty much all the same.

Let me use an simple comparison to highlight what i mean. Lets say you're looking at cars and you're just looking at Fords, Chevys, Lincolns and Saturns all in the price range of $8,000 to $12,000; you're buying the brand, the look and the color. All those cars will do exactly the same things but one may have an extra cup holder or one may have a little better suspension. In the end all of these cars aren't a Corvette or a top of the line Mercedes.

So if you have $120 to buy a camera, buy something that looks nice and maybe has a function to shoot manual. For photographers a $120 camera is considered a throw away camera, something that if it breaks we won't blink an eye.  Save an buy a DSLR if you want great pictures and want to improve your basic photography skills.

fin.

A bit about Worcester Photo Studios

So if you're from Massachusetts or surrounding states and have kept your ear to the ground then you have in no doubt heard about Worcester Photo Studios. It's a huge co op style studio, when i say huge i mean around 10,000 sq ft and over 13 areas to shoot in and a huge bay door to bring in cars, trucks, buses and elephants; while the last may not be entirely true we still have good intentions of bringing an elephant in there at some point.

So we started about 2 months back with an empty warehouse which used to house weaving looms and other various heavy equipment. We've been slowly turning it into a studio which at sometimes seems like a clubhouse because of all the members that love to hang out between shoots.   We took out around 17,000lbs of metal and lots of wood from the building. We're slowly transforming the inside to resemble what we all saw in our minds a year ago when we first came up with this idea.


Most days we're covered in dirt and grease from preparing the studio to be the powerhouse that it aims to be, the days that we're not we are sitting and marketing ourselves on the computers and working at new things to make the studio even better.  My office is a couch and an end table and Pat's office is a small mobile station cluttered with tech, we're making due until the office is completed.

So let me lay out the plans as if you were coming in to check out the studio and i was giving you a walk through. In the back right hand corner of the building we have plans for a 30ft three sided cyclorama and to the left of that a stage for bands or DJ to perform. To the right of the cyclorama going up the side of the building we have the location of the soon to be rain room with sprinklers and waterproof lighting and sealed and completely black walls and floor for the most amazing pictures you've ever seen.

Continuing down the right wall we have 2 more built sets which we haven't fully designated as anything in particular. The models changing room is next with plans to build a make up room off of that. The models room has it's own bathroom and plans for a shower and second vanity.  The photographers bathroom is after this followed by the office which Pat and I will be occupying.  The left side of the building from the left rear will be backdrops and single sets, around 7 or 8 sets for use. Then we have the green room which will is a place where you can meet with clients and also we will have a classroom for different photographers to teach or run seminars. In the upper left hand corner we have the editing room where we will have macs for everyone to work on their shots from the day or night. We also have the kitchenette and storage room directly in front of the editing room. The upper right hand wall will house our gallery which is partially open to non members as well as members.
Looking down the middle of the studio it's open and chairs and props will be positioned strategically throughout. The bay doors are in the very front of the building allowing mass entrance or for larger things.

So that's where we are now, come down and check it out. Call either Pat or myself at 1-800-210-9531

It's not the camera, its the photographer.

I always hear from people that they had a bad shoot or couldn't get a picture because of their camera being too old or too slow. I can honestly say that 90% of the time it's not the camera that's making the picture good it's the photographer (pictures from Nikon D3X's are the other 10%).

I've had dozens of point and shoot pocket cameras and crappy SLR's and I can honestly say it's who has the camera who makes the photo good. There are a few books out there that document this effect, i can't think of the author at the moment (even though i could simply google it and find out), who has put together an entire book of photos just from his Iphone with the help of a few effects done in Iphone.  But the point is it came out pretty amazing, you're going to loose a little bit of depth of field and a few other things but it's where the composition and image comes into play.

Sometimes I'll be looking through a bride and groom magazine (it's a central MA sorta thing) and i'll notice that the published photo is blurry or grainy and I'll be dumbfounded on how it made the cut.  Then i take a second and third look at the picture and realize that the picture has a classic feel and also captures the moment only the way a photographer can.

So here's an example for all of you to go by. When you weren't a photographer or realized that you wanted to be one, look at your pictures from previous years and find the gems. I personally cringe when i see my old work but revel in the moments when i took the time to make the proper composition and take multiple pictures instead of a quick snap and turn away. What i'm trying to say is that before you had the right equipment, before you invested thousands of dollars  that your craft was photography and not excess of equipment.

fin.

Going too far with retouching.

So 15 years ago when you wanted to jazz up a photo or make it stand out it's because you had a few dozen filters on your camera or you had the pleasure of developing your own film. Now with the advent of hundreds of photo apps and software like photoshop or paint shop pro to name a few we are able to do just this in seconds and minutes.

With photoshop you can apply one of the many filters or actions to quickly adjust a picture to give it a sepia tone or ancient or 80's feel which is if course wonderful.
I myself am a fan of adding little effects and some basic brush effects on photos.

Here is where I have an issue. When people change people so much that they remove freckles or change the position of eye brows, neck lines or slim waist lines.
I believe that thru photoshop we have lost some of what used to make photographers really strive to get the picture right the first time. At times there are exceptions to the fact, you can lighten a scar or lighten teeth, but many times the people are already fine the way they are.

The only times I usually touch up someone to that point is when asked. I will ask when I shoot a wedding if there's anything the couple would like fixed that's not too invasive. Often times I adjust people's teeth or bags under their eyes and basic blemishes. I never move locations of facial features. I have been asked to slim a waist line before but only of asked.

When working with skin I usually try to keep a natural look. I work with layers a bit in photoshop to achieve this. There are dozens of examples on how to work with skin online so I won't touch upon that right now. I have never liked the plastic look to skin that some photographers like to bestow upon their subjects. I like to look at it like this, my photo is not an ad for Guess Jeans and won't be appearing on any billboards. You can spend 30 minutes on a picture trying to get someone's skin perfect and make them look almost alien or you can keep it somewhat natural.

When using effects or presets or actions I like to try and treat it like going out to eat, I don't do it too often and I don't order everything on the menu. I always see photographers posting on facebook and can almost instantly recognize their work by the different effects they apply. I also judge them by the creativity of the effect, most times if I can figure out what they did in 10 seconds I'm not impressed. If an effect can add mood or depth to a photo then by all means. There's no set rules in photography only guidelines.

So it's always up to you how you retouching your photos. My only advice out of all this is concentrate on the photography end of it not the retouching. Amazing photographer is nicer to hear than amazing photoshopper.

Aperture, Shutter & ISO. Quick basics for photographers

So one of the most common things I do at the studio is correcting photographers camera settings. Most photographers don't understand why there pictures are coming out too dark or too light.

Photographers can always correct their work in post but that doesn't help them become better photographers. So here is the basics for those of you willing to take the time to heed my words of wisdom.

Your aperture is what regulates the amount of light that is let into the camera and also will effect the amount of bokeh (fun amazing blurriness). The higher the aperture the less light that is let in and also the sharper the picture. The smaller the aperture means more light and a little bit lighter on the focus.

The shutter of course is what opens and shuts and let's light in. The faster the shutter the less light that gets in and the slower the light the more light it let's in.

The ISO dictates the sensitivity the camera will have while shooting. The ISO will also get grainier the higher it goes. 100 is good for any light setups or outdoors and 400 for cloudy and 800 for dusk or indoors. 1600 will do wonders for indoors, but there is a price to pay for such magical low light photography. Then higher the iso the more grainy your pictures will come out. The more sensitive your camera is the better it will handle a higher ISO vs. grain.
There's a few things out there that will help you in the fight against grainy pictures. A full frame sensor on a DSLR will mean it's much kinder to you. Post processing in lightroom and photoshop will also help to reduce noise and levy the quality. When it comes to quality through you want to keep your iso as low as you can. Nikon has a setting of 50 for iso for some of it's cameras. I believe that Canon has ISO 100 as one of its lowest settings. The ISO will basically compensate for any blunders in exposure and act almost as a safety net for your low light shots. I commonly turn up my ISO when shooting weddings because of restrictions on flashes.

So once you've absorbed the above info you may continue on.

Now here's what i do when I help people with their camera settings. By looking at a picture you should be able to tell why a picture is blown out or under exposed by looking at the settings and also what conditions you were taking the picture in.

The combination of Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO will dictate how proper the exposure is. I expect to receive a good deal of criticism on this subject, here's how I operate though.

I keep my Nikon on ISO 50 all the time, if I have to shoot indoors I switch on auto ISO. I have my auto ISO range from 400 to 1600. Most times if I have to shoot indoors I'm using a flash or have adequate lighting somehow. When using Auto ISO you can expect mid ranges in your ISO such as 320 or 460. If you're shooting a wedding then you're going to want to adjust your range from 200 to 800, but for most events such as a family party or small event it's not going to matter. I always look at who I'm catering to when adjusting my ISO, if its a model I keep it low; if it's an event I usually don't worry to much and enjoy a higher ISO



So that's my two cents on the issue of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO

Introduction of mediocrity.

If I was a well versed writer or of great wit I could ensure that you would enjoy what follows, that's not going to happen. I apologize for my run on sentences and often poorly written descriptions.

I've always documented my existence through pictures and a well maintained collection of cheap leather photo albums. Now as an adult I have turned a hobby into a profession and turned many of my clients photos into cherished memories.

This blog is to help me grow as a photographer and person, and in that order as well. I'm consistently learning new things about photography and every day figuring out myself a little more. I hope to share some valuable insights and thoughts with everyone and or entertain you with mishaps or fortunes.

So now that I'm reading this back to myself all I hear is a crummy foreword by a lesser known person of interest. This is the beginning of my blog, hopefully the content will outweigh grammar and vocabulary.