Serendipitous Business Opportunities

Duck Soba Noodles

I went to another food photography shoot today. This time it was at a swanky new Japanese joint that recently opened up. These guys don’t even have a website up yet. I think they are going to get good use out of my photos.

They gave me tons of things to photograph, and also gave me three huge dishes to take home: an udon bowl, a soba noodle bowl, and a ramen noodle bowl. And believe me, this ramen noodle was nothing like the crappy sodium soup I ate in college. We’re talking authentic Japanese ramen. Actually, all three dishes were amazing.

Tomato Udon Noodles

My plan is to write a review of the restaurant for the magazine when I submit my photos. My thinking is that rather than the magazine paying me in cash, I can just tell them that I’d gladly work for food. This way, the publisher can free up her time to do other things, and I get to add work to my photojournalism portfolio, and my food photography portfolio.

Ramen Noodles

While I was at the restaurant, the general manager told me about a doggy daycare owner she happens to know. I want to get into pet photography, so I thought this would be a good lead to chase down. I’ll probably write up an article about them as well. I’m hoping that I can offer pet photography services through the doggy daycare.

Today, I’m grateful for finishing the day on a full stomach, and serendipitous business opportunities.

Time Management Style

I spent the entire day working on my website to push out a photography promo. I don’t mean part of the day, or majority of the day. I mean the entire day. I didn’t have time to go to the bank like I originally planned. I forgot about the laundry I was supposed to finish. I didn’t have time to go grocery shopping. I even forgot to eat dinner. I completely lost track of time.

I’m realizing now that my particular style of time management is to work on one big project at a time. I don’t seem to do well when there are tons of little tasks to do, unless those tasks are all in sequential order. Random tasks will completely throw me off.

I guess I could see this as a down side considering that multitasking gets such high praise. However, I’ve read that multitasking actually reduces the quality of work performed. Texting and driving is just one example.

Maybe I should try to use this to my advantage. That is, I should schedule large chunks of time for projects rather than trying to squeeze everything in all at once. It may mean I have to give up certain projects, or tasks. Again, that could be a good thing. I’d rather get a few things done really well than barely getting anything done at all.

Today, I’m grateful I launched my photography promo.

Will Work for Food

Wonton Tacos

I went on one of the food photo assignments I created for myself. My first assignment was at a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant. The two dishes I photographed were Won Ton Tacos, and Thai Chicken Empanadas. I walked right in and just acted like I knew what I was doing, and starting photographing.

It was both fun and challenging trying to find the best spot to photograph the food, and arranging the food to get the best shot. I even manipulated little parts of the food to bring out the color. I also paired the Thai Chicken Empanadas with a Cucumber Mojito add some context to the food, and depth to the background.

Thai Chicken Empanada with a Cucumber Mojito

The photos came out great! The best part was that I got to eat everything for free. I didn’t even ask if I could eat it. The chef just said to go ahead and eat it up. It was so delicious.

As I at my meal, I started thinking about possibly going into food photography full time. It’s an ideal job when I think about it. I get paid to take photos, and I get free meals. I can’t think of a more ideal job.

Today, I’m grateful I got a free dinner.

Enabling Bad Habits

Twyla and I went furniture shopping today. She needed something to store her cooking books, napkins, and place mats in her dining room. We finally found the perfect little cabinet at the World Market. It was on clearance, it was a discontinued model, and it was the store model. In other words, it was a bargain.

When we tried to put it into my trunk, I noticed that it moved slightly when we tried to close the trunk door. I popped the trunk open, and noticed there was a lever rubbing against one of the corners. We took it out, and inspected the damage. There were tiny scratches on one corner. Twyla said it would be okay, and that she could just paint over it. We then put it into the backseat of my car, and drove home.

Then the weirdest thing happened. I had this urge to take Twyla out to dinner. I think I felt guilty about the cabinet being damaged. My logic was that I was the one that suggested we go to World Market, I kind of made some good arguments as to why she should purchase it, and I was the one that suggested that we put it in the trunk. So I felt it was my fault the cabinet was damaged. My way of making up for the guilt was to take her out to dinner.

Twyla was the one that caught this right away. I feel like a drug addict sometimes when it comes to money. As soon as something goes wrong, and I feel anxiety about it, the first thing I want to do is spend money to make the problem go away. Twyla wouldn’t have it. She didn’t want to enable me. So we stayed in and had some left over soup.

Today, I’m grateful that Twyla didn’t enable my bad habits.

Sensing Purpose

Twyla often asks me what I’m going to be doing today, or what may plan will be next week. I have to be honest, I don’t really think like that anymore, and it’s not exactly something I’m proud of either. I used to be really good at thinking and planning things ahead. I don’t know why I don’t plan ahead anymore.

I guess what I’m really trying to say is that dating Twyla has shifted my thinking in terms of time. Ever since I started dating Twyla, I started thinking about the future more often, and I started to plan more often. I don’t think being single necessarily made me less conscious of time. I think that dating Twyla as given me a sense of purpose, and that is what has reawakened my sense for time.

I guess what I have been missing was not time management, or money management. I’ve been missing a sense of purpose. Strange term, “sense” of purpose.

Today, I am grateful that I am regaining my sense of purpose.

Paying for Food With Photos

My friends, Simon and Lisa, got married a few weeks ago. About a week ago, they invited me to go to their reception, which was tonight. I included Twyla in on the plans of course. Then, a few days ago the magazine I work for asked if I could cover a Chinese New Year’s dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. The problem was that the photo assignment was on the same night as the reception: tonight. My initial instinct was to turn down the assignment, and not break the commitment with Simon and Lisa. Twyla talked me out of it. We both agreed we could do both, and that I should not turn down this opportunity for another photo assignment.

Talk about making the right call. The reception was really more of a happy hour thing. Twyla and I did not drink or eat anything there other than the water. We basically didn’t want to spend money. By the time Twyla and I got to the Chinese restaurant, we were starving.

At the Chinese restaurant, they served us close to eight different dishes including duck, lobster, and quail. It was a feast. I took tons of food photos, and photos of the celebration of course. They didn’t charge us anything since I was there on assignment. Actually, the magazine paid me with a gift certificate to an Asian restaurant. My photos are literally putting food on the table.

Today, I am grateful I took on this photo assignment.

A Long Lazy Day

Had a lazy day today. I didn’t feel like doing anything. Wouldn’t you know it, it also happens to be a snow day. Maybe I need to move to a warmer climate or something. I need to figure out how to get over this seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

It all started when my email glitched on me this morning, and I had to spend the day reconstructing all the folders. It was down hill from there. The only thing I finished today was the video for Twyla. I also needed to clean up, files some paper work, do my taxes, cleanout some boxes, and make cards, but I just didn’t feel like it. It’s not that I don’t have enough time or energy; I just wasn’t in the mood. It’s really disappointing considering how much I got done yesterday. Maybe I’m coming down from the high or something.

Today, I’m grateful I finished Twyla’s video