reflection

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Being without a computer

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For the last week I have not had a computer. My computer experienced some issues with its graphics card and now is in the shop getting repaired. For this day and age most would not know what do with themselves, I may be wrong about that but from what I can say is that not having a computer for this amount time as been freeing. Yes, I still have an iPhone and an iPad ( from where I am writing this post) but not having a computer has taught and reminded me of these lessons.

1. A digital break is needed from time to time.

We are constantly connected to Internet. And I think this can weigh on you after hours and days of being connected. So from time to time a break is needed to recharge and find balance. Not having a computer and the difficulty of using the iPhone and iPad in doing work has lead me to do other more productive things like catch up on my reading. And this has been nothing short of awesome. It makes you show down and relax. So give yourself a day or two to step away from the computer and do something that is not required.

2. Life slows down

When we are constantly connected to the Internet we lose track of what going around and we waste a lot of time. For example a 5 minute check and Facebook usually turns to an hour of checking pictures and status updates of our friends. And we get sucked in and lose productivity time. But in the opposite when you spend your time more wisely like reading and hanging out with family time slows down and is more fulfilling. The experience between the two is completely different and adds more value to your life. So get off the computer and enjoy the pleasures of life outside the computer. Paradise is found outside the screen.

3. You pay more attention to your surroundings.

When you aren’t getting sucked in and bothered by what going on the Internet you start to notice the things around you and learn to appreciate them. Instead of seeing the beautiful things that on screen you start to see the beauty that is simply outside your door and window. And instead of lusting of going to those places you realized that their is profound beauty right in your own neighborhood.

4. Life is better in real life than on “Facebook.”

When scanning the pictures an status updates that people post on Facebook life looks all good and Tandy but also in the opposite life can look really negative. The thing to realize is that these are simply not the total reality of life. I will admit that I only share the good things that occur in my life and keep the more negative and personal stuff offline which is where I believe they belong. But when you don’t pay attention to these things and actually spend time with people in person you see that life is really good and real.

5. I rather be doing something not involving the computer.

There is a whole world out there that is calling for exploration. When you sit in front of a computer planning, you are simply just doing that planning instead of living the life that you want to live. Yes you need to plan but sometimes the best things to do is simply just do it and see where it takes you. Life is better experienced through mistakes than trying to plan for them. Things don’t get interesting until so,etching goes wrong and you have to figure slash dig yourself out of the situation. Yes it may be uncomfortable but it is worth all of the time and effort you put on it. The problem is when you plan with a computer you actually spend more time planning and digging up facts that don’t make sense. Because jokingly everything you read on the Internet is real, right?! If that were true the lives that people portray would be real and they would be living the happy lives they present. But that is far from reality. Life is like a roller coaster there are ups and downs and that’s just the truth. Life doesn’t happy in just the highs but happens throughout the highs and lows.

The five lessons are just a few of the things I learned while not having a computer. Yes, it does makes some task difficult but it also relieves you of some the stresses that the Internet actually causes you. I don’t want to be overalls pessimistic about all this and make that being on the computer all the time is bad. I just want to share some thoughts on how a break from the screen from time to time can make your life more balance and you can have the opportunity to life the life that you want to life.

So simply remember this, when things start getting stressful while on the computer simply step way and find another fun and productive thing to do.

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Oliver the Blogger…express yourself!

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So writing this blog has been a personal experiment of sharing my thoughts, ideas, and interest with my fellow readers. As far as I have been doing so far, it has been an interesting journey thus far. I started with the optimism of writing practically everyday to the more recent point of practically not writing and posting at all. Despite the successes and some of the pitfalls that I have experience this far, I have found it personally gratifying to post and put my work out there. I had a friend tell me to it straight that; ” I just had to ship it,”. I had to put forward the work that I was working on and out out there for the world to see. And so I have at least done this with the blog that you read.

Blogging to me isn’t the easiest of things to do. I have found that I need to be in the right mindset, the right mood, and at least have about 30 minutes of me time to myself. I have also found that having a place to write that is consistent and if possible has white noise has helped. If you have followed me long enough here or on my Instagram you that one such place that I have found has worked for me is the Coffee and Tea Collective. But I have also tried to mimic this experience in other places with a great app called Coffitivity. It’s an app that plays the ambient noises of coffee places. Yes, you read that right; it plays white noise of coffee houses. Lol.

The one thing that I have enjoyed is that I have been able to express myself here. I have taken the leap to just post and share. Early in this journey I kept this blog pretty quiet and low key. Now when I push publish, it goes out to the interWebs of current and it is out there for all to see, read, critique, and response to. I don’t have fairly large readership and or possibly and audience but that is not the point. Just like my friend suggested, I should just ship it. And write, edit, and ship, it goes.

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Oliver the…. And changing things up

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Over the last few weeks I’ve been going through a whole process of trying to figure things out; both on the personal and business side. It one of those times where you start thinking and reflecting on what you are doing and where you can go. The key being is making sure thy whatever I do I end up happy.

So I guess we will start on the personal side. There’s has been a lot of things going on. A lot of things that has me thinking and reflecting on doing things. I have made and fostered more friends, reconnecting with some, working out some issues with others, and making plans with others. But ultimately I have realized that I need to make myself happy and make things happen no matter what. I have also been more willing to share a bit more in person. The conversations that I have had with friends recently have been good that have challenged and questioned me to do better and seek what it is that I want.

And that is where the question rest; what do I want. At the moment I don’t know. I just don’t know. I can’t at the moment decide on just one thing. But here a few things that I would like;

1. Do a little more traveling.
2. Display more of my photography work.
3. Open and share a photography place with friends.
4. Spend more time with family traveling and seeing the sites.
5. Improve and continue a good overall health outlook.
6. Advance further in my engineering career.

So as you can see, there is a lot of things on the plate of wants. I am starting on whatever allows itself to be work on. And I do recognize that every little victory that I accomplish everyday helps me get closer to my aspirations and goals. And that currently concludes the personal side of things.

The other thing that I have been working on has been on my business. Over the last several weeks, I have been reorganizing, rethinking, and redoing my business from scratch. This all began a couple of months ago when my friend Jared, invited to attend he in studio audience on CreativeLive. He’s class was about the business of photography. A lot of the topics we discussed and learned there hit home for me. It was one of those lightbulb moments of life. During the three days of class I realized the following;

1. I must design a business to make me happy.
2. I must make the business centered around me.
3. I have to understand every aspect of my business.
4. It’s going to be a lot of work and success won’t come easy.
5. Share your work and business with others
6. Be unique ( think of three words )
7. Your Art and your Business are two different things.

So over the last weeks I have been working on refining my photography business into a business that I’m proud to work on and share with the work.

With the help of my fellow friends that were in the audience with me, we are part of a group called the Bauman Six. Together we help each other through our processes and journey through the forest that is photography. Over the weeks I have discovered, toiled, and figured out my three words. I started with the words of; passionate, loyal, and explorer, and those have evolved into; tailored, outdoorsy, and geek. I have learned from and still learning from this experience. A few things I have learned is that you have to allow yourself to be seen. Allow yourself the time to figure it out. This is something that doesn’t occur overnight but it is a process that takes some time. And most importantly you have to be Yourself. Your true Authentic Self. With that in hand, I have found that you will and continue to discover yourself.

Other than a journey of self discovery, I have also been working on learning the process. The process being everything! And I mean everything. From the easiest to the most complicated task. Everything that I do, to run the photography business. This experience has been. Great and eye opening. It has been one of those things that you didn’t realized you do but once it out on paper you realized that you do a lot of work to run the business. And when you do this you realized that you are WORTH IT. And in doing this, I finally realized that all my work and art is WORTH the cost that I charge. I realized that my cost are justified and it is what I feel comfortable with. So now my outlook with my business is bright and shiny!!! And I’m looking forward to where it will go.

In the next couple of weeks I hope to have my new photography websites up and running. My goal with the websites is to have them represent me and my vision of the world. I will focus both on landscape and wedding photography. Both will be completely different from on another but still have the words; tailored, outdoorsy, and geek, as the main themes in them. They may not be visually apparent however they will be interwoven.

That’s been the latest with me in the personal and business end.

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Oliver the Writer…Motivational Action

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A few days ago I reading a post about how motivation and basically everything related to motivation has been an addiction of sorts. Looking at the landscape of media especially places like Facebook and Twitter, it is easy to find anything motivational and positive. It’s apparent that there is a market for this. And just like most things it over saturated and in my humblest opinion it does get overly routine and non remarkable.

I’m totally guilty of this too. If you are a friend of mine on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you know everyday that I do a “Good Morning World” message. And all my good morning world messages are a positive, thoughtful, and motivational quote or idea to help start your day on a good note. So as you can see, I do add the influx of motivational things you see everyday.

However, I would like to say, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with spreading positive motivational things to friends and family. My point is that, you can’t just receive it, read it, and then share it, just like that. I think that too many people just take it face value and do nothing more than collect and share.

I think and know that the best thing to do with the motivational energy that you get from these is to take action with them. Actually get out of your seat, stop browsing Facebook and Twitter, and take some steps to getting something done. It is a better use of your time to do something for yourself to help you get one step closer to a career goal, scratch out another item on your bucket-list, and or make time to build and nurture great relationships.

I totally understand that it is easy to get caught in reading motivational blog after motivational blog but just doing that will not alone make you a better person. I have been there and I have done that. What have learned from there is that hoarding the information and sharing it doesn’t get you anything if you don’t do anything with it. It is better to share AND help others with it. What this gets you is twofold; first you ensure that you understand what you are reading and learning and second and most important of all; you are helping another person and or community gain a set of tools to build the world that they want to create and live in. It’s been said time and time again but remember this; whatever it is that you do, love it, share it, and do it not for yourself but for your community. It is NOT about YOU! It is about the COMMUNITY that nurtures and fosters you.

So enjoy the motivational quotes and ideas that you see everyday, but do yourself a favor and the people around you and take ACTION with it. Help make and create a community that will nurture and foster more positive and motivational karma.

Oliver the photographer…Photographing

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A picture is worth a thousand words.

To me pictures are worth a thousand words and a whole lot more emotion. Photographs to me are about emotion and feeling. When I’m out photographing either a landscape or a couple on their first day as husband and wife. There is an emotional investment that I put into it. Like most photographers I know, we take our work personally. We each have our favorites, we have our own idea of how to photograph the day and tell the story. I know that my favorite thing to do when I’m out photographing is to be present.

Being present, gives me the opportunity to be a guest and photographer and makes the experience so much more richer than if I was just a photographer. The photography takes care of itself when I’m present I feel. I know longer have to coach a client to do something or do much post work on an image to make it look like how I want it. Rather I just let it happen and document it knowing that this is how it’s going to be.

The biggest take away I have learned throughout the years that has helped is knowing your vision for what you are going to capture. I have found mentally preparing has helped make the process go easy. I’ve gone as far as mediate and imagine the day as it is happen. I envisioned in my head everything that I can see. Doing this easies my stress and gives me my game plan. And allows me to direct any of my associates that are helping me that day.

Before all this, I was the photographer that wasn’t sure. I was the photographer that didn’t know what to do. I practically was a nervous wreak. As much as I tried it just didn’t come naturally or as easy. I had to do the work. And boy did I work. It was one of those sweat, blood, and restless nights things that you have to go through. I don’t care for the people that say it just happened. Because it just doesn’t happen like that. It seriously happens with a lot and I mean a lot of work. And with that also come with realizing that you are not as good as you think you are however you know that with enough effort, work, and time you will make it happen. You will create the world that you want to create and live in.

And just like that; YOU HAVE TO CREATE THE WORLD YOU WANT TO HAVE AND LIVE IN. I have learned those that have the earned success have created the opportunities that have lead to their ultimate success. And equally as important; WORK HARD AND STAY HUMBLE.

So we come back to where we are now. Today I’m in the middle of a whole rebrand and process in my photography. I declare now that I am a landscape and wedding photographer. I am a specialist in this fields. I approach both in similar ways that allow me to be a tailored and outdoorsy geek. I am part of a group of 6, that have called ourselves the Bauman Six, together we work together and come together to help on another to succeed in our vision of our photography.

I will soon retire the Oliver Henry Photography brand of the business and restart them as Oliver Asis Photography for the landscape work and Oliver Asis Weddings for the wedding photography.