Chantale Perron - Project 365: The BlackCAT Adventures

I love when that happens...

This morning started off like any other day with my regular morning stalking rituals, checking out what's going on in the photography world and seeing what my favourite photographers/people have to say on their blogs. But today I knew I needed something different; I needed something to pick me up, something to encourage me, some sort of sign to let me know I'm on the right path with this business venture. I know I'm doing all the right things but surely there has to be more I can do?

And just like that, as if the Gods above knew I needed inspiration and guidance this morning, I happened upon on some of David Jay's videos that I hadn't seen before. As I went through them one by one to see if I could find any (free) help in getting my business off the ground, I found this. David Jay's Top 10 Things to do in a Recession. The title alone intrigued me so I checked it out. 

Top 10 Things to do in a Recession

10. Read __________

9. Call __________

8. Finish your __________

7. __________ Naked

6. Avoid Crabs ???

5. Get involved in__________

4. Stop doing and __________

3. Get F.I.T.

2. Party

1. __________ other people

You'll have to check it out for yourself to fill in the blanks. But I loved it. I laughed (and then of course #9 made me cry cause that would be at the TOP of my list of To Do's if I could do it). And although I've already started doing some of the suggestions, I'm gunna have to get on all the others. I guess today is gunna be a busy day!

Have a beautiful one everybody!

I may just be on the right track

I may have mentioned it before – I love Blogs. You might even say I’m kind of addicted. OK, I admit it….I’m a downright stalker. Take a look through my favorites and you’ll probably find at least 20 different sites that I check in on a regular basis. Capture me with your last 10 entries and I might just take things to a whole new level, finding the very first entry and reading the ENTIRE thing backwards. It may sound strange but some curl up with a good book, I curl up with my laptop and read blogs. Don’t judge…. we all have our idiosyncrasies. Lol

Jasmine Star is an awesome photographer out of Orange County, California, who was voted Top 10 Wedding Photographer 2009, has shot more than 80 weddings, just completed a national speaking tour sponsored by Adobe and Showit Sites…and managed to this in her first 2 years of business!! I found Jasmine through Nate & Jaclyn’s blog (my be-all-and-end-all favoritest photogs in the world!) when she attended a Shoot-shop with the Kaisers. I liked Jasmine’s work immediately and checked in on her blog from time to time. Last week, however, I decided to start from the very beginning, reading her entries covering her personal journey to Star-dom.

 

Wow…it was amazing. Here was this internationally known photog phenom, giving lectures and traveling shooting weddings, and basically taking the photography world by storm, going through the exact things I am now. More than once I sat staring at my screen with tears in my eyes. She wrote about her excitement and fears in starting her new business. She wrote about wishing for a miracle to cure her mother's illness. She was saying all the things I felt and have been going through over the past 2 years; I could have written those entries. She talked about wishing some world-renowned photographer would miraculously take her by the hand and ask her to be his apprentice…the same silly dream I’ve had many a night. She talked about the insecurities and the doubt in her work. Her first couple months of blog posts don’t even have pictures and it wasn’t until someone challenged her to post some that she actually did. The following entry she admits that she was a chicken and had posted “feathery” pictures but then immediately remedied the situation by posting images from her very first wedding shoot. She added, “I know I made plenty of mistakes, but--like I said before--mistakes are part of the process’’.

 

Man, I’m loving this girl more and more with every post.