Zoo pics!
Got the chance to sit down and talk with the karate school's owner a few days ago about the fact that I'm not going to be continuing training, at least in the near future (not unexpected at this point, given my accumulation of injuries and the need to deal with that before pushing myself more).
The fact that I won't be continuing to teach for the time being was not expected for them, but the conversation went a lot better than I thought it would. She told me they were really happy with the work I've been doing and actually offered to sit down and see what they can offer me if I want to make it more of a full-time career, now or later on down the line. Which... I was not expecting out of that conversation. I'm too tired and in need of a break from some of the disorganization and craziness going on right now to consider it at this point, but I left the future possibility open. For now, I'm continuing my current teaching until they switch over to the summer schedule at the end of May so they've got time to figure out staffing, and we'll see where I'm at once fall comes around again.
Anyhow. Good to have that settled with a lot less drama than I was expecting.
On another front, anyone want to see some zoo pics?
As I believe I mentioned earlier, I've finally got an actual camera! Not a really big or pricey one, but getting better at photography has been a goal of mine for a while now and I was having so much trouble getting anywhere further with my phone, given the lack of zoom and difficulty adjusting settings. Anyhow, this was my first chance to really put it to the test and I was SO HAPPY. I mean, there's a lot to photography that having decent equipment isn't an instant fix for, obviously, but as far as actually having a chance at getting some of the pictures I wanted it was amazing. :D
A lot of what I took was for pure art-reference/anatomy purposes, not particularly artistic in its own right, but I got some really fun ones.
Like pretty big cats. (I just really like the look of the limited palette and framing of this one.)
And okay, I am terrible at guessing distances, but I was so far away from this lion, I can't believe I got a nice profile of him.
Okay, lots of sleepy critter pics. But seriously, being able to actually zoom through obstructing fences and get decent photos even when they were hidden away, barely visible was so fun.
Annnd then I went over to the zoo's conservatory to try to practice getting interesting framing on all the pretty flowers.
^^ Not where I'd like to be, sure, but it's fun to be getting better.
The fact that I won't be continuing to teach for the time being was not expected for them, but the conversation went a lot better than I thought it would. She told me they were really happy with the work I've been doing and actually offered to sit down and see what they can offer me if I want to make it more of a full-time career, now or later on down the line. Which... I was not expecting out of that conversation. I'm too tired and in need of a break from some of the disorganization and craziness going on right now to consider it at this point, but I left the future possibility open. For now, I'm continuing my current teaching until they switch over to the summer schedule at the end of May so they've got time to figure out staffing, and we'll see where I'm at once fall comes around again.
Anyhow. Good to have that settled with a lot less drama than I was expecting.
On another front, anyone want to see some zoo pics?
As I believe I mentioned earlier, I've finally got an actual camera! Not a really big or pricey one, but getting better at photography has been a goal of mine for a while now and I was having so much trouble getting anywhere further with my phone, given the lack of zoom and difficulty adjusting settings. Anyhow, this was my first chance to really put it to the test and I was SO HAPPY. I mean, there's a lot to photography that having decent equipment isn't an instant fix for, obviously, but as far as actually having a chance at getting some of the pictures I wanted it was amazing. :D
A lot of what I took was for pure art-reference/anatomy purposes, not particularly artistic in its own right, but I got some really fun ones.
Like pretty big cats. (I just really like the look of the limited palette and framing of this one.)
And okay, I am terrible at guessing distances, but I was so far away from this lion, I can't believe I got a nice profile of him.
Okay, lots of sleepy critter pics. But seriously, being able to actually zoom through obstructing fences and get decent photos even when they were hidden away, barely visible was so fun.
Annnd then I went over to the zoo's conservatory to try to practice getting interesting framing on all the pretty flowers.
^^ Not where I'd like to be, sure, but it's fun to be getting better.