No words are really needed. My wife and I on Christmas Eve. Life doesn’t get better than this. I love you, C.
Jerred Z
Photography. Teaching. Awesomeness.
Wow…
Is all I can really say.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1394593468/the-teen-voices-project
We met our goal, with lots of time remaining.
There was a time when I really thought I had no shot – but it all came together. My students helped spread the word, and I put myself out there in a way I haven’t really done before.
It all worked – people believed – and now our project is a “GO.”
Thank you to everyone who helped. You are awesome.
Etsy fun!
My Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jerredzphotography has been closed for years, but I’m firing it back up. I forget sometimes that photos are sometimes meant to be viewed, purchased, and put up on a wall. They’re meant to be seen – and I don’t show my photos close to enough.
Even though I have way more than enough to do, between kickstarter and teaching, I’m going to try to update some new(er) photos to the Etsy shop every night.
As digital photographers, we often simply forget how cool it is to print our work… I’m hoping this gives me more of an opportunity to do so!
Below is one of the newer shots (and for me, “new” is anything past 2008) I posted to the shop.
Pointing and Shooting
This is another shot that comes from my cell phone. The camera apps today can add some flair – such as vignetting and a tilt-shift effect with just a few button presses.
I have some cool gear – some seriously awesome DSLR cameras and lenses. However – it’s so rare for me to take them out with me any longer.
I love the ability to use my phone to get a shot like this – mostly I just liked the deep blue sky and the contrast that existed in the scene.
Also nice is the ability to press “upload” on my cell phone and instantly have access to the photo I just took.
Why cell phone cameras are cool…
Even though they mostly suck, I wouldn’t have this shot of my sister and my son without the crappy camera on my phone. 10 years ago I would never have imagined moments like these. Now they are what I live for.
Kick It
I have to be honest here. I’m pretty exhausted.
As I try to keep up with the day-to-day stuff going on in my classroom (like yearbook deadlines), I’ve also got my Kickstarter project to constantly look at.
I just read my last sentence, and it sounds like I’m complaining. I’m not. It’s been an absolutely thrilling, humbling, mind-boggling experience.
It’s just such an amazing thing to know that there are people out there who care enough to throw us a few bucks, especially so in these tough financial times. Every time someone backs us, no matter how much money they give us, they are giving my students a vote of confidence. They are telling them “we believe in you.” I can’t tell you how much it means to me – or to them.
The problem, of course, is that we’ve got a long way to go before we reach our kickstarter goal. This puts me in an uncomfortable position – of actually promoting it. I’ve just never been that guy to go out there and beat my chest, telling everyone how great I am and they should hire me. My wife isn’t either, and that’s probably why we struggle sometimes with our photography business. We love what we do, but we’re just kind of the laid-back type. We don’t give everyone our business card, and I honestly haven’t had one in my wallet since the first year or so we were in business.
I’ve realized that for the Kickstarter project to be successful, I’ve got to get outside of my comfort zone. I’ve got to let everyone know about it, and truthfully and honestly tell them what it’s all about.
And here’s the thing: it’s already worked beyond my dreams.
I had a meeting with an amazing team from Omaha by Design. They were interested in my project, and asked to meet me. I really just thought that they’d want to discuss the public art aspect of the project, and that’s mostly what we did. I had no expectation of trying to “sell” the project, but I got so excited about it all, I just started talking about every little aspect of it. I was excited, enthusiastic, and I believed in everything I told them.
The meeting ended with them agreeing to help me think of some places my students could put their art in the community, and the three of them seemed genuinely to like what my students were going to do… and then they called me back a few hours later, and actually donated $5,000 to us. I teared up. It was such a king gesture on their part, and words fail to truly express how that felt.
Students celebrate when they hear we've been given tons of money!
And so no matter what happens, Kickstarter has been a success. It’s been a vehicle for me to get word out there for something cool my students will be doing, and for me to meet and talk with so many people I would never have had the chance to meet.
So stay tuned, people. I’ve got so much more to tell everyone about the project, my students’ ideas, and much more. This is already my greatest year of teaching, and it’s not even half over yet. Freaking awesome.
Interview
Hey, all! I was interviewed about my kickstarter project by an awesome public school blog, NE Loves Public Schools.
Find it here: http://www.nelovesps.org/blog_detail?TN=DTN-20111116095446
Pretty cool!
New Phone
So, in order to keep up with all this newfangled “social networking,” I got a new phone. I was lucky to get a pretty cool phone for a decent price, because tweeting on my old one was doing some damage to my eyes. Seriously – I’d have to hold the thing so close to my face the glow from the phone was permeating my brain.
So here are a few shots from the camera, which I think I already sent out to the wonderful series of tubes called the internets.
Play
I think the educational system has forgotten what it was like to be a kid.
We all have.
Somehow we’ve lost sight of something important: that students, even teens, need to play.
So my challenge to myself is to try to have more fun in class. When deadlines come, and I’m about to blow a gasket because I can’t stand it when someone’s not getting their stuff done… maybe we should all play a little “yearbook-related” game? Take a step back for a few minutes and have some fun. It’s good for the brain, right?
If you have the time, check out this amazing interview I found at the Innovative Educator. It’s titled: “The simple truth about why students don’t like school.” It’s very good stuff – and even if you disagree (many would) – you’d have to admit he’s got some good points.
… And I finally have a photo that relates to a post. Another first!