My last post delved into reasons that have kept me away from photography. At least reasons that have kept me from going out and taking photographs. But I've also been dwelling on solutions to counter those problems. What's one solution? Commit to a photo session to someone else, whether it be to hang out with fellow enthusiast to shoot together, commit to taking someone's portrait, pet, or beloved car, or in my case, volunteer to be a photographer at a sandcastle building contest.

How'd that happen?

Facebook is what happened.

In college I was part of a community service organization, and when you do that, you end up with hundreds of people friended to your account. One of these friends posts up opportunities that I like to take a look at, and what do you know, this time a call for volunteers which not only include specialized volunteers such as nurses and EMTs,... but also volunteer photographers!

Perfect.

When opportunity presents itself, step up and own it.

In my mind, these steps immediately sprang to mind:

Confirm photography skill level they expect and commit to event.
Look at photographs of previous events
Seek advice on gear and techniques to use to elevate my performance
Buy and rent gear as needed
Become familiar with that gear and scout out the scene before the event
Shoot, post-process, and submit my work
Review, learn, and grow as a photographer

I've completed Steps 1-3.

I asked, and they replied that it's perfectly okay that I'm new to photography, which is fantastic. I've also looked at the galleries for the previous years, and besides 2009 when the photographer had some kind of aerial drone, the pics look like pretty standard point and shoot. Memories were captured, which is most important of all, but I also feel that unless I forget to charge my battery or my SD card gets corrupted, then it should be a piece of cake to be on par with previous years. So of course my goal is to surpass that.

All in all, it seems like Ill be easing myself into a low pressure first event. Steps 4 and 5 will be taken care of this weekend.