Off Hours: Say Cheese!

By Rachel Houghton | Senior Member

The first time I picked up a camera and took a photo, I knew it would be a lifelong passion. My first "real" camera came from my grandparents, who saw my enthusiasm and gave me the camera as an early graduation gift at the start of my senior year in high school. I used that camera, a Canon AE-1 Program, until 2001, when I switched to a Nikon N90s.

Photography gave me a way to interact with other people and gain social confidence in a non-threatening manner. I’ve always enjoyed the learning aspect of photography, such as which lens to use in low-light situations and when natural light is best compared to using flash. Along the way, I’ve also learned about leading lines, composition, rule of thirds, and exposure. I’ve also learned the Adobe Creative Suite of products, and that knowledge has had applications both in and out of work. I’ve instructed students at Portland State University in the Design Standard programs (Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign) and also updated product catalogs and marketing pieces as an emergency "creative" resource at more than one employer.

When I first started dating the man who became my husband, one of our shared interests was photography. The house we bought after we married had to have one major "non-negotiable" requirement outside of the usual options: it had to have a room we could easily convert into a darkroom. We bulk-rolled our own film canisters (often with 40 frames instead of the standard 36-exposure roll), printed up our own prints, and eventually had enough equipment to develop our film.

That all changed when cameras went digital. The darkroom sat unused, the equipment got put away, and the darkroom was turned back into a laundry room (we moved laundry into the garage as part of the darkroom conversion). And as the digital camera technology got better and started appearing in mobile phones, cameras started appearing in nontraditional areas such as concerts.

I’ve always gone to concerts, but it wasn’t until about 2008 that I started bringing a camera to capture the concert artists. Most venues don’t allow "cameras with interchangeable lenses"—a category that includes digital SLRs. I have a concert camera (a Nikon Coolpix P7000) and a digital SLR (a Nikon D600), so I’m covered no matter what the camera policy. I will often email or phone the venue to confirm the camera policy before leaving for the concert, because I don’t want to get my camera confiscated permanently or leave an expensive camera in my vehicle in a parking garage.

At first, my goal was just to get one good photo so I could use it in my scrapbooks. Now, thanks to social media, I follow concert photographers on Twitter and Google+ and regularly get inspired by the work they post. Even though I don’t usually get more than 8 to 10 "good" photos when I use a digital point-and-shoot camera, I use every concert as an opportunity to increase my knowledge of focus, composition, and lighting. There is a lot that goes into taking a photo that is visually stunning and conveys the concert experience. That experience helps when I do get to use my digital SLR to take concert photos. Those are the photos I get that are really clear, crisp, and full of detail and movement.

In the past year at work, sharing my concert photos with some of my coworkers has increased my visibility within the local campus. I was invited and accepted the opportunity to become a member of the Employee Activities Committee, which means I photograph all local employee events and some special employer events. When the senior executive team visited our campus, I was there. When the local sheriff’s office collected teddy bears for a teddy bear drive or the foster parent group collected children’s toys for Christmas, I was there. I even took pictures of our most recent employee event, the 3rd Annual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament. After each event, I write up a quick couple paragraphs, post-process the photos, and send the event details to Employee Communications. The events get posted on our intranet as a campus spotlight.

Photography is such a big part of my life—in my marriage, in my hobbies, and in my work. I can’t imagine a life without photographs.