Practice during off peak seasons

<p>How does everyone here practice during off peak weeks or months? I'm sure we all like to stay warmed up and keep our reflex actions intuitive but the truth is for many of us, especially part time photographers, we need to constantly keep in practice to stay fresh. I don't think this is something stressed enough once we get beyond 'entry level.'<br>

So, how do you practice for weddings? Photojournalism? Events?<br />Where do you practice?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for posting. I hope we can all benefit from seeing the answers.</p>

<p>whats wrong doing it at home..nothing prepares you to follow a subject better than following a cat moving around the house.</p>

<p>Street photography is excelent to sharpen ones fly on the wall skills. Not being able to control the street scene mean you really have to work to get good shots.</p>

<p>I don't practice. I shoot weddings or events often enough. I agree that street photography is good for PJ/reportage skills, but it doesn't do anything for the less popular traditional portraits one also shoots at most weddings. For instance, without regular weddings to shoot, I may forget the 'must get' list of formals, or parts of it, and that really helps me go fast during that hectic part of the day. Also, weddings are a unique blend of controllable and uncontrollable situations, with a lot of emotion and human relations thrown in.</p>

<p>I don't know that you can practice for a situation like the officiator forgetting to do the candle lighting and sending the couple down the aisle prematurely. You just have to use a unique combination of knowing typical ceremony sequence, intuition (hair stands up on your neck) and knowing your gear cold to slap your settings into position in a split second. Or knowing how to influence the couple or family members so that you get the best results (having experienced many disasterous client decisions in the past).</p>

<p>I'd say second shoot for colleagues for free or a pittance on days you haven't booked.</p>

<p>I think this is a great question. I practice all the time, just like an music instrument. Do I feel I need to practice? No, why should I, I have very good skills that are very consistant. But I do. Much is done without the camera, I think about light, design, I might draw a little picture or study shadows and discuss in my head the exposure that would create different effects based on the exposure. The setting up and using of the camera would be the very last step, I don't need to practice that for how I work. I want everything else to be in my head first. I want to think about what I see, how it is lit, what angle can I use, what to include in the frame, what to eliminate, what is the background. I used to always carry a little slide mount around so I could practice looking through it and seeing things in a rectangle or a 6x6 holder to look at a bigger square. BTW, I am very good at lighting, fill flash, exposure compensation and so on so I'm not concerned with that, I look for other things. I also look all the time at high end fashion magazines to see what others are doing. I never look at bridal magazines, most are commercial advertizing business, but if you don't know how to lay out dresses like the designers intended, instead of twisting and distorting them all around, how they were not intended to be shown, then by all means study the big established bridal fashion magazines and study the dresses and the lighting on them and ho to show the details and from what angles and perspectives. That can all be practiced, or studied. Happy clicking...</p>

<p>After you get beyond "entry level", the key becomes continuing education in the form of seminars, workshops, association meetings, peer networking, etc....</p>

<p>I give myself assignments. For example yesteryday I shot in f16 only. Next week I will shoot every shot with something in the forground. The week after that I will shoot with only available light. I have a long list of things I do. It keep me sharp and it reminds me I have these tools at my disposal when I'm on a paid gig.</p>

<p>I agree with David and know seasoned pros who never touch a camera between jobs - there is just no need and their time with the business is better spent doing other things.<br>

I'm not one of these types that doesn't need practice between jobs - just lazy. I find going out to shoot for personal enjoyment like landscapes, macros - anything that doesn't involve people at least keeps me refreshed.</p>