Luke Odom

The last couple days I have had some interesting text messages and calls. These are all from the same cell phone number.

April 26, 2008

4:49 p.m.  Call: They hang up when I answer

5:55 p.m. Text message: Hey

7:56 p.m. Call: They hang up when I answer

8:02 p.m. Hi this is *******, ALLCAP’s DAUGHTER!!

8:18 p.m. ALL i have to say is you BETTER LEAVE her ALONE!

9:12 p.m. DO YOU GOT IT’? you better stay away

Text messages end. I assume they have realized their mistake. I didn’t respond because I assumed it was a joke/prank/junk message or something trying to get me to respond to make sure my number was valid. I had no idea whose number it was so I just left it alone . . . until today.

April 27

2:19 p.m. Text: Hey who is this??

I was tired of getting these texts so I decided to have a little fun and tell the truth.

2:21 Text from me: None of your business

2:22 p.m.  Text: Well it is seein that you have been textin my mama

I decided to be obstinant

2:24 Text from me: I will text who i want 2 text

2:27 Text: Well all I have to say is you better stay away from her

Not wanting to have some anonymous person tell me who to hang around with I respond:

2:29 Text from me: I will hang around wherever I want to hang around

2:30 Text: Oka well you wont be when my daddy other known as her husband gets done with you.

As this point I am fearing for the life of whoever is messing with XXXXXX. They are about to get beat up with no warning at all So, I respond:

2:54 Text from me: I think you have me confused with someone else. I have no idea who XXXXXXX is.

3:10 Text: Oka i’m tellin my daddy and then i’m telling my mama i kno and she will get rid of you

3:15 Text from me: You really have me confused with someone else.

3:20 Text: That is a lie!!

5:35 Text: I kno that its you i’m not an idiot unlike you

7:13 Text: Just incase you didn’t understand me earlier if you ever text my mama again you will regret it big time

Well I was going to leave it alone but I have been called a liar, an idiot, threatened, and it appears that ******* is not going to believe I am not texting her mother. Since she is threatening me, I might as well figure out how my destruction will play out.

7:22 p.m. Text from me: How so?

7:24 p.m. Somehow she has a family with a 12 year old daughter That’s me and a 14 year old son and a husband

Soooo, I’ve been tormenting a 12-year-old. I almost feel bad. I will once again try to convince her she is very comfused.

7:29 p.m. Text from me: I promise u i have no idea who your mother is. U have me confused with someone else.

Finally, she believes me.

7:37 p.m. Text: Well then why have you been agreeing with me the whole time??

9:02 p.m. Text from me: Actually, I haven’t agreed with anything you have said

9:05 p.m. Text: Well why didn’t you stop be at the begging??

I have decided to be completely honest with the poor gal

9:09 p.m. Text from me: I honestly thought it was a prank at first

9:10 p.m. Text: Sure you did

Considering how long it took me to convince her I was not after he mother I have decided to just drop it.  I have had a good day of amusemnt. The two morals of the story are don’t cheat on your husband and don’t let your 12-year-old have a phone.

So, we went to LA. I intend to edit and post some of the pics I took while there but until I get the time here is one as the random pic of the . . .

So,  I decided a few days ago to get into microstock photography. It hasn’t been as easy as I anticipated. For anyone that comes in the future and stumbled on this blog I will chronicle my journey.

Backgroud: First some background on why I would want to be a stock photographer. Through high school and part of college I was a sports/general photographer for a local newspaper. When I started, they handed me a Canon 10D, and an 80mm-200mm lens. My training was as follows:

1. Power switch is here.

2. Turn to green square.

3. Push shutter halfway for focus, all the way for the shot.

Needless to say my first pictures were horrible. Taking pictures with no knowledge of photography, no top flash, no idea of manual setting, and in the middle of a poorly lit football field doesn’t get you far. My first assignment ended up with one good picture where the football player caught the ball right in front of me, didn’t move for a second, and was just close enough the flash made it.  After that game I got the 10D manual from work, brought it home and read it front to back (I actually found it while packing a couple weeks ago. I should probably give it back). The next week (with a top flash) my pictures were a little better. I read the manual again.  Eventually, I learned how to take sports pics. That was my sophomore year in high school. I am about to graduate from Graduate School and this is the first season I haven’t taken sports pics. 

Equipment: For Christmas, a lot of my family members (headed by my lovely wife) pitched in and got me a Canon 40D, a Canon EF-S 18mm – 55mm IS lens, filters, a 8 Gb card, and a camera case. 

iStockPhoto: So after Christmas I started shooting, and shooting, and shooting some more. About 2 weeks ago, I decided to start doing microstock.  I read the tutorial, took the quiz (passed it first time!), and uploaded 3 of my best pics. A week later epic fail or in the words of them “we did not feel the overall composition of your photography or subject matter is at the minimum level of standard for iStockphoto.”

Looking back on those first three pics I realized that while they were “technically” good pictures they were definately not stock. So I read the links they provided about composition and what good stock photography was. I looked at the best sellers on iStockphoto and what was in their portfolio.  I went out on Easter with the intension of shooting just stock photography. At the end of the day, I had what I felt was good solid stock photography. I submitted again. Again, all three of my pictures were rejected for the same reason.

Where am I going from here? I am not giving up nor do I want to waste any more of mine (or the reviewers) time. I am going to keep looking at other peoples portfolios. I am going to try to find someone on iStockphoto that will look at my pics and maybe tell me what I could do to improve them. I am going to LA this weekend and look for good stuff to shoot. Lastly, I am not going to submit again until I am positive I can get in.

My motivation: I have considered applying to numerous other stock agencies but have decided to keep with just iStockphoto for now. The reason is my main motivation in joining is not monetary. I want to improve my photography skills and learn to look at shots from a different prospective. I am a self-trained sports photographer but I want to become a better photographer in general. The community at iStockphoto seemed like the best of any other microstock agencies I looked at.  Secondly, for the time being, I can only take so much rejection

As I update this blog far too seldomly, if anyone cares what I am doing, follow me on twitter.

http://www.twitter.com/lukeodom

I have decided to start doing a random picture of the ______(time between when I post pictures). The first is of my niece that is in love with her bear tag. This pic was taken with a Kodak C633 before I got my 40D.