Some friends of mine got married a couple of months ago, so of course I showed up with the DSLR to take pictures.
“Oh, I didn’t know there was a paid photographer!” Apparently, if you have the props, people assume you’re a “photographer”. “No, ma’am, I’m just a guy who likes his toys, is all. The happy couple are good friends of mine.”
So anyway, the bride sends me a message asking if I can edit her uncle out of one of the images from the wedding (I gave them the contents of my flash cards, to do with whatever they please). They really liked one of the “you may kiss the bride” shots I took, and wanted an image of just the 2 of them of that moment.
I’m no graphic artist, at least in the photoshop/gimp sense (CGI is somewhat another matter), but before I could say “I’m really not up to that kind of skillset” I saw myself replying “Let me look at the collection of shots and see what I can do.”
So, after a couple hours playing with gimp, I managed to come up with a passable edit (they think it looks great, all I see are the flaws; of course).
So I spent $30 on an 11X17 and 4 8X10s, and they paid me $85.
I’m happy with it, though it’s not the way I was expecting to make my first buck with photography! 😆