Amy Koughan - Tips For New Runners

When she is not busy with her work as a freelance photographer, Amy Koughan likes to run so she can clear her mind and work on her physical fitness. She is an experienced long-distance runner who has tackled a number of marathons. Those who are new to the sport may aspire to similar heights, but it is crucial they consider the following pointers to get off to good starts.

Buy Good Shoes
Your running shoes will be your best friends when you are pounding the pavement so you need to invest in a pair that are comfortable and can withstand the rigors of repeated running. Do your research beforehand and consider having the size of your feet measured in-store so you can be sure you have a pair that fits you well.

Work On Distance First
Your first priority should be to establish the sort of distances you can run without putting your body in too much discomfort. Once you know what you can achieve in terms of distance, you can then start working on improving your times. Be patient and don’t worry too much about your pace at first. You will find you get quicker as your muscles develop and your cardio improves.

Set Goals
Amy Koughan has achieved so much as a runner because she puts goals in place to strive towards. Maintain a training log and use it to create goals that define where you think you should be in the future. Make sure they are challenging and realistic, as stretching too far can lead to your motivation dipping.

Amy Koughan - Improving Swimming Photography

Amy Koughan, a professional freelance photographer and competitive swimmer, enjoys the inherent challenges found in taking shots of an athletic event that exists in two main mediums: in water and out. Professionally shooting swimming events presents difficulties in sight lines, perspective, and motion, aside from the underwater trials.

Taking successful professional photographs of competitive swimming events allows the photographer to take unique pictures of athletes in unusual surroundings. Although all athletic photographers need to prepare before an event, swimming requires the photographer to commit to extra preparation. The photographer needs to know the environment she will be shooting in before the event begins: is it an outdoor pool? Indoor pool? Where will photographers be able to take pictures? Are there any restrictions placed on photographers and where they can shoot? Additionally, equipment must be chosen in advance, from using scuba-gear to get crucial underwater shots to exposing a camera to a high-humidity indoor arena so it defogs in time.

 

Professional photographers like Amy Koughan, who specialize in athletic event photos, know the importance of getting to the meet location as early as possible to scout the area out, determine important vantage points, and to acclimate to the weather conditions. It is also crucial for the photographer to seek out the photo marshal for the event and get clear answers to questions about photo assignments or special requests. The photographer then needs to find an efficient workspace that is not hampered by advertisements, officials, or spectators, but that still grants her quick access to key locations for shooting excellent photographs of competitive swimmers.

Source: http://www.imaginginfo.com/print/Studio-Photography/How-to-Shoot-World-Class-Swimming-Events/3$3271
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Amy Koughan - Photography with Confidence

Experienced freelance photographers like Amy Koughan have developed a key skill in their careers that has led to beautiful photographs: confidence in their art. Koughan and other photographers state confidence as an often overlooked or overwhelming concept that may elude those new to the craft, but which is essential to creating style and success.

Amy Koughan

 The old adage “practice makes perfect” is as true in photography as in any other skilled ability. The photographer who wants more confidence in his or her work needs to get out there and shoot pictures regularly, whether it’s on weekends, in between jobs, or on a lunch break. It also benefits the photographer to not only take pictures whenever possible, but to do so in many different conditions. This allows photographers to become familiar with what works or does not work in a variety of situations and with multiple kinds of light sources.

Amy Koughan, like many veteran freelance photographers, has advanced her career through forming a clear confidence in her work. Often, this confidence can be gained through public accountability, such as through the creation of a website or blog featuring the photographer’s work. Another method of creating confidence is through education. Successful photographers often achieved that status by learning from other photographers.

There are many books and websites that provide tips and suggestions, and many photographers can now take online classes through sites like Skillshare.com to learn new concepts and approaches to their art. Regardless of the steps the photographer takes, having confidence in one’s work is necessary for future success.

Source: http://digital-photography-school.com/7-steps-to-becoming-a-confident-photographer-a-beginners-guide/

Amy Koughan - Her Work Is Astonishing

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Amy Koughan is a Los Angeles photographer who has been taking photographs for most of her life, and working professionally for more than ten years. She says she was drawn to photography as a child, and knew early on that she wanted to spend her life taking pictures.

She says that some of her biggest influences in photography have been Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Diane Arbus. More recently she has been learning about the photography of Vivian Maier, an enigmatic woman who spent much of her life in obscurity working as a nanny in Chicago, but taking photographs all along.

“Her work is astonishing,” Amy Koughan says. Like a lot of people, she first heard about Vivian Maier after a documentary called Finding Vivian Maier was released in 2013. Maier herself had died several years before, at the age of eighty-three. The filmmakers pieced together the broad outlines of Vivian Maier’s life: she was born in New York but grew up in France, came back to the United States in 1951, and wound up in Chicago where she worked on and off as a nanny for many years. Her employers included Phil Donahue, the former talk show host.

Maier was an eccentric person who seldom if ever printed any of her work. Her photos were not widely known until after her death in 2009. Though she had been shooting for decades, her first pictures appeared on Flickr, the photo sharing website, in 2008.

“It’s a remarkable story about a remarkable woman,” Amy Koughan says, adding that during her lifetime, and even in the years after her death, Vivian Maier was an enigmatic but talented artist.

Sources:
http://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier

Amy Koughan - Distance Running

Amy Koughan is a professional photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She devotes a lot of time to her work, and says that as a freelancer she doesn’t always know when her next job is going to come along. Because of that, she says that she is always ready to drop everything for work, if something comes along unexpectedly.

She is also a wife and the mother of a young boy, and says that her family takes up a lot of her time. But by budgeting her time carefully she is able to devote a lot of time to keeping in shape. Her favorite forms of exercising are riding a bike and running, both of them for long distances. She also enjoys swimming.

For many distance runners there comes a time where they cross an invisible line and transition from grudgingly taking those long runs, to loving them and even looking forward to them. “There was this point where my runs became enjoyable,” she recalls. “It wasn’t a matter of looking forward to the ‘alone time.’ It was a matter of actually looking forward to the run itself, as agonizing as they can be sometimes.”

A typical run for her is between ten and twelve miles. Some of her friends are mystified that she could enjoy those long runs as much as she does, but Amy Koughan says there is nothing mysterious about it. Running makes her feel healthy, and after she completes a long run she says that she feels exhilarated, in large part because she just did something that is improving her health.

Sources: http://www.running4thereason.com/2012/03/12/13-reasons-why-i-love-running/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/love-of-running-long-distance-_n_2190419.html
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Amy Koughan - Food Waste

Amy Koughan has been a freelance photographer for many years. She makes her home in Southern California, where she is also an active member in a nonprofit called Feed Los Angeles.

She says that there is an estimated seventy billion pounds of food that goes to waste in the United States every year, and at the same time millions of Americans who deal with what is called food insecurity every day. And she says these are heartbreaking statistics she wants to influence for the better in whatever way she can.

“Up for forty percent of the food that is grown, processed and transported in this country is never consumed,” she said, citing government statistics. “Not only that, wasted food can actually become an environmental threat. Food that ends up in a landfill just rots, and in time becomes a significant source of methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that has twenty-one times the global warming potential that carbon dioxide does.”

But it is far more important to get food that would otherwise be wasted to people who would otherwise go hungry, she says. “And I’d rather be a part of the solution than be a part of the problem.” Last year, Feed Los Angeles was able to divert some ten million pounds of safe and edible food that would otherwise have gone to waste, and get it to local food banks.

As a photographer, Amy Koughan said she felt it was her duty to document the Feed Los Angeles program in images.

Sources: http://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/how-we-work/securing-meals/reducing-food-waste.html
http://endhunger.org/food-waste/
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Amy Koughan - Three Ways to Stay In Shape

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Amy Koughan is a dedicated freelance photography who has been honing her skills since she was a child. Her parents introduced her to a camera when they recognized her abilities at a young age. She was able to later attend the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California where she was born and raised. She now has her own family that both inspires her and works with her to create stunning images of various landscapes and the local city.

However, whenever she isn’t focused on the advancement of her career in photography, she can be found spending time on her physical fitness and health. She believes that staying in shape is one of the most important parts of her life because it ensures she will be able to be active with her family for many years. She has three helpful tips to stay in shape that can make a difference in peoples’ lives everywhere.

The first thing you need to do is eat a more nutritional diet. A diet can go a long way in helping you stay in shape because your food determines how much energy you have through out the day, how many calories you ingest, and how much protein you get.

The next thing you need to do is exercise. Make sure you spend a few times a week working on your strength, endurance, and flexibility in order to keep your muscles strong and injury free.
Lastly, focus on your mind. Physical health is only part of it; you have to be willing to relax your mind as well. Take up a yoga practice to work on your mind.

Amy Koughan - Master Photographers

Amy Koughan is a freelance photographer based in Los Angeles. She attended the Otis College of Art and Design and studied her craft there. But she says she was already a well-rounded photographer by the time she enrolled there.

“I really believe I was born to be a photographer,” she says. “I’ve always been drawn to pictures – taking them, and looking at them; especially the work of the masters.” The master photographers she most admires, she says, include Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Diane Arbus. A more recent photographer to seize her interest is the late Vivian Maier.

Asked what it means that three of the four photographers she mentioned are women, Amy Koughan just laughed. “Nothing,” she said.

Before embarking on her freelance career, she got her degree from Otis, and also worked for a time in a department store taking pictures of children. After that she worked as a technician in a photo lab. Taking pictures of children all day got to be monotonous, she recalls, and the job in the photo lab was far more interesting. “Even as digital photography was taking hold, we used average about a hundred rolls of film a day. And that was with a staff of three. That used to feel pretty rushed.”

Now, as a freelance photographer with a growing reputation, Amy Koughan says that she is always ready to drop whatever she is doing and head out on a shoot, if the terms are right and she isn’t breaking any important commitments.

Sources: http://www.otis.edu/photography
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080227164629AALCjwC
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Amy Koughan - Tips For Advertising Yourself

Amy Koughan is an individual who works on her own schedule and is her own boss. She is currently serving as a freelance photographer in the city of Los Angeles, California where she was born and raised. She even went to the Otis College of Art and Design within the community in order to better hone her skills as an artist. She now works around the world and locally in order to inspire others to make a difference in the world. She regularly travels to third world countries and dangerous areas in order to show the world harsh realities.

However, if there is one thing that being a freelance photographer has truly taught her, it is how to advertise her own abilities. Although she gets to manage her own work and schedule, she doesn’t have a major company or publishing name to help her advertise her own abilities; she has to do it on her own time.

One tip she has for advertising yourself as a freelancer is to utilize social media. There are a number of both professional and personal social media websites that freelancers can use to upload their professional images, resumes, and any other professionally related works.

In addition to utilizing the opportunities that social media accounts provide, you can also continuously shop your talents around. As a freelancer, you have a choice in where your work goes or who you want to work with next. Make sure you send your resume and samples to every organization you wish to work with.

Amy Koughan is dedicated to her career in photography, and she has established herself as a successful freelancer.
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Amy Koughan - Running With Proper Form

Amy Koughan is a dedicated freelance photographer who is committed to capturing the best images she can in the field. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she lives today with her husband and child. Her loved ones and her surroundings constantly inspire her, and it is evident through her work as a photographer. Amy attended the Otis College of Art and Design, and didn’t limit her studies to just photography; she is proficient in a number of art forms, including film, painting, and sculpting.

However, when she isn’t working for any number of publications in the professional world of photography, she can be found running around the city, or some of the incredible landscape that Southern California has to offer.

Running to stay in shape can be a great exercise. Not only does it work your heart and lungs, but it also has tremendous benefits on the body as well, which includes physical strength. However, running with proper form is important because it can be the difference between getting faster, and getting injured.

The primary thing you want to remember when it comes to your running form is your strike. Make sure that with every step your take, your weight is forward into the ball of your foot, not the back towards your heel. When you strike the ground with the ball of your foot, the impact forces felt on the body radiate through your muscles rather than your bones or joints. This will increase the strength of your running muscles, and greatly decrease the chances of sustaining an injury due to overuse.
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Amy Koughan - Changing the World Through An Image

Amy Koughan is a freelance photographer who has been working and living in Los Angeles, California her entire life. She was raised within the diversity of the city, and came to love the melting pot of different cultures, generations, and industries. In addition to her work locally, she also has been known to travel the world in the hopes that she can capture images that make a difference in peoples’ lives. As an artist, she believes she has an obligation to use her talents for good, and to not simply just get caught up in the financial aspect to her work.

Amy Koughan

As a professional freelance photographer, Amy Koughan understands that she has the power to be able to capture peoples’ attentions with a single image. She has traveled to very remote places in order to take pictures of beautiful foreign landscapes, third world conditions, and even the effects of war on the innocent civilian. Her work is meant to serve a greater purpose than simply as entertainment, and it has the ability to sway peoples’ minds back home in the United States.

In order to capture an image that has the power to change the minds of others, you have to be deeply passionate about the subject. The image should depict your own feelings about a certain frame of time, which will in turn give a glimpse of reality to the people that view it. Her photographic works have helped raise money for rainforests in South America and food initiatives in third-world Africa; she believes in the service she provides the global community.

Amy Koughan - 3 Easy Ways to Stay in Shape

Staying in shape can be difficult for a professional adult. Amy Koughan is a freelance photographer in Los Angeles, California who works hard to stay fit and active. She understands the importance of keeping her body healthy and strong. She loves outdoor activities and always makes time for exercise. If you are a busy adult with a family and a career, it can be difficult to stay active. However, it is important to make the effort in order to protect your body.

One easy way to stay active is to walk more. After you get home from work, go for a walk with your family or your dog. This simple activity will help strengthen your muscles and improve the health of your heart. High activity is better for your body, however, if you are new to fitness, walking regularly is a great way to increase your activity level.

Another great way to stay fit is to plan outdoor activities with your family. Rather than sit at home and watch television on the weekends, go for a hike or a bike ride. Outdoor activities are fun and great for bonding. They will also help your body stay strong and healthy.

Running is a great way to keep your heart strong. If you are a busy adult, start using your lunch hour to run. You can find a local gym, and go for a quick thirty-minute run. You will get your exercise in and be back in your office in time for your next meeting. Amy Koughan loves exercising and keeping her body strong.
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Amy Koughan - The Secret of Composition

Composition is the most important skill a photographer can have. Amy Koughan has years of experience and was trained at the Otis College of Art and Design. She is highly skilled at composition and is always able to create a stunning image. She advices new photographers to spend time working on their composition skills in order to become better artists and professional.

Amy Koughan

 Composition involves several different factors. An important factor is framing. As a photographer, your goal should be to fill the frame of your photograph. You want to have a main focal point in the photo while involving several different aspects in the frame. The goal is to have one main point of interest while involving several other points of interest.

Shape is also key in composition. Using shapes and lines can help give your photograph depth. Using diagonal lines in your photo can help give it an interesting depth and can help focus interest on your main subject. When used correctly diagonal lines can increase the drama of a photo.

A great tip in photo composition is to avoid framing your subject in the center of your photo. Try different angles and avoiding the center. This can be a great way to fill your frame while adding interest to your photograph. When composing your photo, try using different angles and placing your subject in different areas within your photo. Amy Koughan always recommends practicing composition in order to learn how to manipulate every factor of your photograph for the best affect.