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

​
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
​

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/
​

Amy Koughan - Three Ways to Stay In Shape

​
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
​

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.
​