Category Archives: My little eye

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My Big Comfy Couch

My first job out of college was for a Big Eight public accounting firm.   My ‘job’ was to help automate client’s accounting tasks and to teach our clients how to use computers.  The first Compaq computer I used was as big as a hard sided Samsonite suitcase.  You would lay them down and open up the bottom for the keyboard and screen.  They had the 5 inch floppy disks and used good old DOS.    Not really part of my couch story but shows how long I’ve been using computers  :  (       So that was my job but I got in trouble alot for one thing.  Talking.  I should really say listening and talking.     I would listen to anyone and I did alot.  I don’t know why but people would always talk to me.  Tell me their stuff good and bad.   HR person CH didn’t like it.  Probably just didn’t like me.   Funny thing  is if she just thought about it for a minute, she’d realize those people needed to talk.    Maybe after talking to me, they could get back to work.  Hey, I’ll bet I helped productivity and chargable hours.    

Below is a picture of my big comfy couch.  Alot of talking takes place on my big comfy couch.  Sometimes crying happens on my big comfy couch.   Never do I get in trouble for talking on my big comfy couch.  It is funny how something seen as so negative one place can be one of the best things at another.      I love the relationships I have with my clients, many deepened on my big comfy couch.   

I love driving by my house at night when the lamps are on pulling the eyes right to my couch.  It is sitting there, just waiting for the next converstation and loving its position at Amy Doerring Photography.    Come sit the next time you are here!

It is funny, CH from above has a very public position in Des Moines politics.  I get to see her often on the news and it makes me just smile.    I’m so glad I am where I am today, maybe she makes me appreciate it even more.  

Find a job where who you are is an asset not a liability.  Thank you God for that gift!!!

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Pray for hope….Surgery Thurs at 1:00pm CT

My dear buddy 12 year brain tumor survivor  david m. bailey is at Duke awaiting a craniotomy.  A craniotomy is a sugical operation in which part of the skull, called a bone flap, is removed in order to access the brain.  He was experiencing some difficulties and had an MRI today.   My heart sank when my phone was buzzing with a david text and the email subject said ‘back to duke’.  Thud.   

So I’m asking you  to pray for my buddy.  Pray for his wife and children who are all at Duke with him. Pray for his surgeons (the same he has had before and who took care of Ted Kennedy).   Pray for hope.  david is the symbol of hope for every new brain tumor (and other cancers really) patient.   I have had many people tell me they would have never made it through a diagnosis without his music, his words and his signs of hope.     A perfect example - my sweet southern voice Denise whose son Zachary is also a survivor.   http://www.onemoredayforangels.com/

I met david in 2001 after I saw him on 48 Hours and hired him to sing at Maytag.  Here we are that day in this terribly scanned picture. 

david get better fast - you have much to do!

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Clownin’ Around

So I’m not a clown photographer but sometimes I’ll try anything!

Former Ringling Circus clown Sean Carlock juggled in my studio today.   I think he is for hire : )     www.carlockent.com

 You know what was funny to me?  I did his business head shot and then the clown costume.  He was a totally different person with the costume on.  He was performing and I could tell it was way more comfortable for him.  My camera is sometimes by big red nose.   I understood.

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An old story : )

I ran into this article again.  It was in the local paper in a story where several people were interviewed.  It was intended to motivate others and to look up instead of down during the whole Maytag situation.  I still wish Maytag was here but I am so thankful I am where I am.

 ———-

If anyone exemplifies the success and satisfaction of following one’s passion, it’s Amy Doerring.

For 17 years, the last 10 at Maytag in Newton, Doerring was immersed in the corporate world of information technology. But now, more than three years after being let go by Maytag, she’s traded her megabytes for megapixels as her photography studio continues to grow.

“I had an interest in photography for a long time and now I had the opportunity to do what I wanted,” she said. “But I didn’t know if I had the courage to do it.”

With strong support from friends and family — she was sent congratulatory plant arrangements upon her departure from Maytag in March 2002 — she pulled up her boot straps and went to work. That summer, she set up a sales booth as part of Newton’s annual Ridiculous Day sale and lined up several senior picture portrait sessions. The rest is history.

Today she operates Amy Doerring Photography out of a recently renovated third floor studio at her home. Her client list has grown to include regular customers from all over Iowa, as well as Minnesota and Nebraska.

And Doerring’s is not the typical studio photography work. As often as not, you’ll find her at shooting sessions at some of her favorite light-meets-textured-walls spots around town.

“My tag line is ’still photography, moving images.’” she said. “That’s what I want to create.”

She credits bringing the creative process to her photography work from her continued study of art history. Seeing how the great artists have used light and shadows to create mood and effect is something she continuously tries to improve upon in her photography work.

“I want to get better and better,” she said.

Another important aspect of her efforts go to what she calls her “heart’s work.” She recently completed a photo montage of a young boy stricken with a brain tumor and has helped out Annie Wignall’s Care Bags program.

“It allows me to give something back,” she said.

Looking back, Doerring can better see what her departure from Maytag has meant.

“It gave me wings so I could fly,” she said.

—————–

I think it was worth it. 

And because I just have to post a pic….

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The best day!

Right out of college I worked in the IT department at Principal in Des Moines.   I loved my job and I loved the people I worked with.    I hadn’t seen alot of the group for many years and we got together a couple of weeks ago. 

I’m not sure the date of this but somewhere 88-90 I’m guessing. 

Kimber, Judy our fabulous boss!!!, Barry on the keyboard, Marilyn and the girl with curly hair : )  Somedays I do wish that perms would be in again!

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Rain drenched hair girl, Kim, Barry, Kimber, Atul and Judy who hasn’t changed at all!!!  I missed Janie for the pic, sorry you had to leave!!!

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This truly was my favorite work group ever!   I miss you all so much!  OK maybe I miss being 22 also!   Thank you so much Kim for organizing this!   I had the best day!!!!