Do Dreams Predict the Future?

              Marley is my granddaughter.  That's Marley in the picture.  The following are two recent dreams that I had in which Marley was the star.

             My wife and I are preoccupied with something.  I don't recall what we are doing but we have forgotten that we are supposed to be babysitting Marley.  Suddenly we hear her crying in a very alarmed manner.  We are afraid.  We rush to her and I pick her up.  She stops crying and  is looking at me. I can tell that Marley has something in her mouth.  I coax her to open up and let us see what is in her mouth. She looks at us carefully and opens her mouth, sticking out her tongue.  On her tongue is a very expensive looking piece of antique jewelry made of ornately worked gold with a large amber-colored gemstone set in the center. I take the piece of jewelry from her mouth and we are amazed.

         Later, I hear Marley in an adjoining room-- a bedroom I believe.  This is not the house in which we live in waking life, instead it is an older house, perhaps built in the 30s or 40s.  In the other room I am surprised to hear Marley talking in a very adult fashion.  I peer into the room and see Marley talking on the phone about business.  She is talking to her "agent" about upcoming acting jobs.  I had no idea that she had an agent, or that she worked as an actress, or for that matter was even able to talk.  I am surprised.

----the next morning I had the following dream:

         My mother is driving an old station wagon that my parents used to own when I was young.  I am sitting in the backseat on the passenger side--in the same place where I would have sat when I was young, except now I am an adult, but my mother seems to be about the same age as I am.  The rear seats are folded down so that the back of the station wagon is in cargo carrying mode.  My wife is in the back of the station wagon with Marley in her car seat.  I am concerned because the car seat is not strapped to anything and I fear that it is not safe.  I crawl back into the rear, but the car suddenly swerves and the car seat falls onto its side.  I see a police car through the rear window and I am sure we are going to get a ticket.  However the police car skids sideways and takes off in the opposite direction and I am relived.

       The station wagon comes to a stop and I start to move Marley and her car seat up to the back seat where I had been sitting in order to fasten the car seat in safely. My mother gets out of the car and enters a house we have parked in front of.  I get out of the car.  It is dusk with darkness quickly approaching. I open the passenger side of the front seat door.  I notice my mother's purse on the floor and pick it up so I can take it to her.  As I am picking up the purse, I realize I am holding it upside down.  The purse is not clasped and some of the contents begin to spill onto the grass.  In the dimness of late dusk I grope about to gather what has fallen.  I realize that everything that I am picking up is expensive looking jewelry.

---- I'll leave this to you.  What do you think it means?  In the Bible sometimes dreams foretold something that was going to happen.   Many people believe that dreams are prescient.  Do you?  Or does this tell me something about the current state of things in my life?   Could be an symbolic interpretation of something in my past?   Have you ever had a dream that predicted something that eventually came to pass in your life?

Photo of Marley by Juan Velez
Juanvelezphotography.com

Jewelry photo by Lee Jackson

Making One Moment Last Forever

          Many of us enjoy taking pictures and some of us are pretty good at it.  But when you get to the professional level of photography some real craftsmanship and a good eye for the right shot becomes essential.  Today we are going to visit with Juan Velez, a burgeoning young photographer who has been making a name for himself in Southern California with his sports photography.

           For the past few years Juan Velez has been the official sports photographer at Cerritos College  in Norwalk, CA.  He also has contributed to The Daily Titan, the newspaper for California State University in Fullerton; the California Community College Athletic Association; and The Press Telegram newspaper of Long Beach, CA.   Juan also has done photo portaits, wedding photography, and candid shots at group events.  I wanted to get some of Juan's thoughts about what he does and what the future may hold for him and photography in general.

How did you get started in photography?


In high school, I was a yearbook editor-- my job was to edit pictures and so on. One day I decided to go shoot football photos and what an experience that was. I almost got taken down by a quarterback because somehow I was in the touchdown zone. Luckily for me he landed on my feet. He was a friend and just smiled and asked if I was OK.

What has helped you the most to improve your photographic knowledge and skill?


Shoot, shoot, shoot-- I learn something new in every shoot such as don't shoot this, make sure you have a flash with you, etc. Many boo boo's have made me learn more than what I could ever imagine.



What do you like best about photography?


What I like about photography is the sense of freezing time and making one moment last forever, especially those special moments such as a touchdown, a kiss, babies first walk...any special moment in time.

What are you favorite photographic subjects?

Athletes would be on top of the list since I have dealt with them for the past several years! Their drive is awesome, and their inner focus is amazing to me... not to mention the amount of skill they have.

What person, place, or thing would be your ultimate photographic subject?


Tennis is my second hobby and I believe that shooting great tennis players such as Nadal, the Williams sisters, Federer, and my personal favorite Andy Roddick would be the high light of my photography career.


      Do you have a favorite photographer?


Brad Mangin http://www.manginphotography.com/  is a sports photographer who shoots amazing baseball shoots. He has shot for Sports Illustrated, major league baseball, and so on... To shoot like that, truly says something about you.

Do you have a favorite photography website?

http://photo.net/  - where photographers can get critiques on their pictures and ask questions to other photographers.  Also,  http://www.sportsshooter.com/ -exclusive membership for sports photographer.

   What equipment are you using now?

Canon EOS mark 3- shoots 10 pictures per second (the fastest SLR camera since July 2007)

Canon - EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM Autofocus Lens

Canon - EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Autofocus Lens

What about photography in your future—career, business sideline, or hobby?

I want to become an even better photographer. I would like to one day shoot for Sports Illustrated magazine.  Little league and weddings--things like that--are all ways to pick up money on the side or full time til that day comes.

What new technological developments in photography do you foresee in the future?

Well I have seen such great things appear this year that I don't know what else they will do... there are special cases that allow photographers to go underwater with our cameras and shoot aquatic pictures. We have Wi-Fi transmitters that allow people to receive the picture as we take them. we have small laptops made for photographers to see and submit pictures. I would like to see stronger flashes.

How hard is it to get booked for photography shoot jobs?

          That is one of the hardest things to do because everyone wants to see your portfolio and it all works in different ways. If people hire you for a wedding, they don't want to see your sports shoots, they would prefer to see your candid shoots-- like dancing shots or wedding pictures. As a photographer, you must be willing to research and find things that can help you stand out. Learn about businesses that make things like glass pictures so that you have something special to offer clients.
          I prefer to test the photographer and see how great his/her answers are. For wedding photographers, take them to the beach or someplace like that to see how they work. If they know what they are doing, you will have some great shots.  If you come out looking like a shadow but the background is well lit, then you know that the photographer won't be the one for you.

Should the professional photographer sign contracts with clients or just shoot pictures?

I have developed a contract for shooting little leagues and or weddings. I believe people are entitled to their privacy and most importantly, photographers get into huge problems when printing and advertising with pictures that the party did not want publicly released.

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        Some additional advice Juan offers to photographers is that they need to stand out as much as possible.  There is a great deal of competition in this business from other highly skilled professionals so it is important for the professional to gain name recognition.  And a word of advice to clients hiring a photographer:  High-tech expensive camera equipment does not make the photographer.  You can have the best equipment that money can buy, but if you don't know what you're doing then it really doesn't mean that much.
For more about Juan Velez and his work visit his website, http://www.juanvelezphotography.com/ or read Juan's blog at http://juanvelezphotography.blogspot.com/
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           A note to those of you who enjoy reading interviews and stories about people.  I have some good ones scheduled in the upcoming weeks on Wednesdays.  If you are not signed up to follow this blog yet please do so now.  Just click on the "Follow" icon in the Birdwatchers section on the right hand side of the page and then sign up for a Google account or sign in if you already have one. I would love to see your name on the followers list!  And I post articles daily besides the interviews on Wednesdays.
      Next Wednesday I'll be talking with a fantastic musician by the name of Sebastian Sidi.  You may have seen his spectacular music special on PBS.  If you are not familiar with Sebastian already, please give me the honor of introducing him to you next Wednesday.

All of the above photos are by Juan Velez