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Print competition and how it’s helped raise my personal bar

26 Mar

Just like that a month and half has passed by and I haven’t been active posting like I was going to.  Time to right the ship!  Actually, I’ve been very busy since the middle of February preparing for 2012 print competition season.  This year at the advice of my print mentor at Imaging USA I participated in a district level first before submitting to the big dance of competition the International Print Competiton (IPC).

I’m still a newbie with print competition and this will be my 3rd year of entering prints.  It was 3 years ago in Nashville at Professional Photographers of America (PPA) Imaging USA national convention that I first witnessed the incredible photographic work that was on display as merit winning work.  These photographs were like nothing that I had ever seen in person before and I was truly in awe.  I decided right then and there that I was going to learn the skills required to try and make prints like those.  A photographer my enter only 4 prints into the IPC for judging so narrowing down work is part of the challenging process, then comes trying to figure out how to make them look just so, position them on the page so the presentation looks proper, and finally making sure they meet the 12 elements of a Merit Print.  That sounded reasonable enough, so I thought :-) .  So in the late spring of 2010 I entered my first 4 prints into the IPC.  I sent off a print of my buddy Matt fly fishing in the Truckee River, a sunrise shot of Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe, some old graffiti covered concrete mining ruins from the American Flats operation, and finally a client image of newborn little girl being held by her daddy.  Off went the case to Georgia for judging.   I paid a little extra on the entry fee for print critiques – because I had never had my work formally critiqued (YIKES) and also so I would have a better understanding on what I could improve upon.  A few weeks later I remember looking at the competition results and there was my name in black & white along with my print entitled “American Flats” un-believeable!  I had scored my very first merited print – the rest of my entries failed to merit, but I was on cloud 9!  I had scored a merit print my first try and I would see it hang at the National Convention the next January in San Antonio TX.  I also had received some positive feedback on my critiques that my work didn’t suck, but I did have some things that I needed to work on.  What I didn’t realize at that time is why the print that had earned a merit earned the merit.  See understanding the why’s is part of what helps for future success as well as understanding why prints that don’t merit as to why they didn’t.  I’m not sure I’ll fully ever understand this, but I will say I have a much better understanding now than I did in 2010 and especially last year in 2011.

Here is my print “American Flats” that earned a merit at the 2010 International Print Competition

I was feeling pretty good about entering last years competition season especially after seeing my print hang at Imaging USA National Convention in San Antonio.  I felt I had a strong case to submit last year.  I had a client photograph of 9 month baby sitting on a prop with a silver rattle, a client image of a little girl dressed in her ballet clothes on white seamless, a re-worked version of the newborn little girl with her daddy (you can re-enter a print if it hasn’t earned a merit and made corrections to it), and finally a photograph of my son I captured underwater.  My goal was to go for 2 merits and I thought for sure I had the underwater shot in the bag along with the corrected image from 2010.  So off went my prints last June and I was eager with anticipation of the results that would take a couple of weeks to receive.

I distinctly remember seeing the notification that the IPC results were posted and scurried through them like a kid searching through a Christmas Toy Catalog.  However, I did not see my name anywhere a great big 0 for 4 – SKUNKED! ZIPPO! ZILCH! NADDA!  That was a huge grounding and defining moment for me, and one I will never forget.  Thankfully, I had also paid a bit extra in the entry fee for critiques and they proved to be very valuable.  However, there was something that as enlightening as they were that was missing and that was the ability to ask questions back to the judges on what I should be working on rather than what was just wrong with the print or why it didn’t earn a merit.  I began some research and found that there are opportunities at IUSA to set up a 20 minute mentor session with judges.   You can show them work you are potentially considering for competition and they will help point out what won’t work, what possibly could work, and most importantly what ones may stand a good chance.  So I found out what I needed to do to get one of these sessions with a mentor and arranged for one this past January in New Orleans.

Here are is my 0 for 4 case from last year :-)

So this brings me to the 2012 season!  I sat down with a mentor in New Orleans and received a lot of great feedback on what will help my work not only for competition but for everyday work.  He helped me pitch several I was considering this year, confirmed one that I had hopes on, and suggested a couple that I had set aside but hadn’t really considered candidates.  It was him explaining why the ones I hadn’t considered that should be considered that helped fit another piece of the puzzle together for me.  He also asked me why I wasn’t competing at the district level prior to the IPC.  See there are district competitions prior to the IPC where you can enter 4 prints again and if the score an 80 or better they will automatically merit at the IPC as long as they are submitted to the IPC the immediately follows the district competition.  What that means is for me is that if I don’t score well at districts I’ve got a second chance at the IPC! :-)   Who knew?  See I told you early on that I was still a newbie at this.

I also met some new contacts at Imaging this year that are outstanding photographers that have helped to give me some guidance as well and also invited me to participate in a competition print invitation only facebook group.  That group has been invaluable in their critiques as well.  One thing that I must say is you have to have some thick skin if you want to compete in print competition as photographers will cut to the bone on what will make an image better, and most of the time that means going out and creating a new photograph with that new knowledge and having to say good bye to that current photograph :-( .   It’s a tough moment of reality when faced with that, but ultimately they’re right and that’s what helps move to a higher level quality of photographer.  I know if the only critiques I received were from  my family, friends, clients and facebook followers and all the glowing praise  they like to post about I would not be heading down the road I’m currently heading down.  I also would not be producing the photographs that I’m making now as there would be no drive to become better.  I know that might be a hard concept to understand, I mean who doesn’t like to hear how nice their photos are or what a great job they did making them.  However, what I’ve found that there is always something that can be better and I’d rather hear that so I keep moving forward than how great one of my mediocre photos might be.  It’s with each of those little critiques that make the next session even better than the last and how a future one will be better than the current.

All this being said I’ve received my 2012 Western States Print Competition results and I’m proud to say that I had 2 of my 4 prints earn 80 or better and therefore will be automatically meriting at the IPC in July.  What it also means is that I have a second chance to submit 2 new images for my print case for the IPC and I think I’ve got 2 more merit worthy images (more importantly I have some Master Photographers thinking I’ve got a good chance with a couple of them too)  I feel that I’ll have a strong case going into the IPC this year!  Oh yeah and I just found out last week that one of my prints from the Western States Competition won a Kodak Gallery Award for the Western States District for Portrait.  That my first official Photography Award I’ve won outside of the PPA merit.  I guess that makes me officially an award winning photographer :-)   well it will when I pick up the award in August.

I plan to continue participating in Print Competition for the rest of my photographic career for a couple of reasons.  The first is because it is kind of a game as to what my vision of the subject was and what the judges interpretation of my work is.  The second is the invaluable print critique process and to take those suggestions and make the next photograph even better.  Finally, the camaraderie of photographers participating in print competition and their desire to help one another be successful.  I guess a good analogy would be to the game of golf.  There is a field of contestants, but when it comes down to it.  It’s really the photographers print against the 12 elements of merit image.  Just like in golf there is a field of players, but they are all competing against the golf course and it is ever changing.  Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying it so much!

My Western States District Prints scoring 80 or better.  “Paws in the Action” and “Trinity”.  “Trinity” also won the Kodak Gallery Award :-)   I’m not going to post the other images as IPC is not until July this year.  I will post the results at a future date :-)   I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in Goals, Personal Work, photography, Print Competition, Uncategorized

 

Why I became a Photographer

09 Feb

Wow it’s hard to believe that it’s already February.  Wow where is the time flying?  Today’s post is to give you a little background as to why I became a photographer.  I recently was in New Orleans Louisiana for Professional Photographers of America national convention Imaging USA (IUSA) and I heard lots of questions amongst the attendee’s to one another as to why did they become photographers.  I found that intriguing as I didn’t notice those conversations during my first couple of conventions.  So that is my inspiration for today’s post, mine is not because I thought I could do better than the photographer that photographed my wedding, babies, or because people told me I took good pictures.

I’ll be first to admit to you that photography was not something that I ever even considered doing as a profession during my high school days.  In fact I never even really cared about photography, I didn’t take photography in high school or in college.  I guess it just wasn’t something that interested me.  I always played around with cameras as a kid, but it just didn’t register at that time in my life that I had a sub-conscious interest in it.  I was elected as house photographer at my college fraternity, but I think that’s just because my parents had given me a point and shoot 35mm vivitar camera and I would snap party pictures.  I thought that was alright because the fraternity would pay for processing and all I had to do is go around and be a button pusher, a pretty good deal in my book.

Flash forward about 2 years and I found myself working my first real job out of college working on the Trans Alaska Pipeline at the Valdez Marine Terminal in Valdez Alaska.  24 years old in a remote Alaskan town where there were approximately 3,000 people, no formal 3-light signal lights.  Just a flashing 4-way intersection light.  I think the snowfall that first year I was there was around 760 inches of snow  at sea level!  It was culture shock for sure!  I lived 10 miles out of town the first 9 months I was there and it was like living 1000 miles from anywhere because I didn’t have TV or radio or any of the modern conveniences we take for granted today. (sorry this really doesn’t have anything to do with why I became a photographer :-) ).  Fast forward to January 1995.  I had moved closer to town and had access to TV again.  The great thing about TV in Valdez Alaska was there was channel that only played classified ads.  Now coming from South Dakota I found that quite genius!  Anyway there on the classified ad channel in all it’s glory was an ad for a introduction to photography class at Prince William Sound Community College.  I thought what the hell.  I had never taken it in high school or college and I was really looking for something to do during my off time and thought why not (I might even meet the ever elusive girl in Alaska too)  So I enrolled in this class along with 4 or 5 other people (no such luck on meeting a girl) but I did find one of the loves of my life there at Prince William Sound Community College and that is Photography.

So after 2 weeks of book study it was finally time to take a camera and make some photographs.  It was at this class that I was told we make photographs not take pictures.  I’m pretty sure my instructor read that somewhere from some guy named Ansel Adams (Yes I know who he is).  So my intro to photography class was more than just film and cameras it was about learning photography as a craft right down to calling pictures – photographs and not pictures and that we made photographs with exposure, composition and light not.  Not taking pictures.  It didn’t seem like much then but I can appreciate it now.  So anyways I have a sister and brother-in-law who lived and still live in Alaska let me borrow their 35mm Yashica camera for the class.  It was so cool it was a 35mm SLR that you had to manually focus and manually set exposure.  It was more camera than I had ever laid my hands on!  I loaded it up with a roll of 400 Tri-X and away I went.  I don’t exactly remember what I shot for those first 24 exposures actually 48 exposures as I had to do 2 rolls for the first assignment.  The reason why is those first 2 rolls were ruined during development.  See after taking those 2 rolls of photographs we had to then unload the film and load it onto a development reel all with your hands inside a light tight bag.  The difficult part is getting that film properly onto the reel.  The film has to be wound onto the metal spiral reel in such a way that it leaves just a small gap from one layer to the next.  This is so the development chemicals can develop the film.  There is no real way to tell if you’ve done this successfully until you’ve ruined a few rolls, which you don’t know until the development is over.  Well this was the fate of those first few rolls.  A horrible gray globb of junk!  Very frustrating and only the start of more frustration (I could have just quit right then and there :-) ) My teacher must have felt my frustration because she had a test roll of film that she allowed me to practice winding onto the development reel in the light to get a feel for how the film should feed onto the reel.  I think ruining a couple of rolls of film is some kind of ritual because it would have been just as easy to practice before hand and potentially save my great images  Although I can confidently say there wouldn’t have been any images on those rolls anyway, and how can I confidently say that – well as I would find out in the next week after successfully processing film that was completely dark or clear is that fancy camera of my sisters light meter was broken so another week of no photographs – might as well call them pictures because I wasn’t making anything but garbage :-) .  That’s when I had my first real post college job light bulb moment and that moment was I could buy my very own camera kit.  I didn’t need my sisters!  I could tell already that there was something enjoyable about photography for me even though a month into it I hadn’t even created a photograph that was recognizable or useable.

My teacher had a camera catalog from Porters Camera in Iowa (the internet was still in it’s infancy and business was not being done on it at that time) so I called the number and orderd a Minolta X-700 with a 50mm lens and in about a week I would have it.  It was considerably smaller than the Yashica, but still all manual, but with a digital LED light meter rather than a needle.  I loaded up the camera with more 400 Tri-X and went out to the float plane dock that was starting to emerge from winter and made some photographs.  I had class the next night so I was very eager to get that roll of film shot.  The next day I successfully processed the film and held it to the light!  Holy Shit!  There were tiny images on the negatives.  They were recognizable and I was in disbelief that I was now a part of the process and that I could come back the next night to print those images.  I can remember I hardly slept that night as I was so excited to see what would come from those tiny images.

The next night would hold a moment that would forever change me!  I clearly remember cutting the negatives into 4 strips with 6 images per strip and putting them into a contact printer, putting that assembly under the enlarger light and hitting the light for the 10 seconds or so it took to expose a contact sheet. Then taking the negatives off the paper and looking at that white sheet wondering if indeed images would show up.  Dropping the contact sheet into the developer and in about 30 seconds magic appeared before my eyes!  There were 24 tiny photographs magically appearing right before my eyes and they looked just like I had hoped!  I quickly finished the remaining steps and took them out into the hallway to look at them!  WOW!!!  It was amazing!  I was hooked!  I didn’t realize I was hooked but something deep inside me said this is for you!  Later that evening I made my first real print and I’m proud that I still have the negative that I scanned so I can show you it!  I still love this photograph and always will because it was one of the very first I ever made from start to finish!

So for the rest of the time I spent in Alaska which was until July of that year I would shoot and then spend time in the darkroom processing and printing photographs.  I’ve lost some of the prints but somehow managed to keep a number of the negatives.  I’m very happy to have them.  I was a very serious amateur photographer, something that is a rarity today.  In fact I don’t even know if there are serious amateur photographers any longer.  I heard a term recently that they are now calling them untrained professionals now.  Regardless,  I was totally consumed by the whole darkroom experience and loved it!

The reason I became a photographer can be attributed to this brief moment of my life – the challenge to make something and have that something stand the test of time.  I should also note that I never had an intention to be a portrait photographer at this time either.  None of my early photographs had people as the subject material.  It would not be until about 8 years later that I discovered portraiture.  That will be the subject material for another post.

Here is one other from that first successfully processed roll!

Cheers!

 
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What excactly is a Certified Professional Photographer?

20 Jan

Certification

You may have heard your car mechanic being ASE Certified.  You probably have a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) do your income taxes and assist in tax planning.  Your financial planner most likely has all kinds of Certifications from Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Fund Analyst (CFA) or Certified Fund Specialist (CFS).  There are many other certifications for all kinds of professional businesses just as there are non-certified professionals in each of these fields as well.  The certification of specialized skill – sets affirms a knowledge and experience base for practitioners in a particular field, their employers, and the public at large.  Certification represents a declaration of a particular individuals professional competence.  In some professions certification is a requirement for employment or practice.   The point being is that in any profession there are people who choose to be at the top of their profession and choose to obtain the necessary education and training to attain certification.  This includes demonstrating their skills and abilities through examination by a 3rd party.  Just as there are people who are good at preparing financial book keeping that can help you with your taxes if you get into a serious tax situation who would you rather have on your side?  The person who is pretty good at keeping the books or a Certified Public Accountant?  I know who I would pick!  So what does this all have to do with Photography?  Well there is a certification in photography called the Certified Professional Photographer (CPP)

Why hire a Certified Professional Photographer?

Studies show that certification is the most widely recognized consumer credential.  Consumers may not know a lot about professional photography, but they know that certification should ensure professional quality goods and services.  Clients in every industry seek out credentialed professionals, as the public recognizes certification as a sign that one is an authority in the field.  A Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) designation offers potential clients an assurance not just of quality, but of technical skill and artistic expertise.

Who issues the Certified Professional Photographer Certification?

Certified Professional Photographer is a designation granted by the Professional Photographic Certification Commission, the world’s leading certification agency of imaging professionals.  Those who have earned Certification have passed a comprehensive written examination measuring their technical expertise, and have successfully submitted their work to a national panel of judges for review and approval.  Every five years, a Certified Professional Photographer is required to renew his or her credentials by participating in continuing education programs.  This helps assure you that Certified Professional Photographers maintain their level of expertise and continue to develop new skills and techniques. earned his

I earned my Certified Professional Photographer designation in March 2010 and have been a Certification Liaison for the professional photographers seeking to peruse Professional Photographic Certification since the summer of 2010.

 

 
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Posted in business, Certified Professional Photographer, photography, Portrait

 

Is it how much a portrait costs or the value that lies in it?

02 Jan

Where am I headed with this post today?  We’ll I titled it “Is it how much a portrait costs or the value that lies in it?”  The reason I titled it that way is basically on how people perceive the value of portrait photography.  I wish I could remember the person that explained this very topic to me.  I believe it was at Professional Photographers of America’s Imaging USA convention in Nashville a couple of years ago.  It was explained to me that there are people out there in every generation that put a value on portrait photography.  It is important to them to have their family history preserved and have it preserved in such a way that it can be handed down to future generations.  Then there are people who don’t place value on preserving their family history with professional portraits, but rather with snapshots or other means that may or may not be available for future generations.  The example provided to me was to look around my own home and see if I had portraits of my grandparents or great grandparents.  (for me it would be my parents or grandparents :-) )  and to look at them to see if they were professional portraits or not.  I did do that and can say that almost all of them were done professionally.  I can also say that families back then most likely had even fewer financial resources to pay for professional photography than most have today even in the economic condition that this great country is currently facing.   They found the value in preserving their family history and the enjoyment it would bring day after day and year after year.  They may have even saved up for a year for that $15 5×7 print that is still around today.

So what is the value?  What does it cost for a family of 4 to go to the movies and get drinks and popcorn?  Approximately $50? A week later what does one remember about the night?  Most likely not much, maybe that it was a good movie, or something funny happened.  What does one remember a month later or a year later?  The same can be said for fancy dinners with bottles of wine.  Now we’re talking about $200-$300 or more for an evening that a month or year later really won’t be remembered.  However, with a portrait every time it’s viewed by the people in it a part of them will go back to that experience and remember (hopefully how much fun) they had that day or evening and most likely the dinner or treat that followed after it.   It might even become an iconic family image that is talked about for years in the future.  What is the value of the image at that point?  More importantly what is the value of an image that has a family member in it that is no longer alive? It’s priceless at that point isn’t it?

People invest in professional portraiture because they love the people being preserved in the portrait or they want the subjects of the portrait to be viewed for many years to come.  I’ve found that to be the case the last 2 years where times have been economically challenging, but my clients are still investing in their families history.  So in case any of you are wondering how much a $15 5×7 in 1930 would cost to have in today’s dollars?  It would be $191.14 and the value over those 81 years?  Priceless!  How much are my 5×7′s?  Well at this moment you get (2) for $125 so that’s a great deal and they’ll be on the move up come February :-)

Cheers!

 

 
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My 2011 Year of Portraits in Review

30 Dec

I’ve been inspired by the news networks doing all their year in review stuff the past couple of days that I decided to put together something of my own.  2011 has been a very good Great Year for me.  I’ve been very fortunate to have many new clients sit before my camera lens this past year.  The following slide show contains some of my favorites from this past year.  Thank you again for all that worked with me this year and I look forward to another great year in 2012!  Thank you for taking the time to watch the slideshow.

Cheers!

YouTube Preview Image
 
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Posted in Bridal, business, Children, Day to day, Family Portraits, photography, Portrait, Underwater

 

New Year – New Ideas – New Goals – New Things

29 Dec

Well 2011 is almost in the books.  It’s really hard to believe it’s almost over as it seems just like yesterday I was sitting here writing about my goals for 2011 and how I wanted to become a better blogger.  We’ll I’m not sure I can fully claim success on blogging for 2011, however I have been more consistent this last 6 weeks :-)   So I’ll feel good about that.  I have also learned a lot more about some of the back end things that go with blogging that should help me be a bit more efficient in 2012!  I guess with all goals time will be the true indicator as to if I’m successful or not.

The New Year like all New Years in the past and all New Years in the future brings about the chance to set forth some goals.  It will be no different for me this year and I thought I would share some of them with you.

1st – I will continue to grow this blog and add additional functionality to it.  My main goal for blogging this year is to add a video component to it in the hopes that it will be a bit easier to talk about subject rather than just sit down and type about them.  I’m telling myself that it will be easier (yeah right :-) ) I guess it should also help me to develop an additional skill set on using some of the video processing software available.  If you are reading this and are in Reno and know how to use iMovie I could sure use a friendly “How To Get Started” course!

2nd – I will be streamlining the products I offer in my portrait business, saying good bye to some small products and focusing attention on some larger ones.  Sometimes having too many choices can be overwhelming and this past year has shown me what my clients are most interested in and I’m excited about what I’ll be rolling out.

3rd – I’m very excited that I will be finally offering Hand Crafted Fine Art Film Portraiture – it’s taken a year or so to aquire equipment necessary to produce this work and the final pieces have come together  in the past couple of weeks.  The hand crafting is in I will be personally processing the film shot producing these sessions.  It seems what is old is new again and I’m very excited to see a resurgence in analog photography.  So many have said that film is dead, but I am not finding that to be the case and I’m very excited to start offering film based portraits again.  So if you know someone that is interested in and has an appreciation for portraiture created using silver based photography please have them contact me for more information.

4th – I hope to participate in an instructional role again for Professional Photographers of America Super Monday Workshops.  I hadn’t planned on teaching one this past year, but a good friend and colleague convinced me to co-teach a class with her on classic lighting and it was a great experience.  I hope that we can either co-teach another Super Monday Workshop with her again this year.  I would also like to start a Mentoring group locally to help some up and coming photographers and share some of knowledge I’ve learned on my photographic journey.

5th – Well this isn’t a photographic goal, but it is something that I’ve wished I would have done many years ago.  2012 is the year that I will be learning how to play a musical instrument in the form of piano lessons.  My lovely wife Molly surprised me with piano lessons for Christmas.  Our 7 year old son will be learning as well and I’m really excited that I get to learn along with him – albeit on different days but at the same level.  This should be very interesting as we’re both at the same beginning point.  I just hope I can keep up with him. :-)   I’ll be writing about that on this blog as well.

My final goal for 2012 is to do some photographic projects for just me.  I have to say that not only is photography my profession it is also still what I like to enjoy during my down time.  I’m guessing I’m not alone on this :-) .  I’m going to make a conscious effort to undertake some personal projects.  I’ve already started one and have another planned and a scheduled start in February.  However, I am not going to place a clear end date on them.  I think in today’s world to many try to accomplish things too quickly.  These will be bodies of work for me and I’m looking forward to the people I’ll meet, stories I’ll hear, and photographs I’ll make.  One of these projects could potentially take me the rest of my life to work on and I think that is pretty darn cool!  I refer to them here as I go along so be on the look out.

I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Productive 2012!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in business, Goals, holiday, Personal Work

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

24 Dec

I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for whatever you may be celebrating this time of year.

I’m am very gracious for the all the clients that I worked with for the first time this year and for those that came back to me for return work!  Thank You!!  I’m also very gracious that some of these clients have become new friends!  I truly do have the the greatest job there is other than perhaps being a kindergarten teacher! :-)

Enjoy the this holiday with your family and loved ones!  May 2012 bring great fortune, good health and many memories to whomever may be reading this post.

Merry Christmas!

Cheers!

 
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2011 family portrait season what a great year it’s been

17 Dec

Well the end of the 2011 family portrait season is almost upon me.  I have one more to do the day after Christmas – an extended family that I’m going to shoot over the course of 2 days.  Should be fun and I’ll share the final image after the family selects it.  I have to say that my families probably did the best I’ve ever seen in how they dressed for the portrait sessions this fall.  I can’t say that I had any families this year where someone was the odd person out.  I think a large part of that was due in part to something that I made a very conscious effort to do with all of my clients this past year and that is a pre-session clothing consultation.

I can’t begin to tell you how strongly I feel about this very important appointment to have between a photographer and clients.  First and foremost it allows for us to get to meet one another before showing up a session site and being overwhelmed with a bunch of gear and for us to discuss and plan the portrait.  It has amazed me when meeting with clients that clothing is often something that hasn’t been given much thought and when we start to discuss it how those conversations begin to shape the final outcome.  I always ask where in the home a client plans to display their portrait.  My main product lines are wall portrait and wall portrait collections which I call decorative focal points.  Keeping that in mind I have my clients tell me where they plan to decorate in their home with the portraits and what colors are in that area.  Based on the answer to that question we pretty much can plan on a color scheme for the portrait.  I also provide them with a brochure showing how different clothing options can either enhance or conceal problem areas.  I’ve had one client tell me that they carried that brochure around with them as they were shopping for clothes and used it as a guide when making their final choices.

The images that follow are some of my favorites from this fall season.  I think that the pre-session consultation regarding clothing helped to make these into timeless pieces of artwork for each of these families.

Cheers!

 

 
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Posted in business, Family Portraits, Portrait

 

Photography is really all about the light

14 Dec

Yes I realize that I’ve been tardy in my attempts to write something everyday.  The end of the year push has been better than expected so I won’t complain and blogging is what had to suffer the past week or so.  However, I’m nearing the end of a fantastic 2011 business year so I’ll be sharing some of my favorite moments over the past year in the next few posts.

Ok onto the subject at hand for this segment.  LIGHT!  I know crazy huh?  It’s all around us all the time, without it we can not see, too much of it we can not see too :-) .  I’ve been paying closer attention the past couple of years to light.  It seems in today’s world of Bright Shiny Objects (Cameras, Computers, Cameras, Cameras and Cameras) that many photographers get hung up about equipment and that if I upgrade from this to that I’ll make photographs just like so and so.  I too struggled with that or what I call photographers GAS!  No not that kind of GAS, but Gear Acquisition Syndrome.  It seems that we photographers suffer from GAS almost as bad as golfers do and I grew up around golfers so I know they get GAS too!  Always in search of the latest gizmo, gadget, or shiny object that will turn them into the next great thing – myself included.  Don’t get me wrong I love Bright Shiny Objects new or old :-) .  However, that is not the subject for this post.  I mention GAS because it was getting in the way of how I wanted things to look.  What I wasn’t seeing because of all that stuff was the LIGHT.  Yes the stuff that photography is really made of.

It didn’t really hit me until I was studying for the Certified Professional Photographer exam a couple of years ago that light was what I needed to understand.  That light and its resulting shadows are what would help me make the images I wanted to create and saw in my mind.  That light has been around from the beginning of time and hasn’t changed at all.  It has always had direction, color, quantity and quality and understanding and applying those characteristics has changed my photography for the better.  I always knew that light was important, but I didn’t fully really realize it until I started to study it and learn more about it and continue to learn about it.  I’m not going to go into all the details about each of the characteristics as there net is full of resources on them, but what I will say is I’m continually trying to implement new things that I’ve learned and continue to learn regarding light.  Light doesn’t care if I capture it on a digital sensor as 0′s and 1′s or if I capture it with silver halides on film – it doesn’t care if my camera is a Nikon, Canon, Mamiya, or Hasselblad .  In short it doesn’t care if I have the latest bright shiny object.  Controlling the light – for me that’s what it’s all about making it do what I want it to do for a photograph.  That is the difference it is making for me – control of it’s characteristics.  I’m excited to see the different results over the next year as each year should be better than the last because I’m going to keep learning, implementing and mentoring because all of those activities help me to get better and better.

So the next time you are out making photographs take a moment to look at the light.  See what direction is coming from, what color it is and how bright and soft is it?  Try it for yourself and see.

Attached is a single image that I made a few weeks ago trying to prove a concept of light for our Christmas Card this year.  I was very happy with how this came out, although it is not the image we used as it is missing a few key family members.  However it is a fitting image based on my post this evening.  I utilized several different light sources for this image.  Each of them is different and each of them contribute to the final image.  I should have added one more fill light to really finish the image off and I did for final card photo.  However, learning how light behaves is what helped me to create this image and the ones we ultimately used on this years card.

Cheers!

 

 
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Prints vs. Electronic Files? That seems to be question

09 Dec

I have been contemplating this post the past couple of weeks. There seems to be a great debate in my industry regarding electronic files and making them available to customers or not. I think there is a large mis-understanding about final presentation of photographic work. Let me help explain why.

Regardless of how a final image is presented be it printed onto paper, canvas, metal or computer screen it had to be created by a person behind a camera – a photographer. That person had to figure out a composition to place the subject. How the light would affect the subject being photographed. Develop or process the image. Then make artistic choices to enhance the subject and make it look it’s best. I’m sure I’m forgetting some things, but these are some steps I follow whether photographing a baby or a building. This is not just me but what professional photographers do everyday. The job of a professional photographer is to make that subject look great regardless of what it is or how it will be in its final presentation.

That’s all well and good but isn’t this post today about prints vs. electronic files? Well yes it is! I point out some of the steps, skills and talents used to make photographs and those are what consumers of professional photography are investing in not the paper or DVD the image resides on. I think it is important for consumers to understand this.

So now let’s discuss printed vs electronic presentation. There are pros and cons to both, but regardless the image still had to be created by the photographer. Let’s look at printed images first.

Printed photographs tend to “live” somewhere in a clients home. They might be wall portraits, photo albums, coffee table books, desk prints or a holiday card. I use the term “live” because the photos are usually somewhere where they can be enjoyed daily whether in the home or at the office. They can also be handed down from one generation to the next and they are not dependent on what future technology might be. As long as the viewer can see they may enjoy them. Some of their downsides are they take up physical space and can be damaged or lost forever by their environment i.e flood, fire, etc.

Electronic photographs tend to live on computers either locally or on the Internet in online albums or social media sites or they may reside on DVDs or some other digital media. They too can be enjoyed daily online or on a smart phone. They can be easily shared through email or social media. Some downsides to electronic files are future proofing – some experts are already saying DVD’s will only last a couple years and now image vaults should be considered. That’s not promising news. If you lose the DVD you lose all the images on it.  That could be hundreds of images.

So both have great benefits so what’s the mis-understanding? Well that is that the value of an electronic file is very little.  The consumer perceives that the file is cheap to burn to DVD so the file should be inexpensive and that the physical prints are where all the expense resides.  They want the flexibility to go print their own prints from the multitude of sources available to them. Be it a local drug store, a warehousing club or at home. These economical alternatives for printed output give the perception that a consumer can save money by printing the photographs themselves versus investing in professionally printed material from a professional photographer. Now this may be true if the consumer was only purchasing the paper, but when working with a professional photographer they are not just purchasing paper. It is the image, the skills and talent to make it and prepare it in its final form.  An argument could be made that an electronic file could be even more valuable than a printed photograph for the reasons of convenience and ease of sharing.

Recognizing that clients have different needs today than they did even 5 years ago I’ve begun making files available to them, but a file may be an equal investment to a wall portrait or album because after all it is about the final image and not whether it lives on paper or computer screen.

Cheers!

 

 
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