by successfulbob | charity photography, photography, photography education, success education
Help spread the word.
October is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. Now I Lay me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) is way for photographers to give back to there community with the gift of professional portraiture to families who suffer an early infant loss. This is a precious gift that has amazing healing power for the families. I encourage you to learn more and to get other to learn more by spreading the word everywhere.
Logo you can share in spreading the message…
I believe this is an amazing organization. I have been a member and affiliate photographer since 2006 photographing families in need of these services. Been a trainer and area coordinator. Work on the photographer approval team. Served on the National NILMDTS Board of Directors for two years. I share this information not to brag but to hopefully inspire you to join in too. If you are like me when I first heard of NILMDTS I said, “There’s no way I could ever do this type of photography.” I eventually was convinced to give it a try and after seeing the help it gives families I now say, “How can I not do it??”
Banner logo you can share in getting the word out about Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
Here are some more links….
Five reasons to become a NILMDTS photographer
Rhonda Gehman NILMDTS story
Vikki Zoller NILMDTS
Ashely Krapf NILMDTS
A call out story
I hope this inspires you to get on board. Is the work difficult? Yep. Is it rewarding? You bet! But you won’t know until you try… If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to get in touch. My contact info is at the top of the page or here.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Country music soundin’ GOOD!
Moot Davis Band had them on the dance floor at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona last Wednesday night. Holly and I were there for dinner and the music and were not disappointed on either count…
Sometimes, in my mind, country music can get a little maudlin… I’m not one for crying in my beer so when they say a country music band is coming to town I’m not usually too thrilled. Well that thought jumped out of my head within the first couple songs once the band started to play. This is a really talented group of musicians. Moot has a great voice and the band has wonderful instrumentation occasionally leaning a little toward rock with Bill giving some great guitar licks.
We ended up staying until the last note faded away and had a great time.
Moot Davis Band photo created for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’.
The individual images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario Lens. I’m finding the stage photography is much easier with the GH4 especially with the LED stage lighting. The camera reaches into the shadows and keeps the highlights from blowing out when you use the shadow highlights curves setting to boost the shadows and hold down the highlights.
Each musician was layered into the image and multiple textures were added using blend modes to create the painterly feel…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art musician portrait, Lumix GH3, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photoshop tutorial, success education
Stalwart entertainers Tom and Shondra did a show at Sound Bites Grill here in Sedona, Arizona. These guys (I use that term loosely) do a highly energetic show that the audience really gets into. Steve asked me to photograph them for the ‘Wall of Fame’ and it was my pleasure to do so! Even though it is only two performers I thought their energy needed more than just one photo to help tell the story… This is what I put together.
Tom and Shondra on stage at the Sound Bites Grill Wall of Fame image.
The Lumix GH3 worked well for capturing Tom and Shondra’s performance. Because their expressions changed quite rapidly during the live performance I used the 5 frames per second bursts to have choices. I used the Lumix GH3 for this shoot because I sent the Lumix GH4 in for service… not that there was anything wrong but more of a precautionary measure.
I was photographing along Oak Creek and went to cross the creek and slipped on the rocks and the GH4 was submerged while I was trying to right myself which took long enough to put water into every available opening in the camera. I dried it off as much as possible at the scene and then headed for home. I dried it more. Got out the hair dryer and searched for moisture in every compartment. I kept rotating and finding more water but with the heat on medium and I made sure I got every drop I could. The camera turned back on and operated wonderfully. But I sent it in for a chek-up and all was well. The weather sealing on that camera is better than I thought. I still don’t recommend submerging your camera to test it like I did. But it showed me we should be pretty good in a moist environment…
Multiple images were put together using Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 using blend modes, textures and masks. I also added some smoke with brushes that I obtained from Woody Walters who is an amazing Photoshop artist and instructor. Go check out his stuff. (I don’t receive any commission from Woody but I can save you 15% if you decide to sign in for more than his free Photoshop tutorials use coates15) He has amazing info to share with you!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | art books, photography, photography - art quote, photography books, photography education
I’m reading a book.
Actually I’m reading several as I tend to do. But the one that pertains to today’s Photo/Art Quote is Inspiration on Photography, Train your mind to make great art a habit by Brooke Shaden is the title and while I haven’t gotten too far I’ve already found new ways to think about my art and creation in making images. So I thought I’d grab a quote from Brooke for today.
“Creativity, just like inspiration needs to be examined and nurtured.” Brooke Shaden
Brooke has hit the nail on the head with this one line. How do you come up with your ideas? Where are they from? What turns you on? And, even more important how do you act upon your thoughts and inspiration? How many times have you had a wonderful idea then delayed on the follow-through and never made the image? Shaden shares lots of ideas how you can get a handle on your creativity.
Lots of photographers I talk with feel they are not creative when they try to see their work verses another. Try not to compare. Think of it this way. You are watching someones fully edited and scored motion picture to your raw footage.
Inspect your ideas. Expand on them. Go shoot. Learn. Fail. Shoot again. Small successes lead to bigger ones. Work it. But work it with thought and a plan.
And, by the way it wouldn’t hurt to get Brooke’s book to help you think about inspiration in a new way. I’ll be doing a more detailed review of the book after I finish reading it. I can tell you right now that this is one that has already earned a permanent place on my photography reference bookshelf.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography education, success education
Sometimes you need to go the extra mile for your clients. I have some realtors who like to set themselves apart in the marketplace with an image that different than the run of the mill Realtor shots. When they asked last year for something really fun at Halloween how could I say no?
Here is the original image they use on a regular basis… Just a little bit of kick and sass!
Greenfield and Weems marketing photo for their Real Estate image.
Halloween was coming and Jolynn wanted to spice things up a bit. I used the photo above with Puppet Warp in Photoshop to get them into a seated position. Add a giant pumpkin, some witches hats and a broomstick and we are home free.
This was the result.
So fast forward to this year and Joylynn says, “Hey Bob, can you add our assistant to the photo and what would it cost?” I said of course, but didn’t realize how much more work was going to be involved. But,
because I wanted to plush out these guys as clients I just said, “I didn’t charge you near enough for this… Oh well, Happy Halloween!”
The full team!
When you have the opportunity to go over and above for your clients take it!
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
