by successfulbob | photography education, success education
Read a post on Bryan Caporicci’s ‘Sprouting Photographer’ web site that reminded me of something I should share with you.
There is a tendency to get so wrapped up in our photography business that we forget to take care of many things that are really important.
I found myself in the same trap Bryan talks of of thinking I was accomplishing more than I actually was… My wife was constantly saying, “He works 24-7.” and I did. But I thought I was getting somewhere when all I was doing was wasting a lot of the time you were talking about thinking I was kicking ass.
We went to a photography seminar and the last speaker was taking about her life in photography with her husband and how busy they were. I’ll take the long story and shorten it quite a bit as this woman was quite the fabulous storyteller. Near the end she said, “And there was a knock on the door! I went to answer it, threw open the door and the person knocking was there to tell me my husband was dead in an accident…” You could have heard a pin drop on carpet in this room of 1500 people. She finished by sharing how she changed her life, and suggested all photographers trade family photos ASAP as because they were both in the photo biz she had no photos of her with her husband.
I immediately turned to my wife and said, “Every Wednesday is now a ‘Holly Day’. You tell me what you would like to do and I’m yours. Schedule a two week vacation and some weekend side trips and we’ll start doing them.” I also gave myself a half-day off each week to just spend time doing stuff for me…
Result of taking time away from the business? I actually started accomplishing more in less time because I was refreshed, ready to go and HAD to get stuff done in a timely manner. My wife was a much happier camper and life improved many, many times.
Check out Bryan’s post HERE. I can attest for a fact that they everything he talks about is true and will make your work and personal life better if you follow through.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography education
When it’s time to show my out of town clients images for proofing I’ve found Zenfolio to be a very solid platform. (use this referral code to get a 10 % discount – 5F5-S3Q-SAS)
I photograph ‘Elopements’ for the Creekside Inn Bed and Breakfast here in Sedona. The clients are pre-paid for the capture and are given a print credit. Then they have options to upgrade or ,additionally, purchase printable files. They are visitors from out of town and there’s no way to have their images ready for viewing and ordering before they leave for home so an online viewing and ordering system is mandatory.
Zenfolio allows you to work your price lists in many different ways. You can have the image order fulfilled through various partner labs choosing which labs and products to make available and adding your markup. You can also build your own product and price list for self fufillment.
Initial proof page. Notice that it is branded with my look colors and logos.
Ordering page from Zenfolio.
There are lots of features including slideshows, sharing and more. The web sites you can build from the Zenfolio system are pretty nice too. You can Take a peek here to see the wedding proof live. The password is 091814. If you have questions give me a shout.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – I got permission from my bride and groom before giving you access to this wedding…
by successfulbob | photography, photography competition, photography education, video
Was taking a cruise through some of my competition images through the years and it was very interesting to find I had a style when I reviewed the images as a body of work verses seeing them individually. I’ve found that competing at the Professional Photographers of America level has done more to improve my photography than almost anything else. Now with a little review from you I’d like to learn more.
This question came up on a PPA forum, “What is your style?”
It was actually difficult to answer… So here’s a pile of pictures, so to speak, and I’m going to ask you to take a few minutes and share with me your ideas of what my style is… Thanks in advance for your feedback!
I put these images together in slideshow format with ProShow Web. I’ve only just started using it but I’m really liking the interface. Upload the images and it does most of the heavy lifting of building the slideshow by you picking a template that you want to use. You can upload your own music if you have permission too. Cool part is you can watch what it turns out and then go back in and edit it. Very cool! (there’s no video in here but it takes vid clips too!)
These images were gathered from approximately 2005 to present from my digital competition files from
Arizona PPA, Professional Photographers of America and others….Thanks again for your help.Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Had the opportunity to test out the Fiilex LED light kit model FLX302 which includes three P360EX lights, stands and barn doors in a watertight rolling case. I used this kit on a real estate shoot a couple weeks ago You can see some of those results here.
I thought I’d give these bad boys a workout in the studio with a still life project. Again the ability to see the lighting exactly as it will appear in camera allows me to get a bunch of different looks in a very short period of time. Having the ability to change brightness and the white balance of the lights from the golden tungsten color temp of xxx to the brighter blue of xxxx adds to the creativity.
Here’s a quick animated GIF to show many different looks using just the three lights, a shoot through umbrella and a piece white of foam core as a reflector.
Many different lighting versions using the Fiilex LED’s
Once I have the initial image captured in studio it’s time to put Photoshop to work. Using multiple images of tectures, layer masks and blend modes I take the image to my artistic place. Here are a few versions…
From the initial image captures above it’s time to experiment with various textures and color palettes.
I’ve found many people like warm golden tones.
As they say variety is the spice of life. So more colors! More texture. Play! Experiment!
Images were photographed with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario Lens ISO 200 1/6 sec @ f4.5
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Making purchases at Amazon through the links on this site help support the information. Like what you read? Click a link! Thanks!
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Today we reach out to the writing world for today’s theme in the Sunday Photo/Art Quote here on Successful-Photographer. Some of the best work I have created was inspired by or because of taking on personal projects…
I believe that if you don’t explore what your heart tells you is important or a subject that you haven’t tackled before you will take a long time to grow as a photographer.
When pursuing an impressionistic art look for my work I had no idea that it would morph into a paying project creating work for a nightclub. The techniques have become one of my most requested teaching programs called ‘Photo-Sythesis’. I also believe that the artistic techniques I am now using as a result of advancing personal projects to create art images led to my being named a Lumix Luminary by Panasonic. (of course it didn’t hurt that I was already yelling to all my photographer friends how much I liked the new format! But I digress…)
If I see an interesting face with character on the street I will engage that person and then ask if I might make their portrait. Making a total stranger comfortable in front of your camera makes it much easier to pose and photograph people you know or have come to you for a portrait.
That brings us around to today’s quote from Jack London.
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go meet it.” Jack London
Update… 9/22 I found another version of Jack’s quote, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” I like it!
Go get it! What are you waiting for?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – I can’t remember the full story of one of the first books that grabbed my attention but I have a memory of being scared reading London’s ‘Call of the Wild’ What’s wild about you? go meet and embrace your inspiration
