by successfulbob | photography education, salute to business, success education
I want to salute Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Scottsdale, AZ. My wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary during an Arizona Staycation. We decided to do a little happy hour at Flemings restaurant. We enjoy the social aspects of dining at the bar and this was a great time.
Setting the stage, enter our bartenders for the evening, Brian & Erin. Our experience was wonderful all the way through. Greeted professionally and with pleasant personality. Given a very nice recommendation for wine choice. Food was well presented and flavors fabulous.
Gift box with our surprise sweets enclosed…
Remember, we enjoy the social part of dining at the bar and were chatting with a lovely woman named Jennifer and my wife mentioned in passing that we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. A little while later Brian appears with a present of a box of chocolate truffles. He said, “Heard you were celebrating and here’s a little treat from Flemings… Congratulations.” (May be some paraphrasing here, but you get the idea.)
So a tip of the hat to Flemings in Scottsdale for a wonderfully memorable evening including stellar service.
But, that’s not really what this post is about…What are YOU doing to go above and beyond so your clients get so excited that they blog and tweet and share how excited they are about YOUR business??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, photography
Architecture here at the Wizard Academy is quite distinctive and a bit on the Old World side. I like it.
As always I create a self assignment to create some art from the places I visit. Here is Chapel Dulcinia. It’s a place to have a wedding if you are in the Austin, Texas area. It’s beautifully appointed and in a very wonderful quiet area on the Academy grounds. By the way, did I mention there is no charge?? Last year there were over 800 ceremonies on the property. This year they are on track to have over 1000 weddings here.
Chapel Dulcinia at the Wizard Academy. The texture for creating the art came from a photograph of the elevator floor…
Captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario lens.
Any idea where the name for Chapel Dulcinia originated?? If so comment below…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography
HI Ho Hi Ho it’s off to school I go…
For the next couple days I will be at the Wizard Academy here in Austin, Texas learning about using video on the web to promote your business. Last night there was some informal conversations among the business people attending and I gotta tell ya there’s some stimulating conversation and ideas are already starting to flow. This is a business class unlike any other and I can’t wait.
I’m staying on campus and here’s a quick shot of the room. It’s called Prosser and it’s quite comfortable and well appointed!
Everywhere you turn at the Wizard academy there’s an art touch, a nook with a surprise and little pockets of magic.
There be angels and more here…
If you want to give your marketing a seriously creative push find a class here at the Wizard Academy. I’ll fill you in later with some of the rest of the story of my stay…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
That’s what I love about the art and profession of photography. There are so many different ways to think about how you work and present your work to the world… Today’s quote comes from National Geographic photographer Sam Abell. He has said that he could be perfectly happy with his photography even if his only subject was light itself. Here’s Sam’s quote which references a different way of thinking about photography than I do.
As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something and show it to the camera.
A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.” Sam Abell
When you see light as well as Abell does, as well as knowing how the camera sees and interprets what our eye sees, you can make fabulous images without supplemental light. I often see and hear people say these days I’m ONLY a ‘Natural Light’ photographer. While there are some fabulous exceptions like Abell that phrase is mostly code for, “I don’t know how to use flash or other supplemental light and can’t be bothered or am too scared to learn my craft.”
All light is useful in creating the best image of our subject. In the case of natural light it often means returning to a place or scene when the light is more favorable to show off the scene better. many times especially when working against a time constraint like a deadline for a commercial project, or ‘the family will only be together for this date and time’ or other such reason. The true pro will still create a beautiful image because he or she will be able to use all of the tools available including flash and additive or subtractive lighting.
Want to be a better photographer? Study light in all it’s forms and permutations. You’ll be glad you did!
Here are two head shot portraits of Sam Abell. Tells of two different sides and conveys different messages. What’s the major difference? Light.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS I am still learning light and it’s language every chance I get attending as many conventions and seminars as possible. I’ve been doing this for about fifteen years.
Maybe I’m a slow learner.
Or maybe there’s a LOT to learn.
by successfulbob | people photography, photography education, photography software, photoshop tutorial
I often have to remove subjects from basic white backgrounds and thought I would share a technique using the Channels Palette to create the Alpha Channel to separate the subject very cleanly from the background with little fuss and muss. There is some Photoshop Magic involved. If you haven’t seen this technique before you will be pleasantly surprised by how much of a time saver it is!
Special thanks to my subject Tom Tayback of Tom Tayback and the Daddy O’s who does a 50’s & 60’s Graffiti Gold Show that is pretty darn cool. If you are in Arizona and see the show will be playing, go, I know you’ll enjoy it!
