by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
INSPIRATION EXISTS!
No doubt in my mind that this is very true. But the second half of the quote has to be in play also. I find inspiration all the time, partly because I am looking for it and partly because I am open to new thoughts and ideas on doing things. I came across this quote from Master Painter and artist Pablo Picasso and it rang so true.
“Inspiration Exists, but it has to find you working.” Pablo Picasso
I feel the Inspriration quote goes hand in hand with words often attributed to one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, but many variations exist “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
So may I suggest to you, take the quotes of Picasso & Jefferson and put them to work for you? See what comes of it! And, share what comes your way. Love to hear about your success! Share here….
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GX7, photography, photography education, photography gear
Serendipity. That’s a lovely word. It’s musical in sound. And can add musical notes to your photography and it comes around more often if you keep your camera close at hand all the time.
Having dinner at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona last night and came across this snifter sitting on the bar with beautiful light all around so I fired off a few frames. Love the colors. Enjoy the soft background. This would make a great illustration for a newspaper or magazine article about bars, cocktails or many other subjects. I am always looking for things like this for my stock files but also just to study light, shape, form and how the camera sees so if I need to create something like this for a bar or restaurant advertising image in the future I’ll have it in my arsenal.
‘Snifter on bar’ was captured with a Lumix GX7 and the f2.8 35mm to 100mm at 89mm iso 800 at f2.8 at 1/10 sec. The camera was sitting on the bar for support to keep the slow shutter speed from blurring the image. My GX7 is with me most of the time… And with the Think Tank small pouch on my belt I’ve got plenty of lenses too.
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photography gear
For some reason I found myself enamored with this railroad draw-bridge in Tampa, Florida. It’s just outside the museum I was hanging in and I liked the graphic lines and shapes that ran through the scene. I thought i’d run the camera through some of it’s pre-sets to explore different ‘looks’. Never used to be a preset guy but I’m liking the fact I can have a pretty well processed image straight out of the camera. Here’s a few…
Four different preset images from the Panasonic Lumix GX7 camera pretty much straight out of the camera.
Totally different feel with all of them. Having fun seeing what the camera can do.
Please be aware of a couple things. You must have the camera set to save jpegs. Shooting in RAW only will allow you to see the processing on the camera but when you download the RAW images and open them on the computer you will see the processed file for about 2 seconds and it will disappear leaving you with the RAW information only.
Now a wonderful thing is available here. You can get the best of both worlds by shooting RAW + jpeg. Then you have a finished processed jpeg and still have access to the RAW file if you want to process the image in a different way. My friend Kevin Ames of Ames Photographic in Atlanta says, “Friends don’t let friends shoot jpeg!” He is a big advocate of shooting in RAW because if you shoot jpeg only you are allowing the camera processor to throw away a lot of information from the file. If you shoot in RAW it has the most information and will allow your file to be even better in the future as more and better software is designed for processing images. I agree. But, I like the idea of working with and tweaking some of the setting the camera has available for immediate use hence I now do both.
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography
When I was in Florida teaching my classes for Lumix I ran across this gentleman and asked if I might make his image. He agreed. I used the Lumix GX7 because that’s the camera I have with me almost all the time when I’m out and about.
This turned into a little test because I wanted to see how the photo would look from the back-lit position I was in. What is the mood of the image with some small changes? I liked it but thought I wanted to see what the same subject would look like from a slightly different angle. The point is you can change the feeling of a portrait just by changing the persons position to the light, add a little direction for expression or hand position or any number of other simple changes by thinking about the final image. Here is a before and after…
Original capture of gentleman with cigar in the tropics.
Different angle. Different expression. Different lighting. Better? Not necessarily, but different for sure.
Please when making images in public ask for permission to create the photo. Even more important make sure you have permission to show the image online in a public place. Case in point I asked if it was OK to share theses images and lesson with you and he said it was OK but leave off his name.
On another note, make sure if you tell someone you are going to send them images from your shoot that you do so. When in Paris I told a couple artists at Monte Marte that I would send them an image. I received replies upon sending their images that 1000’s of people promised to send them photos but I was the first one to actually do so… Keep a good reputation for yourself and photographers who follow in your footsteps.
Let me know which portrait you prefer by leaving a comment on this post.
Yours in photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education, success education
I wish I had a name to attach to today’s quote… That Anonymous person sure had a lot of attributions!
It is so indicative of people who become successful… When I talk to people about the success that I have had in my career, and my life in general, they often despair at the possibility of having that success for themselves. They only see the somewhat finished movie that I present to the world and compare that to their everyday life. The secret is to work hard and put in some time.
Success is what happens when 10,000 hours of prereation meet with one moment of opportunity.” Anonymous
“Picture this…” (in your best Rod Serling voice playback) “… a simple duck upon the water, sitting placidly and quietly. What we don’t see is that the seemingly restful fowl has webbed feet churning madly beneath the surface to keep him in place.” (end Roddo’s voice)
It takes work to be successful. Time of course. But, the work is not actually hard. It is ongoing with each piece layered on top of the one before. When you first start the journey seems insurmountable because there is so many steps to take. The cool thing is when you put a plan in place and start moving those webbed feet one push at a time not only do you stop being pushed downstream you find equalibrium followed by steady progress upstream.
“WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BOB??”
Ah, so glad you asked… Better imaging, better business and a better life all come from going one step at a time with the end journey in mind. You have to put in the time. What you’ll find is that the end goal keeps changing as you move closer and realize it wasn’t as far away as you thought. Want to be a better photographer tomorrow? Start learning and practicing new techniques today. Want a better business? Learn new sales techniques. practice them until they become second nature. Set a path. Work toward the end goal. If you find as you get closer it’s not where you thought it was going take a detour…
Sometimes having another set of eyes watching and helping you plan can be a huge help. When we are too close to a problem we often can’t see the forest for the trees. Need some help finding a path? Check out my coaching. Let’s talk for an hour… If you don’t feel it’s a help there’s no charge and no hard feelings. Get in touch and see if I can’t be of help on your journey. Yours in photography, Bob
