by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote
It’s my opinion that having fun has a lot to do with being creative. If you are mentally constipated because you are taking things way too serious you are not leaving room in your little grey cells for happenstance and that makes for less than original work.
Today’s quote comes from Comedian Jerry Seinfeld and gives you some thoughts on how to live life. I do not recommend this all the time or you may end up in an early grave like writer Hunter S. Thompson. I suggest at least you give it a shot at least once a week.
Life is truly a ride. We’re all strapped in and no one can stop it… I think the most you can hope for at the end of life is that your hair’s messed up, you’re out of breath, and you didn’t throw up.” Jerry Seinfeld
While researching a bit for Jerry Seinfeld information I came across this Leadership blog by Kevin Kenberry on what it takes to be successful. Take a look I think you’ll like it. http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leadership-supervisory-skills/what-leaders-can-learn-from-jerry-seinfeld/
Here’s a bonus quote from a very successful, and one of my favorite actors, Alan Alda, “Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.“
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, people photography, photography, photography education
On the riverboat cruise at the TNPPA Convention last week I happened across these blue eyes of a child sitting on his father’s lap. I was breaking in my use of a new lens to me, the Lumix G Leica DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm/F1.2 Lens. It is a sweet piece of glass. Enjoying the shallow Depth of Field These images are pretty much straight out of the Lumix GH4 camera with a small exposure adjustment. Be aware of beautiful light moments with wonderful subjects… But remember to ask if it’s OK to make the image.
Dad’s blue shirt and his plain grey shirt along with the tight crop allow his eyes to take center stage.
He was getting a bit of extra direction from grandpa and others so we started to loose expression but I still think it’s cute.
He was very cooperative but I’ll bet he was a bit on the tired side. He enjoyed seeing his photos on the back of the camera.Yours in Photography, BobPS I’ve lost my formatting on the upgrade to the latest version of WP. I’ll work on getting the old look back ASAP.
by successfulbob | graphic design, people photography, photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial
Pierre Stephenson was presenting a program on photographing underwater portraits. So being the shy guy that I am I asked if he could grab one of me cause I was looking for something different… And boy did I get that.
Pierre immediately said, “Yeah that would be great! I see you in a cross legged Buddha pose.” I’m all over it so off to the pool we go…
Because it was very hard to hold position this is two combined photos. One for the legs and lower half of the body and one for the upper half and reflection. Image © Pierre Stephenson used with permission.
When I showed Pierre the image (he gave me the files to play with) He said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if you were in a grotto?” I remembered a photo in my files of a set of arches from a shoot in Tuscany and started work blending it into the underwater photo image.
Added the ‘Grotto-ish’ background using masks and blend modes in Adobe Photoshop.
With a bit more Adobe Photoshop tweaking and color work this is pretty close…
This is a case of playing with an idea and developing it through playing with ideas. Is this complete? Not yet. It needs some refining as most of this was done on small files with very quick selections. I’m going to check in and see if Pierre likes the direction I hope he likes it…
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
I was working with a new lens the Lumix G Leica DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm/F1.2 Lens and is it sweet and fast. In this play session after a couple days of judging and presenting at the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association convention thought I’d try some fun stuff with Sarah Wykhuis. She was a great subject. It started in the hall when she was standing near a light. I set the camera for a high contrast black and white look.
Sarah in the hall. Kind of a Julia Roberts look don’t you think?
Then we went outside to shoot in the dark to see what we could see. It was pitch dark so we used the building lighting and fellow photographer and presenter Pierre Stephenson used his IPhone to add a bit of fill light.
I shot in RAW plus jpeg so I could get to all the info presented to the camera and was surprised at how much detail I was able to pull form the file. Camera was Lumix GH4.
I always advocate getting out to play. You learn the limits of your equipment, sharpen your skills and discover new ways of doing creative imagery.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography
Holy crap! Am I tickled!!
The International Photographic Competition (IPC) with Professional Photographers of America (PPA) has been going on for a couple days now and I’ve got some news I want to share. I received top possible scores for an entry in the Master Artists category. All four of my images were accepted into the Loan Collection. Usually I’m very happy to achieve even merit status on my images… To go four for four Loan is freakin’ unbelievable. Here’s shot of my phone with the texts I received today from the judging at PPA.
This is amazing. The designation for this accomplishment is Diamond Photographer of the Year – Master Artist.
My IPhone with results form my Master Artist entries…
I’ll share the actual images with you in a couple of days when the results are set in stone. The competition is still happening in Atlanta and if you are a PPA member you can stream the judging and see behind the curtain what the process is. They will be judging over 5,000 images and finishing up on the 7th of August. I’m still going to be watching as I have a Photographic Open entry submission on which to see the results.
Quite a few of the people I have been coaching have had good results also. I think I’m more excited about their successes than my own.
Yours, in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, photography education, photography seminar, success education
Been away a little bit as I flew across the country to present my ‘Fine Art Photo Synthesis’ program to the TNPPA courtesy of Panasonic Lumix. I was also invited to be a judge for their state image competition.
While I was there I had time to catch Pierre Stephenson’s program on posing and picked up a few new ideas from him. I love learning this photography stuff! You can pick up some ideas from Pierre and you don’t even need to see him in person. He has some online lessons here on his Facebook page.
Some of the attendees at the TNPPA photography convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Thanks to Dorma Tabisz for grabbing some action photos of me speaking!
It was a great convention held by a wonderful group of people. The southern hospitality was on display big time! We took a riverboat cruise as part of the activities and I had a blast. I’ll share some of the people images I captured during the cruise. I was running the new 42.5mm f 1.2 DG Nocticron Leica lens through it’s paces. Wow is that thing sweet!
Here’s a few comments from attendees…
“For the first time in over 40 years in our photographic industry I set through the entire program Bob Coates presented to our Tenn. Professional Photographers convention. Even strained my neck and kept my hearing aids in so that I didn’t miss a thing. Thanks Bob.”
Gary Moor M. Photog., Cr. FBIPP, FRPS, FMPA
“Bob, I sure enjoyed your program last night at the TNPPA. I am not a member and mainly shoot landscape but your program inspired me to try some new directions with my photography.
Thanks again.” Sincerely, Latta Johnston
“Your program was fabulous and held my attention with information I KNOW I can put to use immediately !!! I can now leave the show knowing my time was well spent !!! Thank you for your willingness to share!” J. Wade Tipton M. Photog., Cr., CPP, TCD, TSD, F-PPMo, F-PPO
Til tomorrow…
Yours in Photography, Bob
