by successfulbob | photography
My head nodded for the fourth time. The speaker kept droning on and on and oooonnnn. He was reading from the slides in the Power Point presentation. What?? I thought they only did that in college with tenured professors. If I want to read something I’ll get the book. I really didn’t think it was possible for someone to make a photography program boring for me.
Think I’ll remember anything from that program?
I will! It’s just that the thing I’ll remember is to never go see that speaker again or buy any of his materials at any price.
Humor. It’s always good to help people get a message. And that brings me to the start of today’s photo/art quote from one of my heroes, Kermit the Frog. (listen to the song Rainbow Connection if you don’t think he’s one talented muppet!) at the bottom of this post.
“I feel strongly that the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance.
Of course, I may be prejudiced. I am a visual art.”
How do you think of your photography? Do you think of it as art? As science? Do you think about it at all?
I feel photography is a tremendous visual art.
It preserves untold memories for families.
It is a major driver in the world of commerce attracting attention to products and businesses.
It hangs in places of business creating a sense of atmosphere.
It hangs in homes bringing regular and continued pleasure to the viewer.
It hangs in museums as art or recording of historic events.
I could go on and on and ooonnnn, but I won’t. Next time you pick up your camera think about it. Are you ‘Taking a picture.’? Or, are you creating a visual art?
Kermit the Frog sings the Rainbow Connection
by successfulbob | photography, photography education, success education
Week one. Really good intentions. Two or three posts for my blog as I promised to do each week. Yeah success! Week two. Procrastination. One post. Avoidance. Not sure what to write about.
Week three. I’ll get to it tomorrow or the next day…
“Oh, Sh%$!! It’s been two months since my last post… Again.” Sound familiar??
Okay, how to break the cycle?? I found an answer.
I came across this girl named Jenika who claims a web site called ‘Psychology for Photographers’ that will help in creating web site posts with interesting content that pulls clients in. And, it won’t be hard to do.
“HA!” is what I said.
Then she pulled me, a skeptic, in. In a very short time of poking around on her blog. I liked her info enough to lay out some cash, and now I like it even more. Here’s a link to learn about ‘Irresistible Words’ An amazingly helpful way to learn to create content.
Here’s the deal. I came in late to share this with you so you only have until November 6 to get this ‘Irresistible Words’ course for only $119 bucks. After November 6 it’s $249 and word is it will never be available for $119 again.
But, even if you read this on the 7th of November or later it’s still worth the $249 and I encourage you to get it anyway. You will be shocked at how well this stuff works. She gives you 30 days to try it out. If it’s not your cup of tea – she refunds your money. So what’s to loose??
Click here to view more details
Click here to view more details
by successfulbob | inspirational video, photography, success education, video
I found this video on Monday Morning Memo with Steve Jobs talking about asking for what you want or need… This is great stuff! It’s less than 2 minutes and I highly encourage you to watch it and take the message to heart.
From the MMM “Steve’s last words in this video are, “If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.” By the way, it was at H-P that Jobs met Wozniak. Watch the video.
By the way make sure you click on the Monday Morning Memo link and get signed up for weekly inspiration for your business. If you have a creative mind at all you’ll be glad you did…
by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography, photography education, success education
Picture yourself sitting on a stage in a trade show booth in front of everyone. You have an earpiece reminiscent of an FBI agent and a microphone worthy of Madonna attached to the other ear. They start to count down… 4, 3, 2 and point a finger at your host Frederick Van Johnson. You are now live on a Google Plus Hangout.
Nervous?? “NAAH.” I used to be in radio and TV AND one of my best friends, Skip Cohen, is up on the platform with me. Better yet we are talking about two of my favorite subjects, photography and fine art. It was a great show and I learned a lot because there were three other Internet guests sharing their ideas.
I don’t want to tell you what Skip said because that would spoil the surprise but I gotta tell ya that guy can say some pretty funny things! Hear the interview for yourself.
Frederick Van Johnson host of This Week in Photo on Google hangouts, yours truly holding center spot and Skip Cohen of Skip Cohen University. Live interview broadcast during PhotoPlus Expo in New York.
You can hear the other Lumix Luminaries and their interviews from PhotoPlus Expo in New York in the Lumix Lounge.
by successfulbob | architectural photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Pablo Picasso jumped out at me when I was poking through my quotes files when looking for a subject to chat about today… And note that it is being released on time and not a day late. Seems that you want your Sunday photo/art quote on Sundays.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Pablo Picasso
Pablo brings up a very interesting point of view and I agree 100%. Now I don’t necessarily like all of Picasso’s creations, but he does make me see things in a different light. Which brings me to the idea your camera doesn’t see as your eye does. The pupil expands and contracts when viewing shadows or bright areas in a scene. It happens so fast and automatically most are not even aware of it. Why does this matter? Well our job as a photographers is to translate a three dimensional scene with luminance values that can’t fit on the paper we are printing into a two dimensional space… and make it look as our eye sees it. That’s why it’s important to know how the camera sees and be the translator.
Many photographers say, “I only shoot natural light!” or I would never put a filter on my lens, that’s cheating!” I actually remember saying similar things when I was first creating images – before I really started to understand a camera and lens’s limitations in reproducing the scene in front of me. Until you understand that supplemental light helps to tame the dynamic range of a scene or that filters were created to answer challenges of being able to ‘fit’ all the light into a finite printing space you will have difficulty creating images that share what you see.
HDR photography, when done properly, is one of the ultimate ways of taming the dynamic range of a scene. There are some images that have the ‘look’ that makes you say, “That’s an HDR.” Those aren’t the images I’m talking about. I’m talking about the images that you go, “WOW!” Because the scene is presented so realistically you can’t believe how beautiful it is.
The next time you come across a scene you believe will make a wonderful image think it through and make sure others see your vision and not just what a camera may happen to capture.
Do you see what I do? My excitement came from the juxtaposition of the four different architectural styles and nature all in one place at one time… Or do you see something else?
Panasonic Lumix GX7 Lumix G Vario 35-100 f2.8 51mm 102 35mm equivalent 1/50 sec. F13 ISO 500
Image © Bob Coates Photography
