by successfulbob | fine art photography, fine art portrait, landscape photography, musician photography, photography, photography education
Chills! They wandered up and down my spine when I saw this video.
This presentation is based on images from the Professional Photographers of America Loan and General collections from the International Print Competition 2013. Awards were presented at the convention held in Phoenix this past week. I proud to have several images included…
When you watch this video crank up the music and make sure you go full screen for the most impact!
In this competition I entered two print cases of four images each. In total I received three general collection merits and four Loan Collection images. I’m proud to be in PPA and a member since 1998 to continue to pursue exellence in imaging so my clients get the very best I can offer. As far as I am concerned when you stop learning your imaging skills start to deteriorate.
by successfulbob | success education
This from Roy H Williams Pendulum in Action… Definitely worth a look!!
“When I was nineteen, I spent every Saturday from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the control room of a low-power Christian radio station on the AM dial in Oklahoma. Our Saturday program line-up was mostly local guys with a message in their heart and thirty dollars in their pocket. Dick Bailey was one of those guys.
Nine hours came to about twenty dollars a week after taxes, but Pennie and I needed the money, so every Friday I would hurry home after eleven hours in a welding shop, sleep about five hours, then drive forty minutes to the radio station, where I would change tapes for the next nine hours. Lunchtime saw me staggering home to fall into bed. All this for twenty dollars a week — but I got to meet Dick Bailey.” Click to Continue Reading >>
by successfulbob | photography, photography education, success education
Sometimes you need to step away from the photography and fine art community to look for inspiration.
I have met many photographers that are so intense (I must admit I have been one at times) that they forget to have fun. You’ll find that your best work comes forward when you study intensely then let go… Let the information you have gathered gel & process inside that wonderful electronic computer storage center we call a brain. Then have some seriously good times, get back to it and see how a relaxed attitude can allow creativity to reign.
This month’s quote comes from comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
“Life is truly a ride. We’re all strapped in & no one can stop it… I think the most you can hope for at the end is that your hair’s messed, you’re out of breath, and you don’t throw up.” – Jerry Seinfeld
I’ve been on holiday for a couple weeks and ideas are starting to come fast and furiously. Yahoooooo!!! When’s the last time you cut loose? Get out there. You’ll be glad you did.
by successfulbob | black & white, Lumix GH3, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography - art quote, photography education, photography gear, success education
COLOR!! Seems to be the theme for me this week.
Just after I decided to make color the target for my shooting while traveling in Sarasota I came across the quote for today’s conversation by Pete Turner.
“I am steadily surprised that there are so many photographers that reject manipulating reality, as if that was wrong. Change reality! If you don’t find it, invent it!” – Pete Turner
From Pete’s web site – A pioneer of color photography, Pete Turner’s career began during the infancy of color photography, at a time when color was used almost exclusively for commercial purposes. Unlike many contemporaries, Turner embraced color, seizing opportunities that allowed him to master the process and to create the imagery he felt compelled to make. Unconcerned with the labels of “art” or “commercial,” I invite you to take a peek at Pete’s photos before reading more…
Many photographers upon first starting out say things like, “I would never put a filter in front of my lens, that would be cheating!” Or, “You use Photoshop that’s not really a photograph.” They then trot out the example of Ansel Adams as the master of reality and they are trying to emulate him. What these photographers don’t realize is that Ansel Adams was one of the original manipulators of all photographic materials to show the scene the way he wanted people to see it. Think about the Zone System and his altering of exposure and development to get different details into different areas of the negative, not mention dodging and burning in the darkroom that sometimes took days to pull one print he was happy with..
In Ansel Adams An autobiography from 1984 Adams said, “I will always embrace a credo of excellence in craft and vision; both are difficult to maintain. Photographers are composers in a sense, and the negatives are their scores. In the electronic age, I am sure that scanning techniques will be able to achieve prints of extraordinary subtlety from the original negative scores. If I could return in 20 years or so I would hope to see astounding interpretations of my most expressive images. It is true no one could print my negatives as I did, but they might well get more out of them by electronic means. Image quality is not the product of a machine, but of the person who directs the machine, and there are no limits to imagination and expression.” – Link to full article ‘Inspired by Ansel’ on black and white imaging.
Please remember that the camera does not see as the eye sees. Your pupil expands and contracts imperceptibly allowing you to see detail in the darkest shadows and brightest highlights in a wide dynamic scene
So I offer these thoughts to you. Learn as much as you can to understand what is possible in our medium. Practice what you learn so you have it available to use when you need it. Have a vision and work to achieve that vision no matter what tools it takes to create the final image.
We now have cameras that can help fine-tune our images straight out of the camera. I was never one for using camera pre-sets but the technology has come a long way baby! Now you can tweak the settings from many of the in camera art type settings and make them your own. The Lumix GH3 has some wonderful black and white settings. The Lumix GX7 can do all that plus you can now set curves in-camera. It’s a great time to be a creative pushing the envelope with all the new tools at our disposal!!
And, isn’t it interesting that an article that started out about intense color and vision in photography ends with black and white??
Turner uses ‘in your face’ color and Adams uses the complete tonal ranges in black and white to tell their stories. How will use your camera to tell your stories in your images??
by successfulbob | success education
I’m a fan of Jack Canfield having read and worked with his book The Success Principles. (I highly recommend it) Here’s and article he wrote about pushing through in spite of negative feedback…
Life is a Laboratory by Jack Canfield
Everyone has a dream.
Many of us simply lose sight of it or let it go because of some earlier disappointment, rejection, or lack of progress. The natural tendency is to protect ourselves from getting hurt again, so we deny our dream, afraid to reach out for the people, resources, and opportunities that could support it.
I want to share a quick story about my friend Catherine Lanigan. She had earned a college scholarship on her strengths as a gifted writer. Catherine’s Harvard professor gave her an F on her first short story and convinced her she had no talent. She wrote nothing more for 13 years.
Then one day in her small Texas town Catherine visited a movie set. When she expressed her desire to be a writer, one of the scriptwriters shot back, “B.S.! If you wanted to be a writer, you would have written.”
When Catherine explained how her professor discouraged her, the scriptwriter replied, “An academic guy? What does he know? I write for a living. Tell you what. You go home and write something and send it to me, and I’ll tell you if I think you have any talent in the real world of commercial literature.”
A year later, Catherine finished her novel and sent it to the scriptwriter, who loved it and sent it to his agent in New York. The agent also loved it and asked to represent her work. Catherine’s first novel was followed by numerous others including Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, which became a major motion picture.
Is there a dream buried deep within you? If so, you owe it to yourself—and the world—to fully express it.
First you need to get in touch with your dream. When you get in touch with the essence of who you are and what it is that really wants to come through you, it propels you forward, allowing you to overcome any obstacle, no matter how big.
Secondly, gather feedback from many people (but don’t let someone else’s opinion bury your dream as Catherine did for so long). Whether you’re venturing into a new career, proposing a project in your community, or developing a computer application, get as much feedback as you can. Weigh it; then follow your own instincts.
Finally, try things you’ve never tried before to see what works. When we were kids, we’d try anything, but now? Today a child having a computer problem will hit every button to get it to work. Many adults fear touching the wrong button will break it.
Embrace a spirit of curiosity and playfulness in your pursuit. If one thing doesn’t work, try another. If that doesn’t work, try something else. This can be great fun. Imagine life as one big laboratory—and keep experimenting until your dream yields the results you want.
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at:
www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
