Social networking for photographers

Most of the posts here so far have been done as articles, in other words one sided lectures as opposed to discussions. I’d like this to be more of an open ended discussion, please share your experiences and ideas for making social networking work. (more…)

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Truth in advertising

I’ll admit that “truth in advertising” is a bit of a contradiction in terms. But one of the great advantages, as well as responsiblities, of photography is that most people view photos as representations of reality. Or at least they do on a subconscious level. Those of us in the industry, and certainly anyone who’s spent 7 hours making a shrimp cocktail look just right, know that reality is flexible. Deciding how flexible is where you can get into trouble. (more…)

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Who’s in charge?

tampa_engagment_wedding_011If you’re new to the wedding game you’ll soon discover that there is someone in charge at every wedding. You may think you know who that person is, they signed a contract, they paid you money, they are picking out the products… but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are in charge. No, the person that you’re working for is, to quote the movie “Swingers” the guy, behind the guy, behind the guy. 99% of the time it’s the mother of the bride. (more…)

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What file format?

File Types and Color Profiles

Anyone who’s ever used Adobe Photoshop can tell you there are 20 different ways to save an image file. Each of these formats has a specific use and reason to exist – but for those of us in the still photography industry there are four major file formats. (more…)

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It’s time to say goodbye to the copyright

I wasn’t always a photographer. Back in the 90s I was a disc jockey. I can remember many times getting into heated discussions with young people who had called into the station about whether or not the record companies were within their rights to sue people who downloaded music. No matter how hard I tried to explain that music was a business and record companies as well as artists had a right to charge whatever they wished for the fruits of their labor, people just didn’t get it. They acted as if they had a right to the music. They believed that once they bought a song they could do whatever they wanted with it, including reproduce it and distribute it to thousands of people.

And so it was that last weekend I laid in bed unable to sleep. (more…)

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Shoes matter

I would love to say that all it takes to succeed in this industry is talent, passion and hard work. But of course, that's not how it works. Yes it…

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SoFoBoMo: Solo Photo Book Month 2009

SoFoBoMo has begun rercuiting for their second year, and it’s definitely worth a look.

SoFoBoMo is an project based loosely on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month), efforts to provide structure for creative types to produce their first novel or musical album. SoFoBoMo participants pledge to entirely produce (from inital photography through graphic design, layout and writing) a photography book within a 31-day span (any one month span in May and June 2009). The only length requirement for SoFoBoMo is that the completed book must contain at least 35 photographs. (more…)

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No U-Turn

no_u_turn“So,” I said, “How do you feel about standing in traffic?”

A few weeks ago I had this idea for a shot. I wanted to shoot a couple surrounded by blurred movement while they stood frozen in time… in their own world. The first obstacle to overcome was how to shoot a long exposure on a sunny day. A neutral density filter solved that problem ( I used a 6 but really needed a 9). Next I had to get the couple. Lucky for me I was getting ready to shoot an engagement session at the University of Tampa which sits on Kennedy Blvd, one of the busiest roads in town.

So, after about an hour and a half with my clients I finally asked them to stand in traffic. They were totally on board with the idea and stood there without moving for about 15 minutes while I stood on my own little traffic island with my tripod, shooting away. (more…)

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