Category Archives: Uncategorized

Going solar?

According to the UT San Diego is ranked #2 in the nation for solar. We put solar on our home a few years ago and our electric bill for last year was $176. Protecting the environment, saving our budget.

San Diego County ranks No. 2 in the nation for solar
trailing only Honolulu for installed solar power, per capita

Solar installations which add to job growth are a key part of the city of San Diego’s climate action plan that aims to achieve 100 percent renewable energy use citywide by 2035.

Details: Photos are from commissioned projects. Camera, Nikon D600 and D810 and a Phantom 4 drone.

The Last Cruise?

No simple way about it.  My wife and I love to travel.  We worked hard over the years, saved and looked for great deals to explore places we’d only dreamed of.  One of the best solutions was to cruise.  But the coronavirus has changed the industry.  Details are still to come but they’ll need a lot of solutions before they can sail again.  How are cruise lines going to convince 250 – 4,000 guests they will be safe.  And what about the buffets, the big draw… Stay tuned.

Details:  All images are from our cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.  I used a Nikon mirrorless Z6 camera with both a 16-35 and 28-300 lens.

The People of Cuba

I’m not a real descriptive writer.  That’s why I’m a photographer, a visual artist.  I let my images tell the story.  Cubans were very friendly, interested and loved to interact.  Tour guides loved to tell the stories of the Revolution and the strength of the culture.  Owners of paladores  wanted to not only share their tasty cuisine but the stories of their families.  Street vendors along with the hustlers were happy to share their smiles.  Others just wanted to enjoy their siesta.

Havana on the Move

 

Havana, Cuba is not New York City yet, but it’s streets are busy during the days.  Predominately carefully maintained l1950s style cars, many with original motors and others that have been converted to Russian diesel motors with the telltale sounding diesel noise.  We rode to a jazz club in a 1956 Chevy Impala with the owner styled and groomed to match his cherry red Chevy.

Delivery trucks, freight trucks, buses and horse drawn carriages are interspersed by the rare modern Mercedes and Toyotas.  Road rage a rarity.  It will come.

Revisit and Revive the Old

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Need something to do but want to be productive?  Revisit your old files and take a fresh look at them.  Perhaps you missed an interesting image or, it just wasn’t edited right. Here are three images that I shot in 2012 back in Kansas, where I grew up.  _DSC9612 This one I particularly like.  I missed originally that it was sitting in a pocket of light shining through the trees.  Once I started working on the file I also saw the subtle pink and magenta tone sitting in the low laying clouds.  _DSC9604I was stoked.  I’ve shot thousands of images from Kansas over the years and many views get a repeated look.  Different times of the year, different times of the day.  You never know where that special light will occur, or if it’s already in your images.  Revisit….

 

My website:  www.zwink.com  Techy stuff:  post production in Adobe Lightroom 5.

Is Diversity Good for the Career?

0010600147I just spent the week going thru my Hawaii archives….and I came across a folder from a trip back home a couple years ago. Not sure where it is exactly, sometimes I just drive.  As a documentary photographer I’m drawn to places like this, to get a glimpse into our past.  I think then I’m partially a historian.

But in my day to day life I promote myself as a architectural and corporate photographer.  Can I do both?  Not if I want the big boys to take me serious.  This was a concept I struggled with mighty in the past.  I was trained as a photojournalist.  As such you had to learned to be good in several specialties.  The more diverse, the more value you were to the editorial brand.  I took pride in being able to venture into unknown situations and produce, it’s what we did.

As a “commercial” photographer the more you specialize, the more value you bring to the table, the more you can charge.  The perception is that your image as a specialist will bring more value to their product, brand and reputation.  It isn’t always who is the best image maker, who is perceived as such.

In my financial portfolio, I diversify, as a business owner I’m an Architectural Photographer (and don’t tell anyone, a darn good documentary, travel and corporate one also).

My work:  http://www.zwink.com  My editorial archives:  http://www.bigstudioz.com

How I get a week’s worth of Work!!!!!

North Shore Turtle

GO ON VACATION…… SERIOUSLY!!!

  I have a phobia of losing clients by going on vacation.  So I try and be the good communicator and notify my clients of upcoming trips and vacations so they don’t (hopefully) schedule or plan anything during that time frame.  This way clients know and I have a few days to pack or relax before heading to the airport.

  WRONG…. I don’t know if it’s the law of attraction but 90% of the time I end up  shooting during the week and finishing the post production just before the early morning trip to the airport.  I end up catching up on my sleep on the flight to our destination.

  The last time I failed to send out my obligatory email was when my father died and I flew back to Kansas.  My primary client at the time called me the day of the funeral and asked if I could do a major rebranding shoot in two days.  No, I replied my father just passed away, can we reschedule the shoot for a week later.  No they replied.  That week I lost two very important parts of my life.  One can’t be replaced.

  btw, I’m going on vacation next Sat. and I sent “the email”.  I’m shooting for four days, doing one day of post production and then off to New Orleans.  I hope your thoughts of vacation are as productive.

Some of my vacation photos are at:  www:zwink.com

Treasure your Vacation photos

 

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“Get yourself in the picture. Nothing is worse than a vacation with no shots of the family photographer. Get in the picture by using a tripod (or a steady surface such as a wall or a car hood) and the camera’s self-timer to make sure you’re included in the family memories.”

Borrowed quote from a Nikon site…..good advise.

 

More of my work at:  WWW.Zwink.com

Been there, Done that?????

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Have you?  Have you been to that place more that once where you start to shoot the same photos the same way?  STOP……. don’t go into autopilot.  You know what works, now look for something different.  Whether a different angle, different lens, different time of day or a new technique, explore it.  Dare to be different, that how you become better.  Don’t go home with the same or similar images.  STIMULATE YOUR VISION!!!

Techy stuff:  camera-Nikon D800 and Nikon D600.  Lenses Nikkor 14-24 and 70-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.  Locaton, Macksville, Kansas, population aprox. 500.

More of my work:  http://zwink.com