I wrote this post a little over a year ago on a different site. I have spent a lot of time since then thinking about the topic and then expanding it to what is photography? I’ll let you savor on the post for a couple days and then I’ll share some thoughts.
I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton. When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport. The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school. So many memories…… I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory. I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode. Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline. So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed. With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with. I know, it looks grainy and it does. But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer. A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great. Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.
The techy stuff: camera: iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)
Which are you? I am a Image Maker. Even with my iPhone (yes I admit I have and use one) I think before I hit the shutter. I think that is the difference. Good Image Makers, aka photographers and videographers think and don’t just react to a scene, situation or event. Another good qualifier is to look at a body of images and see if they make sense. Yes, make sense, do they tell the story or stimulate a response? So…… even if you’re an amateur next time, look and compose before you take that picture. Happy shooting…
Techy stuff: All images shot at Sunset at Mission Beach, Ca. with a Nikon D3 and processed in LightRoom3.
I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton. When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport. The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school. So many memories…… I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory. I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode. Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline. So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed. With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with. I know, it looks grainy and it does. But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer. A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great. Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.
The techy stuff: camera: iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)
I market myself primarily as an architectural photographer. It’s hard. Experts say to have people take you serious and pay decent money you have to be a specialist. So do you? I was trained and worked my early career as a photojournalist. A good photojournalist is good at shooting a lot of subjects and an expert generally at none. So what do you do? I don’t want to be tied into just one thing so I do niche marketing. Most of my work is photographing properties, new construction and aerials of those projects. To those clients I market myself for my architectural work. To a few others I’m known for my environmental portraiture. I market them differently. You get the picture. In this economy you need to diversify within your business and marketing. But to each your a specialist they need. btw, yes I do shoot food……
The Food: Bully’s East, Mission Valley, San Diego, Ca. Great place. Yes, we enjoyed some of it when we were done . The benefit of being a food photographer.
Being a smart shooter is knowing when to ask for help. I was recently asked to photograph this interior at UCSD for the builder. The primary use was to enter in a competition. The big problem was that the location was not going to be finished until the following Thursday, with the deadline that Monday. Thursday would be too late. So after a fair amount of negotiating my assistant Abbey and I decided to remove the cardboard off the desktops in the whole auditorium. After a quick call to my retoucher, Holly of Spitting Images we decided to remove temporarily the plastic off three rows of the chairs. That would give Holly enough of a sample to clean up the image. Additionally we shot a section of paneling which she also layered on top of the black wood to complete the retouch portion of the project. I then lightened the top projection screen and wal la……. image done, ready to send to the client.
As a pro you need to be a problem solver. When someone say no as the project manager answered when we asked to clear all the plastic we came up with another solution. Develop and utilize your resources.
