Mel + Josh : Bun in the Oven!

These two are insanely cute... I can't wait to meet their baby!!! Such a good looking power couple is bound to have the handsomest little man. I was thrilled to be part of their preparation getting ready for a pair of little ears in their home.

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Tuesday's Tip: Common Pitfalls in Outlook/Attitude

Today I wanted to talk about outlooks or attitudes that I feel are common; they are things that I would try to stay away from as a photographer starting out.  I've seen others make these mistakes I don't think sets them up optimally for success, I'll try to explain why I think so as I go through.

Find Personal Fulfilment in your Craft 

I love this photo

I understand when people really like something they are likely to buy it but I have personally found that some of the most vocal individuals are people who were never going to buy. For example, another children's photographer is unlikely to hire you to take pictures of their kids, so it isn't a big deal if they don't like your pictures of children. Likewise someone who is already married doesn't need to be in love with your wedding photography- it's great if they do but they're not your target market. There are some real trolls out there, some of them are other photographers who get off on criticising others.  I find that photographers who are too involved in what everyone thinks about their work have two big problems 1) They chase trends and try to please everyone instead of developing their own style. 2) They lack confidence in themselves and their work, regardless of their skills or their works artist merit. Do listen to people, sometimes they have a point that could be realistically improved upon but don't take photos to please the masses. Look for personal satisfaction in your work and aim to please the people who are actually buying from you. Even when you don't have clients, keep shooting to develop your personal style and acknowledge the value of your skills and the images you have.









Be open minded; Be teachable

I took this photo at a workshop I did

I have heard it said that there is no such thing as constructive criticism- there is only criticism and good advice and although they may come one right after the other they can't be dealt out simultaneously. Often times I think that in trying to not let criticism hurt, artist can be closed minded to all feedback. In a way this is the opposite problem of the aforementioned pitfall. While its great to have confidence, there is a place for people who are creditable and legitimately trying to help. I find the best way to be teachable is to go into a situation where you are obviously the student- like a class taught by a reputable teacher. some of my best experiences have been great classes. Although, not every class I've taken has been amazing. Frankly, some have been downright crumby but even the crumby ones improved me somehow- if only my patience :) While you may or may not be hanging on their every word, you can always practice listening and decide to take away at least one thing from the class. That is also how I listen to people's advise, I listen to it all and try to initially respond positively to all of it without letting too much sink in yet. Then after the conversation I then decide to take one or two points away and actually work on them. Assessing the creditability of the advise is also very important- while great advice can come from an amateur and horrid advice from a pro statistics favor the opposite.










There is No Magic Pill

 I'm still working at it

There are no lighting fairies or glass gods out there. Your destiny in photography is not the result of luck, fate or even a photo deity. It's your practice and hard work that make the difference. The end point of your work will depend 99.9% on you! Go shoot, go shoot, go shoot, then edit, edit, edit, network, network, network and REPEAT. Likewise there is no magic class you can take that will automatically transform you or piece of awesome equipment that will make all the difference the day you purchase it. Yes, everyone possesses different talents but every photographer is going to have to put work into some aspect of their business. There really is no substitute for hard work and rather than comparing the amount of work others seem to be doing keep you eyes on your own prize!

I recently read this quote

" Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
- Thomas A. Edison

Thursday's Tip????

Sorry Ya'll

This is the second time I'm writing this post and I really hate it when that happens. I was apologizing because I missed writing Tuesday's tip after having schedule a bunch to post every Tuesday... I guess it felt like I had written more.

 Anyway, if I was to really give you a Tuesday's Tip it would be to :

" Take some of those rods out of the fire!!!"

I keep myself like break-neck speeds crazy bus. Not the half of that is photography related but it still adds up and when I'm a stressed basket case my work suffers.

P.S- All potential photography clients out there should remember that a stressed out photographer equals sub optimal images!!! So be nice! I've had to "go to my happy place" in a couple of shooting situations.

So yeah my tip is "medium" amounts of photography related and it's to slow down and take your time. My creative juices just don't flow the same when I feel stressed or under a lot of pressure... unless you count this series of webcam shots I just took of myself :P

 

I think it's true for 99% of us, that while a little push is good... overt stress is BAD! So by doing things like not over booking yourself (keep in mind that you need time for life outside of photography too), smelling some proverbial roses and shooting for the sheer joy of it once and a while you'll keep yourself from creating your very own pull-you-hair-out photo montage!

So obviously I'm not a master at this yet but I actually employed a trail and error system to find my limit (this also kinda helps with pricing determinations too). I endeavored to book as many shoots as humanly possible and filled in "extra" time with fun shoots and then saw how long post processing took and my turn around to in the clients hands. I then cut back until I felt I had a maximum work load that I can handle, I have determined for myself that I can do about 6-8 photo shoots a month without spontaneously combusting. It's not much of an issue in the winter but as baby and wedding season comes up it can be a bit dicey and as my person life ebbs and flows that number needs to change too. I also try to never have more than a morning shoot and an afternoon shoot so that I don't need to worry about running out of time before the job is done to my satisfaction. That is unless I'm having a photo event day (like renting an awesome hotel room and doing 4 boudoir shoots) but then I usually set things up to run smoothly well in advance. 

It's easy to forget but how long post processing, advertising, client meetings/customer service really takes but making time for it is really important. Slowing the pace and not over booking are skills that I'm still working on but I think I'm getting better :)

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Seriously please if you read this DO SOMETHING LISTED ABOVE!!! and then go take some awesome pictures :D

Tuesday's Tip # 4

Revisit your old work!

As a new photographer I felt like I knew very little... and I was right! But despite what I was lacking, I was always so caught up in finishing the order and getting whatever number of pictures required "out the door" that often I left unedited some real gems. In fact I can find them in every single shoot that I have EVER done.

In expediting my post processing I actually cause this secret stash of photos. What happens is things like, I'll take several pictures of a similar pose and then pick one good one to edit or I'll not edit something because I know it takes a very detailed time consuming edit were other similar quality photos just need a little polish. While these are good approaches, upon going back those other "rejected" images I find they often have just as much merit as the one that was selected to take to the client. So my tip for the day is to at least once a year ( something good to do when things get slow) go through old shoots and rediscover all that awesome you just left on the table!!!

I find for me that it actually helps me feel less critical of myself. I guess in the heat of pushing orders out I get very critical with my work and in a way stop admiring the beauty in favor of being ruthless in putting my best foot forward to clients in the most efficient manner possible. Going back when there isn't a rush is like really smelling the proverbial roses.

I can admire my use of composition or lighting, edit or re edit without as much pressure, experiment with new post processing techniques without worrying about what the client might think, finally delete images that just aren't worth the disk space and see trends in my work. In fact, sometimes I feel like some of my earlier work was actually better, maybe I wasn't as encumbered with technique or maybe despite my lack of confidence I trusted "my eye" more. It helps me grow into a better artist who thinks more deeply about my work and how it reflects me and gives me goals and direction in the future.

Anyway, that's my tip for this week... go dig through the archives (Oh please tell me you have everything backed up!!!! In like triplicate!!!! That's a whole other blog post!!!) You never know what gems are just lying around taking up space :)

So here are a couple of my old/new edits

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