Your website sucks..from A Photo Editor | Avisualsociety

Read the whole thing. I love it when I find someone who is on my side. Just love it. Rock on AVS person.

Your website sucks..from A Photo Editor | Avisualsociety:
"3. I hate, hate, hate sites that organise the work thusly - Portfolio 1, Portfolio 2, Portfolio 3…and so forth. That alone will give me pause in clicking on any of the links. If you’re a portrait photographer, give your stories names. If you’re in fashion, tell me what magazine. Just, make it more interesting and give a person a reason to click! When I don’t know the difference between portfolios 1 through 6 I am more liable to click off your site then click anything at all.

4. Fancy intros that take a minute to load. Bad idea.

5. Navigation that takes a minute to load. Ditto.

6. I always like information about the photographer. Have a biography of some sort. Tell us about yourself. But don’t tell us too much, like how you used to surf or grew up in 8 different countries and especially not something like “I grew up with a camera in my hand”. Then you’ll just seem like an asshole."

Read the whole thing. Print it out. Post it wherever you can see it every day.

UPDATE: Andrew Hetherington checks in:

"Its the simple stuff that is easy to forget when one gets caught up in the endless design possibilities. That's it isn't it we all like to think we are a bit different and special and that editors will get it and make an exception for us. Maybe they will, maybe they wont, but the message repeating its self is pretty clear, keep it simple, keep it quick, its probably going to be the first way anyone gets to see your work these days."

i heart photograph : One of my new favorite blogs

i heart photograph

Just visit with a cup of your favorite coffee and get a fantastic glimpse into the world of art photography. This is a treasure of imagery and links. Take your time, there's lots to see.

New York New York: Sanity Re-emerges

Well, it's a start anyway. Can't wait for these boorokrat folks to take over our health care. Ooooooo... that'll be cool

Mayor to Ease Permit Rules for Capturing City’s Image - New York Times: "“I think that we’ve removed some of the restrictions that were the most worrisome to filmmakers,” said Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the film office. “We have defined exactly what equipment is, and we’ve taken away the time constraints, and we think we’ve come up with something that is quite workable right now.” The proposal would allow photographers and filmmakers who are not using vehicles or equipment like dolly tracks, lights and cables to proceed without permits on public property as long as they stay out of traffic and their activities do not prevent public use. The rules would also allow photographers and filmmakers to commandeer a portion of a public walkway without a permit, as long as they leave open at least half of its width, or eight feet, whichever is greater."

Another Great - Really Great - Flickr Find by a Guy Who uses Really Long Ass titles Cause He Likes Them. Personally I don't see the point, but then that is me.

Robin - Quasi Fetal Positioned Red Head Freckled Jazz Singer With Barely Visible Green Square Arm Tattoo and Elbow Bruise In A Musty Old Suitcase On A Semi-Fancy Old Rug Of Unknown Origin
Originally uploaded by merkley???

The guy is terrifically witty, delightfully profane, unbelievably talented and really not a photographer at all. Like Bo Diddly was no guitar player and Satchmo never played no trumpet.

He can keep that bullshit going all he wants... this is GD excellent work. Made me day... except now I am sitting here for a friggin hour lookin' at his work and it makes me smile shout and get utterly frustrated that I don't live in San Francisco so I can meet him and he can tell me to FO...

It'd be worth it.

Alexandra Boulet Dies

Alexandra was one of the most creative photographers of her genre. RIP Alexandra.

Alexandra Boulat, an award-winning photographer known for a clear, descriptive style and a knack for making emotionally moving, often idiosyncratic images of people affected by war, died yesterday in Paris. She was 45.

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Enlarge This Image

Alexandra Boulat/VII

Ms. Boulat often focused on the displaced: above, an Afghan family in 2001 with the body of a boy who died in a refugee camp.

She died after suffering a brain aneurysm in June and falling into a coma from which she never emerged, her friend Gary Knight said.

Visualville: A Photographers Resource

Visualville: A Photographers Resource: "Visualville is proud to announce the Xtreme Quad-Core Digital Darkroom v.1! Our latest build features the Intel Pentium Quad-Core QX6600 2.4-8MB Processor and 1.7 Terabytes of server duty Hard Drive space, plus 4 GB of RAM, plus, plus, plus for less than $2400.00!"

Need Some Dramatic Lighting?

Try these two setups. I love gridspots, but for some reason I haven't used them for a while. I will be doing a bunch more with them in the coming weeks. I also used show a way to use a large, soft light directly behind the photographer to achieve some amazingly soft light. The light is so soft and even, that simple retouching is nearly eliminated.

New tutorial with diagrams up at www.Lighting-Essentials.com

Literary Style By The Numbers: Interesting Stats

This is an interesting post.
It suggests short sentences and simple words.
I found it super interesting.
I did.
I mean, uh, I do.
Seriously, if you are a closet writer like me, this is really a fascinating post. Indubitably!

stevenberlinjohnson.com: Literary Style By The Numbers: "So I spent a few hours last week plugging in the numbers for my books, as well as a few other authors that I assembled in an entirely unscientific fashion: Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Pinker, Seth Godin, Christopher Hitchens -- and then, just to see how far I'd come, I threw in my intellectual (and, sadly, stylistic) heroes from my early twenties, the post-structuralist legends Michel Foucault and Frederic Jameson. I compiled stats for 3-4 books for each author, except Gladwell who has written two, and then plotted them on a scatter chart, with the y axis representing % complex words and the x axis representing words per sentence. The results were pretty fascinating:"

The Jerk Outs Himself... here you go

You saw the post I did earlier on the jerk who sent a rude letter to a friend of mine. I was very careful not to use his name, nor would I have... except he just sent me this. You have to understand that when someone threatens me, I am going to make it public. And remember, all this hate because a model simply did not respond to his original, creepy demand to shoot with her. Earlier post.

Edited: Take a look at what he left on my MM page. It is priceless. Priceless, I say. LOL.

Here is the message I just got in my inbox.

Mr. Giannatti:

I have read the posts both you and Miss _____ have put up on Model Mayhem regarding my PRIVATE communications with Miss Shaker and believe me when I tell you my use of the term "Mr." in referring to you is only out of convention because the use of that term implies that you are somehow a "man" and nothing is farther from the truth. You are nothing more than a spoiled, selfish little boy who will never grow up and become an adult.

Below I am providing you with a copy of the message I sent to Miss _____ after your juvenile tantrum and I hope that by reading it you will somehow, someday gain an understanding as to why rude, ill-mannered, unprofessional behavior as displayed by Miss ______ is never acceptable and never will be acceptable under any circumstances, ever.

The world does not revolve around Miss ______ or anyone else for that matter and yet she seems to feel that she doesn't have to take any responsibility at all for herself and her conduct and everything will be given to her and she is so very wrong and maybe someday she will come to realize this and be a better person for it.

I have blocked both your and Miss _______'s access to my Page on Model Mayhem and this will be my final communication on this matter and I suggest that you discontinue your communications as well. Every time you post something on Model Mayhem you only succeed in proving to everyone how insignificant you are.

I wish both you and Miss ______ the best in your respective efforts and I do not expect to hear from either of you again.

Just for your own information, I have provided both the Phoenix Police and the Model Mayhem moderators with a copy of your threat to "deal with him in my own way" and the IP Address of the computer you used to communicate your threat has been logged in case you make further attempts to threaten me.

Sincerely,

David Allen
David Allen Photography
Phoenix, AZ
_________________________________________

Miss ________:

I read with interest and quite a bit of humor the tantrum that your so-called “father” Don Giannatti put up on Model Mayhem this morning. I don’t know who he thinks he is but all he succeeded in doing was to make him look even more like the total jerk that he is.

I have no intention of apologizing for the message that I sent you because you deserve it. I moved here 4 years ago from Chicago, IL and before that I lived in the metropolitan Washington, DC area and nowhere in my life have I ever seen a more useless, immature, and completely unprofessional population that I have living here.

There is absolutely no excuse at all for rude, ill-mannered, and unprofessional behavior and yet the people here, including you, seem to feel it is a given right to act this way and I can tell you for a fact that while it seems to be acceptable here it is most certainly not proper or acceptable behavior and I do not tolerate it at all. If you acted the way you do anywhere else you would be shunned and you would have no opportunities at all.

I personally respond to each and every communication that I receive even if my response is to thank a model for their time and interest and to politely decline their offer to collaborate. This morning while I was laughingly hysterically as I read Don Giannatti’s immature tantrum I took the time to responded to two models who had contacted me.

Do you think you are better than I am? Do you think your time is more valuable than mine is? I can tell you for a fact that the answer to both of these questions is an unqualified no but you seem to feel that you are and as such you have no responsibility at all to act in a professional and responsible manner and this only serves to reflect badly on you. You need to grow up and take responsibility for your modeling and your life and stop acting like a selfish, spoiled child and expecting everyone else to do everything for you.

Why do you think I took the time to contact you? Do you think I (and other photographers) have nothing better to do or that we want to play silly games with models? I took the time out of my day to contact you because I like your work and I wanted to work with you and that is a compliment coming from me or any other photographer and deserves a response. Your photos are good but you are no different than any of the hundreds of other models out there. Anyone can look good in their clothes and know how to pose their body but the real difference is in how you treat and interact with others and this is what sets the true professional models apart from the so-called models. Everything that you do is an extension and representation of yourself and I would think you want people to think well of you and not think of you as “that little girl who never follows through” but maybe you simply don’t care.

You need to always keep in mind that people have long memories and they remember how they are treated and the guy you blew off yesterday might be the very same guy who is in the position of making the decision of who gets that really great modeling job 6 months from now and that guy will remember how you treated him.

Another reason why I contacted you is that I wanted to help you diversify your portfolio. It isn’t hard to take your clothes off and have someone photograph you but to be seriously considered you need to have a wide variety of images in your portfolio.

I do see potential in your work but you need to think very seriously about why you are modeling and where you want to go with it and even whether you should even be modeling. I also think you need to mature and rethink the way you treat and deal with people because there is and never will be any excuse for rude, ill-mannered, and unprofessional behavior and it will only work against you. Good luck.

Sincerely,

David Allen
David Allen Photography
Phoenix, AZ

Thanks for the sincere view of true professionalism sir. I promise never to contact you again. And please, PLEASE, show me the same courtesy. That's taking care of it in my own way.

Ya'll Gonna Think I'm Nuts...

And I may be, but I don't think so.

There is a television show that I think is so valuable to small business people, and especially photographers, that I really got to share.

It is called "Kitchen Nightmares" and I think it is on FOX. Features that whacky chef, Ramsey, the one who yells at everyone. I never watched that show, it seemed rather stupid to me. But that is a different situation.

In this show he goes to different failing restaurants and tries to revive them. And here's the cool part... it is all customer service in a service industry. He yells, screams, cusses, cajoles, prods and forces small business owners to realize the areas that aren't working in their businesses. And he does it forcefully.

When I saw the first show, I kinda walked in and out of the room, but quickly got caught up in the reality that he could be talking to a designer, or a photographer. Here is what you are doing wrong. Presentation is important. How good is your employee pool? Are you sabotaging your own business by doing stupid, self aggrandizing things that don't play well with the clientèle?

What struck me as arrogance was quickly replaced by the understanding that it is a passion that he has for excellence. And his total lack of understanding for anyone who doesn't have his passion and yet wants to be successful. He lives for restaurants and food. He tolerates nothing but the best.

Watch it and imagine he is talking about Photographers... and see how you measure up to the 'chef'.

Nice Pics, Lady: Musings of a Pro Photographer: Professionalism, Respect and GWCs

Tammy picks up my rant... err, discussion, to make a rather well written post on professionalism. Read the whole thing.

Nice Pics, Lady: Musings of a Pro Photographer: Professionalism, Respect and GWCs: "But then there are the creeps. They're the guys who have no intention of ever doing more than amassing their private stash of porn. They're the guys with the creepy profiles, the guys who want to meet with women alone in out-of-the-way places for nude shoots. They're the guys who made it so that models need to bring chaperones to photo shoots."

A New Level Of Professionalism

A professional model wrote me today and enclosed a letter she received from a photographer unhappy with her non-response to a demand to shoot with her. I am not going to link this guy as his work is so bad as to be laughable, and you will have to trust me on that. Truly dreadful stuff. And his profile is just creepy...

However, he demands a response so I sent one. The model couldn't care less, she is kind of busy being, you know, a model. I thought I would share the type of stuff that makes it hard for all of us to get any respect. My response to him below.

Hi,

My name is Don Giannatti. I am a photographer here in Phoenix. I work with lots of models and have had a successful career for over 35 years. I am truly in awe of your work though. Especially how you work with talent.

A model friend of mine shared this insightful message you sent to her and I have a few questions. I hope you can take time out of your busy schedule to answer me. She can't really discuss this with me because she is laughing so hard she is crying. Models... what are ya gonna do. I will pause the letter to ask specific questions. I am doing this in hopes of duplicating your amazing success at photography.

Here is your letter to her.

"Miss _____:"

"I contacted you several weeks ago to let you know that I was interested in working with you to help you expand and develop your Portfolio and I have not heard anything at all by way of a response from you. I do have time still available to work with you but I am starting to book up so if you want to work with me I will need to set up a shoot for you soon. Also, as I indicated in my email I want to talk with you to find out what it is you need in your Portfolio and to share some ideas with you so I need you to email me and give me your availability and a telephone number where I can contact you and I need you to do it immediately."

So far so good. Sounds reasonable. You are demanding she send you her contact information. Got it.... writing that down.

"It is extremely rude, ill-mannered, and highly unprofessional to not respond to someone who has told you they will take the time and put in the effort to work with and help you."

Well, actually in the world of professionals, a non-response is a response. But you have changed that to a request is a demand. I should start DEMANDING that models send me their telephone numbers? That is so cool. You offer help and then get pissed off when they don't accept it. Wow... ok, seems a little strange to me, but hey... I'm writing that down. "...offer help... demand response...." Got it. hey, will that work on them stupid editors that don't respond to my demands to do 10 pages of editorial in Vogue? I know, you don't want to share every secret you have but I had to ask.

"It only makes you look like the complete and total amateur that I strongly suspect you are so I need to hear from you immediately."

Whoa... totally off the reservation here cowboy. That is so, well, unexpected. See if I got this right... insult the little bimbo and then ask her to contact me immediately. That works for you? Really? Well, Ok then. I call her names and then demand, oh sorry, DEMAND, that she contact me. I dunno, but if it is working for you, I'll give it a try. (You can tell I am excited here, huh?)

"If you ever have any hopes of doing anything with your so-called modeling I suggest you grow up and act like the adult you are supposed to me and display some form of manners and common courtesy and stop acting like an immature two year old."

I see now. Keep it up. Keep insulting someone you don't even know... keep them guessing how long the abuse will go on. This is great. I have always been respectful and courteous, but this new direction looks promising. Hey, they're all just stupid bimbos anyway, eh? Ha ha... dude, where were you when I was starting out! I love the 'so-called' part. Even though she is booked a ton, she doesn't measure up to your high standards. That makes her feel what? Gotta help me with that one.

"I realize that expecting much of anything from a stripper is asking a lot but I would think that even you would have the manners to ask least acknowledge my message but I guess in your case I gave you way more credit than you deserve."

Good lord man, I have known this girl for years and never knew she was a stripper. How did you ascertain that? Come on... come on... share that with me. She isn't a stripper that I know of, but you suggest that by calling her one, it will elicit a positive response so she will want to shoot with you even more? Man... this is great. To be able to pick the mind of a man of your stature... well, the internet really is a marvel of ingenuity and simply a Godsend to amateurs like me. I think I will try that next time Elite sends a model over... "hey, bitch, you must have hooker heels, you stripper you." I am writing this down.

"If you have any hopes at all of working with me I suggest you do not make me wait much longer."

The big closer huh? Trash talk the model, make her feel stupid and then subtly coerce her into actually shooting with you out of, what... grief, fear, gratitude that you didn't call her a whore, just a stripper?

Seriously man, you should write a book about how them bitches don't respect you none. You really should.

The next time a woman looks at you with a little distrust, thank this guy.

Wow... That is Harsh...

But who cares? Harsh is what reality is. The photo editor nails it with this small comment:

A Photo Editor: "Now, I know my share of photographers who were huge in the 90’s but are now stuck making prints and books of their old famous shots to know, an acceptable style doesn’t last forever, so you’ve got two choices to make. Either pioneer a new one or get in line."

You don't really have a choice. I know so many local shooters who are simply regurgitating the same 'ol pic. Working like crazy to get something to do and then doing it with less passion than an Gubment accountant. Then when something new comes along, they poopoo it, or make fun of it.

People either fear or embrace change. Film to digital. Lots of light to minimal. Technique to concept.

Recently overheard two photographers discussing a national editorial photographer. They were deep into making fun of his technique, or their perceived lack of technique, and had labeled him a 'hacker'. They then launched into how the region really sucked and how all the AD's were morons.... Blah, blah, blah. I hear it all the time. I was tempted to interject "So what are you going to do now? All the clients you say you want to work for are morons who like this other guys work. Sounds like its time for a new career." I thought better of it though.

People fear change. People really hate meddling old farts who tell them they are screwed by their own short sightedness.

Me? I'm workin' on it. Really hard. What else can I do?

Back in the saddle again...

At least for a while. I have been up at Jerome for a few days and the internet was not available to me. Wow, that was weird. I took it as a sign, though, and just concentrated on what I was there to do. What was that, you ask?

A meetup of a really great group of photographers to have a fun day, meet new people and shoot some great images. If you want a flavor of it, visit Flickr and use the tag azstrobistjerome and you will see a passel of images made that day. Here's a link to the discussion.

Of course, being involved with no internet means I am way behind on the blog and sharing some interesting stuff with you all. I also have a video to edit (yeah, in all my free time), and of course a new tutorial at the Lighting-Essentials site.

But look for a blog a day from me for the upcoming days as I have lots to tell you.

Sorry for the break, but we are back at it.

A Portrait a Day... Wow

This is a visual treat. Bill Waldman is shooting a portrait, or at least posting a portrait every day. What a fantastic self assignment. Take your time, the images are quite intersting. I wonder why we don't see more of this kind of thing? You can get a real glimpse into the creative approach of a professional shooter by simply following along.

Take your time though. For convenience, I have linked to the first portrait, Jan 01. If you click on the logo, you will be taken to today's portrait.

A Photo Editor on the W+K Art Buyer Video

I ran this video as Video of the Week at www.lighting-essentials.com two weeks ago. It is really a great presentation by someone who is deep into what you do. Here is a nice take at "Photo Editor".

A Photo Editor » Blog Archive » W+K Art Buyer: "I really enjoy hearing other photo professionals corroborate my thoughts about the industry and so I wanted to highlight some of the points she makes that I agree with.
1. She hates micro stock. It’s crap.
2. Cold calls suck. I’ve always hated getting a cold calls and they don’t really get you any work.
3. Email is the best way to communicate.
4. Promo cards still work."

There's more. So read the whole thing. And you might want to read some more of what PE has to say.

Photography versus Real Life

I love photography. I think it is very powerful, capable of moving people to tears, elation and everything in between. Here's a photograph for you to see. You wont see it in the papers, nor will you see it on the news. It is a simple photograph of a not so simple man.

This is Lt. Michael Murphy. It isn't a remarkable photograph, but it is a remarkable man captured forever looking humble, yet serious... reserved, yet determined. A man that loved life, and liberty and wanted to preserve and protect that liberty for people he didn't know.

He was also a man of conviction.

"He carried it on his uniform, the emblem of the New York City Fire Department. Engine 53, Ladder Company 43. El Barrio's Bravest. The firefighters have their own memorial to him. You can look it up on their Web site. There is a huge plaque of Michael in uniform in the firehouse. The SEALs presented it to them. The firefighters touch it every day for good luck before they go out on a call."

This humble man just received the Medal of Honor. He received it posthumously. He died saving his fellow Seals. It wasn't a moment that he had planned on, it happened. He had no choice, he was that kind of man.

Thank you Michael. Thank you for your service and your loyalty. It is inspiring and humbling and I will forever remember your name. Back to photography tomorrow, but today we measure things against Lt. Michael Murphy.

Strobist: A Chat with Joey Lawrence

Read this... the whole thing. Excellent interview and insights.

Strobist: Young Blood: A Chat with Photographer Joey Lawrence: "Canadian Photographer Joey Lawrence is kicking butt. He is doing killer still photography, shooting music videos and traveling the world. He has an agent in New York and another one in London. Pretty cool for a guy who shoots with a Canon EOS 5D and is as likely to be lighting with his speedlights as with Profotos. Oh yeah, and he is only 17 years old."

Being Stupid And Litigious: Or Stoopid is as Stoopid Does

The cost of fame and success is lawyers coming to take it away from you any way they can. In America we have the most lame and ridiculous tort system around. We should bring back stoning and line them up.

Being Stupid And Litigious Is No Way To Go Through Life: "Here’s the problem: we never used that image of Ashton Kutcher on any of our websites. The one image we did use (in this post) was supplied by Ooma (Kutcher is the creative director for Ooma), and Ooma says they own that image.

The problem turns out to be that if you do a search on Google (or “the Google” as Figueroa calls it), the image in question appears at the top of the results and is linked to TechCrunch. Why? Well we did some digging and it turns out that someone linked to the image in a comment to one of our posts.

I explained all of this to Figueroa on the phone but he insisted that Google bought us and that we need to remove the image from Google immediately. Sadly, Google has not acquired us, and I have no easy method for removing images from Google’s servers."

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Who's Next?

This is fairly huge news, not because a fading Pop Diva has inserted herself into the discussion again, but that a savvy industry giant has made a huge move toward independence. The recording industry has been so clueless on the use of the internet, how to change with an obviously changing market and how to leverage their assets to maintain and grow their business base. Instead they turned to manning the gates and suing and fighting tooth and nail for the status quo.

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Madonna Dumps Record Industry: "The only real question now is how fast will the music industry model come tumbling down. When Radiohead led the way in offering their music directly to fans many predicted that the move was the beginning of the end; Madonna may well be the tipping point from where we will now see a flood of recording artists dumping record labels and where todays model will shortly become a footnote in Wikipedia."

Tell me, can you think of any other artistic/commercial endeavors that may begin to see some elimination of the middle man. Gatekeepers beware. Magazines and movies are seeing little chippings here and there. And soon the little chipping could cause a large break.

Which side will you be on? I've made my choice. Have you?

Seth's Blog

Seth is right on. I agree. We see too much time spent on tiny, miniscule changes in color and placement. I see photographers trying to re-invent the wheel so they can be totally unique. It is such a waste of time to go too nuts on it. And, hey, I'm a freakin' designer. I want to design a site that works for the client, that helps them increase their business and visibility. A site that helps them get found when a potential client is looking for that service or product. A site that actually becomes a living, breathing advocate for my client.

And of course I want it to look good... hell, I want it to look great. But some things are kind of a given... We re going to have navigation (and it shouldn't be in motion... GEEEEEZZZ that is annoying) and it is going to be either horizontal or vertical and it is going to have content and images and... well, you get the idea. I want to spend the time working the site for maximum use, not tweaking a pixel here to please some bozo's need to micromanage the project. CSS allows us to do so much more with so much less.

Generally I find all that tweaking is a deniability tool to keep from actually having to come up with content... you know... all that crap that goes on the page. No one wants to do it. That's hard. Let's just push the logo over about 4 pixels and change the background to a slightly warmer black... can you show me that? I am lucky enough to work with wonderful clients lately that don't do this to me... but there have been times... boy, have there....

Seth's Blog: "Start with design. Don't involve the programming team until you're 90% done with the look and feel of your pages. It's cheap to change design if it can't by supported by programming, and cheaper and faster to have design done in Photoshop before you commit to cutting it up and coding it.

I'm going to go out on a limb and beg you not to create an original design. There are more than a billion pages on the web. Surely there's one that you can start with? If your organization can't find a website that you all agree can serve as a model, you need to stop right now and find a new job."

Have I ever Mentioned that I love my job!

Danielle: First Shoot: Phoenix, AZ: Don Giannatti
Originally uploaded by Wizwow

I really do. Danielle came all the way over from San Francisco to give me this smile.

Insight: Valuable Look at a Photo Editor

One of the things that I take away from this talk from a photo editor is the amazing passion and love she has for photography. Her depth of knowledge of the art form is not only impressive, it should be inspirational. When I do a consulting job with a photographer who doesn't know who Atget is, or Caponigro, or Mary Ellen Mark... I tell them to get acquainted with the people who blazed the trail for all of us.

Watching this young woman speak with such clarity on photography and her view of it is really fun. Enjoy it.

What you shoot? Or.. HOW you shoot what you shoot

Some photographers have that 'thing' going. That 'mojo' that lets them shoot everything with a style that is totally distinctive. I love it when I see it. I mentioned Kurt Markus earlier and now I want to share Dan Winters with you. Still life, portraits, architecture... all with a distinctive style that transcends the subject being photographed.

His use of light is particularly interesting. Strobe, natural, filled, hot lights, mixed lighting... whatever he decides to use to create that image. That special image. An image that moves the viewer to feel something... even fleeting, is created when technique meets creativity and then gets mixed well ending with something that is greater than each on its own.

Passion. A Sunday Concert

Doesn't matter how you get it. Get it.

Organized Individualists: Business Model Question

Kevin strikes a nerve. And while I don't think it is as dire as it sounds (Flickr after all, is not a stock site... at least not yet), it definitely gives one pause, you know.

Organized Individualists: "Let's re-write it for the commercial photographer: 'The price of a photo will likely not fall in the near term to absolutely zero. Charging any price at all requires the use of credit cards and their minimum fees of $0.20 or more per transaction, for example. And services like iStockphoto can continue to charge something for quality of service. With sxc.hu and other free photo sites you don’t really know what issues may lay ahead. It could, for example, be a stolen image. Or have an unreleased model in the photo. Many users will be willing to pay to avoid those hassles. But as long as Flickr exists, or simple photo search engines like Google allow users to find and download virtually any photo in seconds, they won’t be able to charge much.'"

Rules. We don' need no stinkin' rules.

Ahhh.. but these rules of thumb, technology and simple calculations are cool. If you don't know them, and most of us know most of them, here are a dozen rules that can make shooting seem less like guesswork and more like an controlled art form.

Twelve Essential Photographic Rules - - PopPhotoSeptember 2007: "What happens when your systems go belly-up, when all of that cutting-edge technology dies and you must rely on (gasp!) your own knowledge? It pays to have these basics in your head. They can get you out of a jam and help you get good shots when nothing else will. 1. Sunny 16 Rule The basic exposure for an average scene taken on a bright, sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed equivalent to one over the ISO setting—that is, f/16 at 1/100 sec at ISO 100. From this you can interpolate, and try f/22 at the beach, f/11 on a cloudy-bright day, etc."

The Forgotten Lens: Gary Voth has a point

I was recently in a discussion about learning photography and what kind of camera should be a good beginner. Here was my answer: go to EBay and buy a cheap 2 1/4 twin lens and 40 rolls of film. Then put it on a tripod and make every single image count. No rapid fire 'gotchas', no hunt and peck photography. Slow, deliberate image making with a tool that simply makes an image. Learn how to do it that way, and you will definitely be a better photographer at the end of the 40 rolls. Gary takes a similar approach with the long overlooked 5mm prime. As an aside, I never had one for 25 years. When I finally got one I fell in love with the simple view it represented. When not shooting women, my F3 would have a 50mm 1.2 or 35mm f2 on it. Dang... I miss those guys... (Thanks Kevin) NOTE: Image by Gary Voth

Gary Voth Photography: The Forgotten Lens: "Of course, people like these zoom lenses. They're convenient and their drawbacks are not readily apparent in casual use. 'Consumer' zoom lenses definitely have their places, for example in vacation and travel photography, much of which takes place out of doors. However, I'm convinced they make poor choices for many beginning SLR users who are motivated by the idea of taking high quality pictures of their kids and family."

On Style: part one

Shooting some self assigned projects lately have given me a chance to approach image making from a purely personal POV. I am both happy and unhappy with the results. Spending so much time on teaching technique and working with techniques for my upcoming DVD series, I wonder if I need a new shot in the arm for vision.

How does one create a style that is as pure as possible without contrivance. I like Dave Hill but I don't want to shoot like him. Geof Kern is an iconoclastic shooter with few peers, and while I enjoy his vision, I am not inclined to be a bad parody of same.

I want my images to look like a stolen moment, a glimpse into a place in time where the woman is being and reveling in herself. It is tricky to pull off, but when I get it, I know it is right for me.

The thing about working so hard on the technical stuff lately is that it seems as though it is getting in the way of the look that I am trying to achieve. Natural light and slightly modified has always seemed the right way to go. I have been adding more and more technicality and now the images seem more contrived. Not bad, just a little contrived.

Another reason for this navel-gazing is that recently I viewed this wonderful work by Jake Chessum, and then right after it I stumbled on Andrew Hetherington. I don't get his work at all. I am not making a value judgment for anyone but me, but I don't get it.

I asked my bro to take a look at it and he didn't get it either. Is the style so oblique that I can't see around it? It is anti-style? Jimi's response was in part: "Officially, its post-modern because it is self awareness and deliberate lack of subject matter that draws the viewer into a non-photograph -- its bad-Ornette Coleman or Salvador Dali done wrong." He then pointed me to the work of Nathaniel Welch.

Welch seems to have that great blend of style and technique that is drawn on to fit the shot at hand. I like his work, but alas, I am still looking for that elusive 'glimpse and moment" thing that I started with so many years ago then seemed to slowly lose through the large studio 'commercial' thing that put food on the table and paid the mortgage.

I will just keep shooting and refining, what else can one do?

Look: A 'Trailer" for the Model Composite Shoot

Scott and I are excited at the sales of the DVD on shooting a Model Composite. The goal is to get several great images in a very short time. In the DVD, you see all the back story, lighting, and tons of posing ideas. Scott over at Visualville made this little trailer for the YouTube market. Great job, dude.

New York Seminar being planned

I have been asked to do a New York Seminar by a couple of shooters there. Trying to see if we can get enough people together to make it work. It would be a full seminar and I will be bringing a model with me for the shoot. If you are interested in a NY seminar in early November, let me know as soon as possible. For more information on the seminars go here.

Some Hard Facts to Ponder

We always hear about cheap stock from photographers... here's a message from an photography director at a major magazine. Whoa... get ready for it.

A Photo Editor: "For sure, it’s a bad time to be a professional photographer who makes lousy cliché imagery. It’s even worse, if your entire business model revolves around using very expensive equipment to make crappy photos.

The writing is on the wall. It used to be that I had to pay Corbis or Getty a bunch of money to license bad photographs. Now, most of these photos are fairly priced at $1 but it seems that’s not good enough for the market and the new price is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

How did we end up here?"

Read the whole post for a very cogent take on the state of excellence in our world.