Yeah, we heard it all through our early schooling; “Set you goal to achieve…” And there are countless gurus out there teaching seminars and workshops and holding ‘retreats’ on the “Art of Decisive Goal Planning and the Strategic Paradigm of Unilateral Ubiquity…” or some such rot.

[NOTE: Project 52 is found here.]

And I am not going to even go down the road of ‘writing out your goals’… I think it is powerful and would serve you well to do so, but if you are not doing it now, this is not the post to cajole you into it.

There are many kinds of goals that one sets, and strives to complete. Some are simple and nearly take no thought at all; “I will pass that truck on the left side and not lose control of my car…” “I will be ready for the meeting this afternoon.” “I will eat this jelly donut without spilling it on my new shirt.” (Yeah, like that’ll happen.)

Small, tiny, single focused goals are met every single day we are alive.

We set goals for other things as well. Sometimes we refer to them as ‘plans’. Vacation plans, hunting trip plans, shopping plans, gardening plans… the list is endless.

Imagine your best friend calls you up and says “Pack your stuff, I just won an all expense vacation for two – and YOU are the lucky one I am taking!!! WooHoo!”

After the initial whooping and hollering and downing of many celebratory Coronas, there would be some inevitable questions.

Where are we going? When is the trip? How long is the trip? What should we bring? How will we get there? How will we get back…?

Oh, and a few hundred more.

Imagine your friend says… “ah, don’t spoil it by worrying about that stuff… just focus on the great time we are gonna have when we go somewhere… sometime… for a while…”

Yeah. Sounds great. (Now make a list of what you would pack, buy and do to get ready for this wonderful opportunity… go ahead, we’ll wait. … … Didn’t take long to realize you have no idea what to do to get ready for the two weeks.)

We expect a great deal of planning when making vacation plans.

Do we expect the same from our photography? Should we?

We see the lost questions on forums and websites all the time; “What kind of camera should I buy?” “What kind of lens is good for portraits?” “How do I sell my photographs of my kitty?” “How could I have made this picture better?”

Questions without answers. No good ones anyway. Just questions that are the result of a very similar approach to photography that our friend had to winning the two week vacation. “Hey, wont it be fun to take photographs of the stuff we photograph when we photograph that stuff…?”

Yeah. Sounds like a blast.

How about we think through some goal setting to make sure we have the end game in mind. Sort of like ‘visualizing’ the place we want to be so we know how to get there. And we will be able to recognize it when we arrive.

My approach to goals is a bit more organic and ‘vision’ oriented. Personally not that much into bullet lists and sheets of paper with dates carved in stone. There is a place for that kind of planning, but the arts don’t really lend themselves to that deep structure/measurement type of goal setting. Photography as a GANT chart doesn’t work for me.

Instead, I would ask you to think of what you want to do with your photography. What do you see yourself doing, photographically, next year at this time? How will your work have improved? What will your portfolio look like? Who are the types of clients you will be working with.

Make it a narrative if you want. Make a picture board, a collage, or a PowerPoint that only you can see. Put images on it that are the kinds of images YOU want to do. Put a list of clients on it that YOU want to work for. Make it real. Make it personal. Write it out and put it in a prominent place where you can see it every day.

Make it yours. Own it.

What does your one year goal say about where you are now? If my one year goal is to quit my second job working weekends and make photography my second job on the weekend, my current situation is one of entry point. If my one year goal is to have shot 4 annual reports – up from two this year – my current situation is one of a somewhat established pro.

Making it yours means making it real… and not something that cannot be achieved. For me to write a personal goal is clarify an outcome. A “point” in the future that I can see clearly, with the measurement and accountability that I have imposed on it. In other words, a destination that is of my own making. One that is vividly alive.

I hope you are not confusing a vision oriented goal with something material. A ‘goal’ of having a 300MM f2 lens may be a goal in the monetary,saings, hit-the-lottery sort of way. ‘Shooting for a major travel magazine, in far away exotic locations, within 18 months.’ There ya go.

Both take commitment and diligence. Whether forgoing those morning latte’s or working to increase your talent, there are steps that must be taken. Defined steps with small and incremental points to measure the progress.

More after the jump:

“We haven’t got a plan so nothing can go wrong!” — Spike Milligan

There are countless followers of this illustrious philosophy. They are usually not doing what their heart and talent should have them doing. They were waylaid along the way by roads to nowhere, a lack of a map, and no clear cut, definable plan for getting from where they are to where they want to be.

And yeah, nothing could ‘go wrong’ so to speak. But in a place where nothing can go wrong, maybe nothing goes right either.

Do you have a set of goals that you are working on for your photography? Share them in the comments. I would love to see what you are working toward.

This post was brought to mind after a visit to the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ.

While talking with some of the people there, the enormity of what had been created back in the late 80′s really hit me.

They had a goal in mind: to create a totally self-sufficient enclosure that could be replicated on the Moon… or Mars. It would have to have its own water supply and air that could be replenished.

There were many small wins that had to be made along the way, along with the final win of having people live totally enclosed for two years. Growing their own food, making their own air, with a sustainable water supply, the Biospherians would be totally sealed from the outside environment.

An amazing, incredible engineering feat coupled with tightly defined goals.

I highly recommend you take a visit down there one day. To see what was accomplished and to be entertained by the engineering virtuosity and brilliance of humans.

Here are a few shots I took while visiting the facility.

The main enclosure for the Rainforest, Ocean and Desert.

This facility handles the expanding and contracting air within the facility. A huge membrane that floats and keeps even pressure all through the day and night.

Measuring tools within the Rainforest Enclosure.

The high humidity in the Ocean enclosure makes for some very wet condensation.

Water treatment tanks deep below the enclosures surface.

The Rainforest Enclosure from the dry, Sonoran Desert.

The glass work is phenomenal. The entire structure built on the single triangle design for simplicity.

Thanks for coming along, and be sure to share your goals with us in the comments. Project 52 begins our 8th week, and you can follow along on Twitter. As always, follow me on Twitter and check out the Lighting Workshops for Photographers at Learn to Light.

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Josh took my workshop in Houston a couple of times. His work has really grown. I saw these images and asked for a write up from him. It is this guest post. Welcome Josh Brewster to Lighting Essentials. BTW, Josh will be assisting me at the Austin workshop. A great opportunity to meet him and learn a ton about lighting and photography. Let’s let Josh tell us about the dance images.

The Assignment
My girlfriend manages a dance studio, so occasionally small gigs float my way. A few days ago, I received an email from a parent whose daughter, Kaila, is enrolled at the dance studio. Her daughter was applying to a number of intensive ballet camps this summer; each application required her headshot as well as photographs of a few dance poses. The applications were due in less than two weeks so the images needed to produced and delivered quickly.

Research and Preparation
Dance, especially ballet, is very detailed and very precise. A pose or leap can be ruined by a shoulder that is slightly too high, or an arm slightly too straight. In real-time, an incorrect pose can be covered up by swift motion or forgiven due to the complexity of the dance routine. A photograph, however, freezes that motion and removes the dancer from any form of context. Any mistake, slight or significant, becomes glaringly obvious. So in terms of an application process, she had to look perfect.

With perfection in mind, I made a few executive decisions:

1) Big lights – I like to think I am a good photographer, and I know Kaila is a phenomenal dancer, but I was fully prepared to shoot the same leap over and over again until everything (my shutter finger, her pose) matched up. Wall powered units were a must; battery powered speed lights just would not be able to keep up the pace that was required.

2) Support squad – I invited my girlfriend, Kaila’s dance instructor, and Kaila’s mom to the shoot. Between two trained dancers, a high school musical theater teacher, and myself, we were able work with the subject through every aspect of the shoot. I made sure she was aware of the key light, the dancers scrutinized her movements, and the musical theater teacher (her mom) helped her project her personality.

3) Shoot tethered – Shooting tethered into Lightroom 3 allowed the aforementioned support squad to have quick visual feedback for Kaila. More importantly, we were able to decide as a group exactly when the winning shot was captured so we did not tire Kaila out through excessive repetitions of the same dance step.

4) Shoot low – For the poses, I knew that I would want to get my camera lower to the ground, perhaps just below Kaila’s hip level. This lower perspective would make her leaps look higher and her legs longer.

Artistically, I wanted to create images that really showcased Kaila and only Kaila. Something inside me screamed “gray seamless,” so I went with it, knowing that it was versatile enough for both the head shots and the poses.

Day of the Shoot
Since the dance shots would require Kaila to be leaping around and eventually putting her hair into a bun, we decided to start the shoot with her headshots while her hair was looking nice. I wanted to deliver two different looks: one that was open and one that was slightly more dramatic.

For the first look, I set up a large 6x6ft diffusion panel to the left of where Kaila would be sitting. Then I set up a strobe with a socked beauty dish to fire through the diffusion panel. I could have forgone the beauty dish and used a standard reflector, but I wanted to diffuse the light as much as possible before it hit the subject. I was also planning on using the socked beauty for the rest of the lighting setups, so it saved time when transitioning to the next setup. To the right of the subject, I placed a large white reflector for fill and positioned a smaller silver reflector to be in her lap to bounce some light up from below. A final low-powered, gridded softbox from behind and to the right brightened up her hair and added a highlight to one side.

Photography by Josh Brewster

The second look was a classic butterfly setup. I moved the socked beauty dish directly overhead and tilted it down towards her face for the key light. The silver reflector in her lap stayed in place and the power on the hair light softbox was increased significantly. A gridded strobe was aimed to hit the background right below frame, creating a nice gradient on the background.

Photography by Josh Brewster

After getting the head shots, Kaila went off to change into her first costume; I got to work modifying the lighting setup. There were a number of considerations that I took when I chose my modifiers and placed my lights. I knew I wanted my key light to be the beauty dish and I wanted it to project Kaila’s shadow on the background. I set it up camera right.

To prevent the shadow-side of Kaila from going dark, I setup a large softbox directly to Kaila’s side. This served a double feature of filling in the shadows and creating a kicker highlight to outline her figure. To keep the light from spilling onto the background, I added a grid to the softbox. The final light was a gridded strobe high and back to camera right, once again helping outline Kaila from the background.

This lighting setup was pretty loose, meaning that there was a wide area in which Kaila would be acceptably illuminated. We shot the Kaila in her blue lyrical costume for an array of freeform poses and leaps, and then shot her in her ballet leotard for her more technical arabesque and second position en pointe poses (apparently it is really hard to hold this position on her toes… I tried and failed spectacularly).

The entire shoot went quite smoothly, with plenty of energy and laughter. Aside from being impressed with her athleticism, I was continually impressed with Kaila’s desire for perfection and great enthusiasm throughout the shoot.

Photography by Josh Brewster

After the Shoot
That night after the shoot, I sent off a proofing gallery where they could look at all the images and choose which would receive the final edits. Before I shut down my computer for the night, I did a quick check on Facebook, where I discovered that she had already posted eleven of the photos to an album and given me proper photographer credit and a link to my website. Nice. Part of me writhed, knowing that those images had not yet received the royal editing treatment. However, her friends were commenting up a storm despite my loose crops and slightly crooked horizons, so I did my best to cope.

The next day, I received a list of the photos they had selected. I edited them and sent them off. I got an email back asking if I could create a black and white version that they could hang on the wall; I obliged.

So far feedback has been pretty positive: “These are amazing. We are so happy with how they turned out! Thank you SOOOOO much. Everyone is flipping out over the pictures.”

As much as I liked hearing this, I will not be fully satisfied until I hear the news that Kaila was selected to attend the summer camp. My bet is that she will breeze on in. Until that time, however, I’ll just occupy myself by taking more photos.

Thanks Josh. Nice work and explanations as well.

Hope you all enjoyed this piece by Josh. Make sure you visit his website, and send a comment his way if you enjoyed it.

As always, follow me on Twitter, join us at Project52 and remember to check out Learn to Light for information on the workshops for this year.

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Audio from this past week’s discussion. This is from the Friday afternoon chat.

I had a wonderful opportunity to discuss the upcoming Clarion Call 2011, a free teleseminar for photographers, with the talent and brains behind it, Selina Maitreya. You can listen here on the page if you like, of see the link below for going off to TinDeck to listen there. Please feel free to embed this info into your websites/blogs.

Download it here.

I am honored to be in such great company, and am looking forward to having a terrific amount of information for you all on that day. Mark your calendars and stay tuned. Clicking on the graphic below will take you to the sign up page – and signing up and listening is free. We all are pulling for your success, so take the opportunity to get some great information.

Wednesday evening, January 12, 2011, 6PM PST. We discuss the new assignment, photographing strangers, and review assignment on Vision Statements.

Lighting Essentials LIVE for our UK and European followers will be Friday at Noon MST. Adjust accordingly, but that should be evening for you all.

Information regarding Project 52.
I have been asked if it is too late to join in. No. Join in at any point. Becoming involved and having a great experience with each and every assignment is the point. Learning and progressing is the point. Making photographs, learning about the business and feeling more confident is the point. Not whether you did one thing or another, but that you did it period.

This is the halfway point of the first Project 52 assignment – a vision statement (mission statement). There are a bunch of them already at the Flickr page. Upload yours there for discussion. We start to discuss them this week, with plenty of time for you to adjust and rework it as we move forward.

Remember, the point of this ‘vision statement’ is not something for public consumption – it isn’t a ‘tag line’ or something for your business, it is for you. A way of pulling your vision from your heart and mind and giving it a dimension. It is what drives the consistency of your work.

Of course we all want to make good, even great, pictures. And we want to be rewarded. We also want to make photographs that work for us on a personal, aesthetic plane. Images that mean something to us.

Here’s mine: “I make photographs that reveal the moments between, with an emotional and graphical environmental experience.”

Does that mean I won’t take photographs of food? Or cars? Nope… love to, but they are the wonderful ancillary to the work I want to do and be known for. And that little sentence, that little vision statement, drives so much of my work. Some examples below.

On to the Project 52, Assignment #2

Assignment #2:
Photograph a Stranger.

Criteria:

• The person should be unknown to you.
• It can be a street portrait, studio portrait or environmental portrait.
• The portrait should be simply lit.
• Tell us a little bit about the person – through the image and the caption.
• Tell us how you approached and worked with the subject(s) for the project.

Photographing someone you don’t know can be a scary proposition for many of us. I am fairly shy, or at least not that comfortable with walking up to someone and striking up a conversation. I usually will not do that.

UNLESS… I have my camera around my neck or in my hand. When I am ‘a photographer’ I can easily and without hesitation walk up to people and ask to make their picture. I do it a lot, actually.

You see, the camera gives me cover. The camera makes it about the photograph, not me. The camera is both a shield and a passport to meeting people.

In the photograph that is the cover shot of this post, I saw this guy sitting on the cold pier with his 6-pack and I walked right over to him. I smiled and introduced myself, told him I liked his beard and his lunch and asked if I could make a few photographs. He smiled and agreed and I brought some lights over and set them up.

All the while we were chatting about the weather and how it had affected the fishing that week. He told us about having three boats sink under him and how he had great respect for the sea.

I got my shots, and met a very cool guy. It also gave me an idea for a project we are doing at the end of this year.

Here are some links and videos to get your imaginations going. (Oh, and to that little voice that holds you back from walking up to someone you don’t know… tell that little voice to go away, you are a photographer and this must be done. Period.)

Here is Lee Friedlander’s wonderful book: America by Car:

There are many portraits of strangers interspersed with the shots from his car.

Watch Mark Cohen at work:

Not my style at all, but he gets some pretty interesting photographs. If this kind of portraiture appeals to you, here is how Mark does it.

Here are two videos of Joel Meyorowitz:

This photographer set out to do 100 photographs of strangers:

Photographer Zack Arias talks about photographing strangers on this post.

One of my favorite photographers is Eliott Erwitt. See his work here. Lots of photographs of strangers with a very humanistic and humorous approach.

Here are some wonderful portfolios and videos by photographers shooting portraits of strangers.
Dawoud Bey
David Eustace
Richard Rinaldi
Sylvia Plachy

One more for this post… more to come this week.

Robert Frank photographed the people he met… strangers. His book, “The Americans” was a landmark collection of photography and he influenced countless photographers in the ‘street’ photography genre. Here is a link to his images and this is the book to add to you collection of important photographic books.

Discussion in the comments. Hold the posts of images till this weekend. I will create a new post on Flickr for them.

Please encourage friends and colleagues to join us for this project. They can join anytime, and take advantage of all the discussions.

Follow me on Twitter and visit my Facebook page and be sure to check out the workshop schedule at Learn to Light.

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Preparing the Digital File for Book Printing (Part One) by Jan Klier

(I am deep into the writing of my first book so there will be some wonderful posts by guests coming this month. It is nice to have friends who jump in and take up the reigns when things are tending toward overwhelming.)

Lots of us are excited about digital publishing. I have a small stack of Blurb and LuLu books on my coffee table, and more on the way. Photographers are finding that the quality of some of the “Print on Demand” publishers are well within the boundaries of what makes a pretty good book.

Some photographers are publishing books of images to simply enjoy, others are using the one-off books as leave behinds, and even drop-off portfolios. There are some incredible reasons to print books for marketing reasons, to be sure. And with most of the publishers, you can immediately begin selling on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Some popular book publishing companies include iPhoto, Blurb, LuLu, MyPublisher, and more.

I have published books with Blurb, LuLu and MyPublisher and have been very pleased by each of the books I have received. I will continue to publish with all of these companies using each for what I think they work best for. I am publishing the workbook at LuLu, a second book of Poetry by Jeanne Newhall (featuring my iPhone photographs) will be printed at Blurb, and MyPublisher will do a book of portraits for a friend of mine.

I know there are many others out there, but these are the ones I know and use. Happy to look at any others and their omission does not mean we don’t like them, only that we have not used them. Please feel free to add on-demand-printers that you have used and liked in the comments.

I am also not speaking of the more expensive wedding and coffee table book publishers like Graphistudio, Asuka, and Couturebook. These high quality printers have price points that make them more applicable to wedding and portrait books. I have printed with all of them, and currently have a new Graphistudio book on the way back. I will also be doing a Couturebook for a drop-off portfolio.

Most of the publishers have software that can make creating a book very easy. I prefer Photoshop and InDesign for my work, but that is probably due more to my experience with those programs than an absolute preference. The Blurb software is quite easy to use as is the MyPublisher. I haven’t tried LuLu’s yet, preferring to sent print ready PDF’s out of InDesign.

If you haven’t yet published a set of your images into a hard cover book, you should. Most of the book publishers have a 20 page minimum, and I like to print around 40 pages for a hard cover book. Some of my favorites are the large sized books available at Blurb and MyPublisher as well as the smaller, square format books at all three.

Workshop News:
Cincinnati in less than two weeks. I will be speaking at MPEX (Midwest Photo Exchange) in Columbus, Ohio on Monday evening, October, 11. 5:30 should be a good time to arrive. If you are in the area, we have only 2 spots open for the workshop. It will be held at the Red Door Studio in the Cincinnati area.

Norfolk, VA and Raleigh, NC are going to be great. We have people on the ground there working to get them to be a wonderful experience for the attendees. I can say that these weekends are going to be very powerful photographic experiences for all involved.

By the way, the winner of our first Big Lighting Essentials Contest was Rasheid Scarlett (Washington DC). Rasheid will be joining us at the Norfolk workshop as part of his winning loot!

A special shout out to the Apogee members, a small Flickr group I belong to. They have been and are being very supportive of my stuff. I am deep into writing a book at the moment, so they are coming to the rescue with some articles for LE. This allows me to keep focused on the book. It is my first so I imagine the editor will be kicking my butt and I want to make sure I have a lot of time for rewrites… heh. This article by Jan will allow me to keep on typing and shooting for the book. Thanks Jan.

Let’s get on to Jan Klier’s article on preparing files for printing a book. This is part one.

Article by Jan Klier

With digital cameras, websites, online magazines, blogs, Facebook, Twitter – so many images live their entire life in electronic format. The constraints and techniques to reproducing the images in physical form aren’t being practiced much anymore. As a result many printing service cater to this trend by accepting images in RGB format and taking it from there – with mixed results.

That’s all good and convenient if you just need a quick print. The portrait photographer still delivers much of his product as a print, and has a wide choice of very capable photo printers to choose from. But if you cater to a commercial clientele, or if you print books, promo materials, or even just business cards printed on presses, then it’s a good idea to dive into the techniques of proper press-prep. Even if you just do a headshot, your client may get it printed that way even if you’re not directly involved. It can be considered an integral part of the craftsmanship of a commercial photographer, just like shooting to a layout that keeps the image’s use in mind.

I recently printed a new book and new promo materials and will use these as illustration for the process. There are several components that we’ll look into: color selection, soft proofing, test prints, CMYK conversion, and file prep. I use Photoshop and InDesign for my work, but most of this will also apply to other software available out there.

Once you know where you will be printing your materials you need to do some research. At a minimum you want to find the ICC profile for your printer’s press. Most reputable printers will publish this somewhere on their website. I’m currently relying on Modern Postcard for my small printing needs and Blurb for the book printing needs. I have been very satisfied on my recent print jobs. Most printers will also provide templates for the various software such as InDesign that includes the trim and safety guides. Modern Postcard has all their info posted here. Ideally you also want to get more information about their press performance (more during CMYK conversion). That isn’t always published, but you can ask their customer support if it’s not published and they may be able to help.

Color Selection & Soft Proofing

There are entire books written about color management, going way beyond what I can recap here. A really good detailed handbook is Dan Margulis’ Professional Photoshop. You should get a copy of this if you intend to study this topic in more detail. His companion book about Lab color is also a treat for those who enjoy advanced retouching.

What we do need to know is that our camera and our monitor can handle colors that will not print. With so many of the images being handled on our computer, we often end up with some that are much richer in color than what can be printed. This first step is to make sure that the colors we have can actually print the way we intend them or how we saw them. Keep in mind that the capabilities of each printer are different, so this process will be done with a specific printer in mind. That’s what the ICC profile is for – it describes in full detail what colors a printer can handle.

Photoshop has functionality specifically designed to facilitate this process. If you were able to obtain your printer’s profile, you want to make sure it is loaded into Photoshop. You only need to do this once per printer. Go to ‘View’ and ‘Proof Setup’, select ‘Custom’ and ‘Load’ to load your ICC profile into Photoshop and give it a proper name. Keep in mind that a printer might use multiple presses, so pick the right one. Once your profile is loaded, you want to make sure it has the checkmark next to it under ‘View’ / ‘Proof Setup’. Next you want to select ‘Proof Colors’ in the ‘View’ menu. Your image will change in feel, most likely it will look a lot flatter. This is Photoshop’s attempt to simulate your printer’s colors. Keep in mind that this is still a monitor display of a printer reproduction, so it’s closer but not quite the same yet.

The next step is where a lot of the work happens – one more time in the ‘View’ menu click on ‘Gamut Warning’ and tell Photoshop to mark colors that your printer will be unable to handle. If that is the case, Photoshop will overlay individual pixels (often entire regions) with a colored mask. That mask is red by default, but that color can be changed in the preferences dialog to a color that stands out clearly (hard to spot a red mask on an image with a lot or red in it). Every pixel that is out of gamut (marked in the overlay) cannot be printed in that exact color by your printer. If you leave it as is, the printer will use various techniques to deal with it and will print some color. You could leave it up to the printer to do a best effort, but it may not be exactly what you saw. It’s a question of how much control you want to have on the outcome of your final image. If you’re still reading, I assume you do care and won’t leave it to the software to do best effort.

Now what? Well, that depends on where the colors come from that are troublesome. If your print is a photo and your subject had a very colorful shirt on, you will have to selectively fix the troublesome colors. Usually it’s the most saturated colors that are difficult for the printer. The simplest fix is to add a vibrance adjustment layer and reduce the vibrance until all the gamut warnings disappear. Most likely by the time they’re all gone, your image has lost much of its color – it was the sledge hammer approach to fixing it. A better way is to add a mask to the vibrance layer and then paint at lower opacity into that mask, gradually and selectively reducing vibrance in problem areas only, making sure that the transitions still work. In some areas a single stroke at 10% or 20% will be sufficient. In other areas you may have to take several strokes before the problem is fixed. If you have a good command of the color and it’s components, you may also be able to do localized curves adjustments of individual channels instead of just reducing vibrance.

At other times it may be a logo that is the issue. The last print of my book was the first one with my new logo which has some very strong orange in it. It was way out of gamut for the printer. In that case, because it wasn’t a photo but a vector graphic, I had the chance to just change the color altogether. But which color to choose? We can play trial and error. Better yet, Photoshop actually provides us a good tool to hand-pick workable colors and making the trade-off between feel and printability a design choice.

With the color proof setup in place, if you go into the color picker dialog in Photoshop it actually will apply the same overlay mask in the color field and show what is out of gamut. With that you can move the color picker right up to the edge of what your printer is capable of. This is a good time to understand all the different color spaces (RGB, HSB, Lab, CMYK). With that information, you will follow that the gradient on the left has saturation on the x-axis, brightness on the y-axis, while hue is on the slider to the right (or in the numeric fields of the HSB values). In the first example I picked the brightest and most saturated pink the printer could do (top right corner of the printable color range. By moving the hue you might be able to find more saturated values. The second example shows a color picker with a slightly shifted hue. You can experiment by either moving through different hues, or by entering different ink combinations. The HSB and CMYK color spaces are much more intuitive on that front than RGB.

OK, so where are we now? We now do have a file that consists entirely of colors that your designated printer can reproduce accurately. And you have a preliminary view of how your image will reproduce on screen.

Test Prints

But light emitting displays like your monitor still look much brighter than what your print will look like. If you have optimal conditions (few of us do, nor will the end consumer of the image) you would have your monitors brightness calibrated and dialed down, and you would be viewing your prints in a special viewing booth with optimal lighting conditions and the two would indeed appear identical next to each other.

Forgoing optimal conditions for reality, it’s best to create a test print of your image to get a feel for how the image looks on paper. For that reason it’s helpful to have a decent photo printer of the smaller variety. Even if I get my prints done at Modern Postcard or Blurb, I will take a few images and print them on my Epson 4880 on a 8.5×11 photo paper to get a feel. The Epson printer’s color characteristics are quite different than the press, so what I’m looking for here is less color accuracy but more tonal appearance as a print. You will often find that your print looks darker than you expected. A curves adjustment layer that pulls up the upper mid-tones is a good way of addressing that. That preservers the tonal range of the image, but improves the overall appearance on a passive display surface.

Part Two of this article.

Thanks Jan. We will publish part two on Friday Morning, so watch for it. Visit Jan’s site to and his blog. I will also have a PDF of this entire document at that time. You will be able to download it and use it as a roadmap for preparing your next book.

As always, follow me on Twitter, and visit the workshop page at Learn to Light for information on workshops.

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If you missed the show, please enjoy the presentation here:

Please take a moment to read Trudy’s entire article and then come back here for my discussion of a few key points.

“Many photographers turn to older and/or more experienced photographers for help in understanding the business of photography. Many face insults, closed doors or guidance on everything except business.”

Sorry for the photographers that don’t help. I can’t speak for them, but I have always considered it both an honor and a responsibility to help startup photographers. The question I would ask is how they came to ask the established photographer? Was the shooter being asked the right one to ask? Was there research done to find out if the questions would be appropriate for that specific photographer? Was it a request for a favor or a demand… I get both. Requests do get answered, demands not so much.

I have also had the occasional “hey, you are really busy, but can you take a few minutes and tell me how to be successful? Can you give specific things to do and review my portfolio and give me some advice on where to show the work and who would be interested in what I do and … …?”

Well, no. No I can’t.
No one can.

However, there are different associations established for the very real agenda of teaching the younger shooters how to survive, negotiate, and learn the business ups and downs. They are more than happy to have the opportunity to help a young shooter understand how not to undercut themselves and the industry, and be more professional in the industry.

The ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) and the APA (Advertising Photographers of America) are two that I am familiar with for the commercial side of the business. The direct to consumer shooters have the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) The Phoenix chapter has monthly meetings in my town. At least half of the meetings I am aware of are business related.

From dealing with clients to marketing on a regional scope, these organizations offer guidance, mentors, bidding strategies, pricing guidelines, tax planning and more.

The truly sad thing is how low the attendance is. Workshops on business are not as much ‘fun’ as workshops on shooting ‘hafnekkidchicks’ and ‘fashun’. Sorry for the attitude, but it is what it is. I would love to be proved wrong.

“A great business person with average work will always do better than a poor business person with stellar work. And who makes the decision that the work is good enough to be a business? Other photographers?”

Nope. The market decides. The clients who see the work decide. Other photographers have no point of influence in the decision of who is worthy and who is not.

Seeking validation from Flickr, or Facebook is not as conducive to your career boost as getting validation from the industry itself. Once the industry acknowledges you, there will be less problems with the validation from other photographers.

If you are getting work, you are a photographer. If you are growing and challenging yourself, you are a photographer. If you are trying things and failing once in a while (although, not on a gig) you are a photographer.

There seems to be a lot of angst on the interwebs about the terminology of ‘professional photographer’ and what that means. I think it means nearly nothing… you can be a weekend warrior and behave and act far more ‘professional’ than some full time photographers I know. Legally… you make money, you are a professional. I am simply not that into ‘terminology’.

More after the jump here:

“The truth is there is a certain point where every photographer (who wants to be more than a hobbyist) feels they are of the level to move their passion towards passion and profession.”

Yes, but “feeling” and knowing are two separate things. “Feeling” is subjective – “Knowing” is objective. And it takes a lot of work and self exploration to become educated. It takes asking questions that have uncomfortable answers. It is facing the fact that there is more to do, and then doing it, that makes the difference – and becomes the challenge.

Feelings cannot be measured, or confirmed. ‘Feeling’ that I am ready can be a truth or a delusion… it hasn’t been challenged, proofed, measured or controlled… it is an emotional decision that may be a totally different reality.

Knowing means I have measured, challenged, compared, contrasted, done the research, and found some (not all, but some) solutions and wins. I take that knowledge and filter it through what I already know about myself and the business. Then I KNOW what I can and cannot do… at that particular moment in time. Growth is easier when we know where to grow.

Way too many people make decisions based on what they ‘feel’ and that can be a terrible mistake.

“We can argue that some photographers aren’t “good enough” to be making money or to be successful, but the truth is business is about business. And if this business was one where only the most talented with the best images were the most successful, the need for the personal brand might be a completely mute one.”

Well, probably.

Maybe.

There is simply a lot of great work out there. There are more wonderfully talented photographers than there has ever been. They are everywhere. Many of them are part-timers, weekend warriors and such. Some of them are making great money and have a real part-time business.

And there are many many talented photographers who rock photographically but who aren’t making a single penny. And that is generally because they are not good at the other parts of this multi-faceted crazy business. They believe the work should speak for itself. And they are wrong.

But the really interesting group are the ones who are not terribly great, in fact, not good at all. And making money. Lots of money. They are the ones that are marketing harder, making more buzz than the other shooters. They do all the crap that no one wants to do. They shoot the little jobs and turn them into big jobs. They ‘sell’ whenever they are in a group of people. They can be obnoxious, grating and boorish.

But they are remembered.

Personal brand may be that deciding factor… if all else is considered the same. I think it is one of the most important assets a photographer can have. It can open doors, catch the eye, find more access, and define the work when one is not available. One of the most powerful tools – and one of the least understood.

“So a business degree helps, but isn’t the total answer. Even traditional education in other areas help, but isn’t the total answer.”

No, but then there is no total answer. Looking for one is frustrating and full of dead ends.

Photography is a business built on an art that can be at different levels of value. We tend to throw it all in the pot of “photography” and that pot actually doesn’t exist as a single receptacle.

There are levels and genres and demographics and perceived value and the ability of the photographer to control that perception.

And throwing in all the different regions, neighborhoods, levels of income, regional differences and personalities.

There can be no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer to marketing. There are so many personal challenges that can get in the way.

I know one photographer who does 30 cold calls a week – another who has NEVER done a cold call, but sends out direct mail like crazy. There is nothing similar in their approaches, but both are keeping head above water in tough markets. Actually doing a bit better than head above water.

I have worked with a lot of photographers, and nearly every one who was in ‘trouble’ had issues that went beyond the images. They wouldn’t market with consistency. They had poor social skills, or egos that were not quite in line with the talent they believed they had. Some would proclaim there was no time, but they had no gigs… soooo, how does that work? And others were in the ‘blame game’ mode of believing there was some great conspiracy that had been in play to keep them from getting the work they deserved.

There isn’t a conspiracy, and there is no silver bullet. As well, there is no answer other than to keep looking for the authentic ways that make you stand out.

Yes, I know it sounds too simplistic… and hard, but it is simply such a personal thing to work on.

My friend Selina works with photographers one on one. She has her ways of drawing out the best in a photographer. There are many good personal coaches, consultants and photographers groups that can help a shooter develop a style and a marketing plan that makes sense.

“So how do photographers learn the business, which for the most part involves the four components of: sales, marketing, communication and management? From what I have observed and experienced it involves various cycles of learning, trial, error, failure, reinvention, success, complacency, stagnation, failure, learning, trial, error, reinvention, success.”

Well, that is true to a point. It can be terribly frustrating if there is no plan. And the plan has to make sense for the photographer. And that is tricky too.

But there are paths that have been carved into the marketing landscape. There are methods that work. There are ways to create buzz that are defined – at least with a soft edge of definition. It takes the individual to add the clarity. Others have had similar challenges and met them with success. So it can be done.

The challenges of the market, the perceived ‘anyone-can-do-it’ syndrome, and the reality of a very tight economy are some of the most formidable of recent memory. It will take a sustained effort and very focused personal attention to create a value that people want to spend their hard earned money on.

And that is the million dollar proposition. If I had the answer to it all, I would certainly share it with everyone. But I don’t… no one does. I believe there are ways to go, things to try, methods for testing, and people to ‘model’ for success.

It isn’t sexy, it isn’t easy, and it isn’t guaranteed. But it can be done.

One final point: Expectations.

To be a hair cutter in this state costs between $4K and $10K. Learning refrigeration repair, auto repair, computer repair, and other trades can cost $8K – $12K. Becoming a dental assistant, or para legal can cost about $12K – $15K. And all of them produce a competent professional who will be looking at a mid or maybe higher mid 5 figure salary.

Photographers can easily be in the mid to high 5 figure salary range, but most photographers I know balk at spending any money on training or consulting or coaching. There is no end to the money they want to spend on lenses and strobes, but going to a weekend “Learning how to Market” workshop for $500 is considered outrageous on the forums and the boards… “you can learn that on your own…” – “that is just someone wanting to get rich off of your laziness…”

Sure. Whatever. I have two friends who are professional photographer coaches. With track records. With serious credentials. Their fees are not even a quarter that to learn how to cut hair… and photographers balk at the costs. They want it all, now, and without any pain or cost.

And life… she no worka thata way… (thanks, Grandma – you were right.)

Thanks so much for coming along on this fun discussion. I hope you visit Trudy’s excellent blog – and say hi. And special thanks for Trudy for allowing me to take some of her points and fleshing them out a bit.
______________

I am terribly sorry to have just learned that the “Share/Save” thing on my site is actually screwed up. Therefor, I will be adding this to the bottom of each post. It is a place for you to share the stories you read here easier… and sign up for the RSS feed.

For more information on our Learn to Light workshops and to follow me on twitter, just click the links I just provided. And, if you see this post in its full length on any other site, please let me know. Quoting and linking back is fine… sucking the whole thing into another site is not.

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A little over a year ago I posted “10 Web Site Strategies for Emerging Photographers.” I think the article holds up very well and is as relevant as it was when I posted it. So please read it if you haven’t done so, then come back to this article for 10 more web strategies for photographer’s websites.

NOTE: Meet Jan Klier, Seattle Photographer. He just recently made the jump. He will be here in my studio Wednesday evening at 6PM, Pacific. We will discuss his planning up to the day he left corporate world, and what he is doing now to build his business. Come join us and bring questions you may have. You will have to signup for an account to ask questions, but it is free and no spam, so nothing to lose.

First – interesting photo stuff from around the web:
Bruce DeBoer offers this great post on speaking about photography: WORD :: How Good Talk Makes Photography Better
Selina Maitreya has a six month challenge for photographers – Video Challenge #2 VISION
Kirk Tuck has a nice little post here: Are you showing off your skill or are you joining the conversation about art?
From Scott Kelby comes this post on ideas for Lightroom 4. If you are a Lightroom user, you should check it out.
And from A Photo Editor comes this article on dropping one’s agent, Ask Anything – Dropping Your Agent.

Three photographers that I really enjoyed this week:
Erik Almas
Dan Busta
John Midgley

This Wednesday (August 18, 2010) evening at 6PM Pacific (9PM Eastern) we will have another Lighting Essentials LIVE video cast from the secret Wizwow compound. The subject will be a surprise, but there will also be time for questions from you. Just visit this site on Wednesday to see the Livecast via VOKLE.

We just wrapped up the First BIG Photo Contest on Lighting Essentials. The contest page is here and the submissions are here at Carbonmade. The judges will be working on the judging this week and we will announce winner next weekend.

Now let’s get on to some strategies that you can use to up the game on your website. It may be an easy fix or it may require some ‘backend’ coding to make it happen, but work with what you have to get a little more punch from your online presence.

Hit the jump here:

1. Share what you have been doing.
Show the new work, and let the clients know what you are up to. Interaction not just for blogs anymore.

Whether it is a “New Work” gallery or attention to getting the recent work into a mini-gallery or vehicle to show that you are constantly creating, it is really a strong way to get people to come back. New Work or Recent Work will show huge activity… especially to returning visitors and that is huge. Tie the imagery to some tear sheets and it is a real credibility booster.

Showing new work also tells the prospective client that you are indeed busy. That you are engaged in the work, and keeping fresh. What you show could run from out-takes to tear sheets, but the fun part is that they are always changing. Every two weeks or every month would be a good time frame to change them out.

New Work Examples:
Jaime Hogg
Anna Wolf

2. Create and shoot projects.
Long form shoots that can bring the people back for more.

Whatever the ongoing project is, let it breathe and take life in front of the visitors. Add new images and keep the narrative strong. Ongoing projects build interest and also provide a glimpse of how you treat larger assignment work.

Choose something you are interested in and keep the gallery fresh with new and interesting images from the project. Don’t forget the people who work with you on the shoots and keep them in the scene as well.

Projects Examples:
Chase Jarvis
Phillipe Toldano

3. Behind the Scenes Videos
Not to train your competition, but to show how you work with clients and subject.

Yeah, everybody loves those behind the scenes shoots with all the glitz and all the glam… well, they don’t all have to be produced like a Hollywood epic. A little video of the shoot from a Flip would be fine… if it shows what clients want to see. How did you meet a challenge photographically – and beat it?

I’m not talking about shooting a business headshot against white, or a “Here’s how to use a boom stand” tutorial… I am talking about a 2 minute or so shoot of what was going on to get the shots. What was going on behind the scenes… was it fun, too stuffy… what?

The point is to have fun with it, show professional skills and engage the viewer by showing a glimpse of what it may be like to shoot with you… unless you are boring or crass… then, well… let’s lose the video.

Behind the Scenes Examples:
Kevin Winsler
Chris Stanford (stills)
Fashion Photography Blog

4. Work with a charity.
They need the help and you have the skills.

These days charities need help more than usual. Maybe there is a way for a win/win. Find a way to work with a charity that can also double as a long term project. The content will drive interest in the site and the work will show how you handle those types of projects.

I am very kind and very demanding when I do these kinds of projects. I am happy to shoot for the charity – IF I can get something for myself. If the work they want will NOT be usable as a project, then I may have to think about it. (Exceptions of course kids and domestic violence where secrecy may be very important. I have worked with those charities as well.)

It may take some doing and some extra heavy planning, but there are ways to involve your photography, creativity and a charity that would benefit you both. And having the work on your website is a ‘very good’ thing to do.

Charity Examples:
SoGo Photography
Viewpoint Photographers

5. Offers and Promotions
Mostly for wedding and portrait shooters.

Come on, get creative. What kind of monthly promotion can you run? What kind of premium can be used to lure the prospective buyers back to the site again and again? Free 11×14 month… (you know why we do 11×14′s… right?). Book one get one booking free in a year. Bring a friend month… come on. Be creative.

Work with a local establishment for some coop marketing. If you can work with someone’s mailing list and offer a discount, the access could be worth quite a lot. Creating value without destroying profits is a tried and true marketing strategy. Giving an 8×10 print for a solid lead from a client is totally worth it. Referrals are some of the strongest ways we know of to get new clients. Making your existing clients your de-facto marketers means more word of mouth than ever before.

Promotions Examples:
Shelley Shroyer
Fine Spun Photography

6. Sell prints.
Even if you don’t actually sell something, the fact is you have them for sale. Limited editions of course.

The fact that you sell prints says you are an artist. It may enhance your credibility. It may give you something to brag about or use as a leverage to get into see people that may be harder to see. It can be a wonderful source of ‘premiums’ for your business. “Shoot a maternity with us this month, and pick any photo from our gallery as a gift.” It is a great gift too, as it has a published price of $75.

Creating new and interesting work? A print gallery is one place to show it off. Showing that the work is used to decorate the world can be quite powerful as a perception point.

A commercial photographer can show a different side of their work in a sales gallery. Elevate the work to art. Make the images “limited editions” at nice, hefty prices. Value… increase yours. Don’t be stupid… $2500 8×10′s will make you look like a moron unless you are way more famous than .1% of the photographers out there, and are already getting that price elsewhere. And gifting someone a print after a long shoot or particular event can mean a lot if they know it has a value placed on it. From SmugMug to PayPal, there are many, many ways to sell your photographs online.

Print Sales Examples:
David Reesor
Sue Barr

7. Get testimonials or at least a kind word or two.
People like to know you are someone that other people want to work with.

Putting a nice note from someone who is in the business can be a powerful referral tool. I am reminded of Carl Furuta’s long time campaign in the Black Book from back in the day. 4 pages of AD’s names / Agencies and the headline: “Ask Me How I Liked Working With Carl Furuta?” Effective? Yeah, at the price it cost to put 4 pages in that book it had to be.

You can tie this with the BTS videos idea as well. A short clip of you and the AD smiling and waving… and tie them all together for a little short with 20-30 AD’s all smiling and waving … be creative. Be marketing or planning your marketing all the time. I wish to hell I would have shot all those behind the scenes funny, incredible, insane and sometimes dangerous moments from back in the day. I really do.

Ask for referrals and ask them if their notes can be used on your site, of course. A few sprinkled in here and there could be a pretty nice way to subtly show that you are working with pros. And it may give them something to send their friends to see on your site… and maybe some of their friends are, I dunno, other AD’s? Yeah… you think?

8. Offer a newsletter on something you love.
Become the go-to source for information regarding photography in ____.

Your town. Your city. Your state. Your genre. Your interest group. Your passion.

What do you love to shoot? Motorcycles? Still Life? Fine Art? Food?

Let’s say you are a food shooter in a small market. Why couldn’t you also be a sort of food connoiseur of sorts. Have all the links to restaurants in your town. Have links to the top chef’s site. Create a little content about food in your town. Shoot something from every restaurant if you can. Ask – you may receive.

Yeah, you are a food shooter… and you love food… and here are some great places to eat great food… and ‘ohbytheway’ here are some photographs of the great food you are going to eat and if your restaurant needs great photographs… yeah, sorta like that. It can be very time consuming, but valuable. Cause you KNOW other restaurateurs will seek out your site if the content is compelling enough.

Newsletter Examples:
James Cowlin
Raymond Klass

9. Blur the lines between blog and site.
A website doesn’t have to be static anymore.

Blogs can be powerful dynamic tools to keep people informed. Websites have tended to be more static with almost an online ‘portfolio’ approach.

I say change it up. We can do things to blogs to add a more ‘portfolio’ like feel to them (and we will cover that in another post), and we can add content to websites to add a more dynamic feel to them.

I mentioned the “Project” approach above. It is one way you can treat content. For jobs, show out-takes and BTS shots, discuss the challenges of the shoot and how you met them head on. What were the desires of the client and how did you deliver. The style can certainly be your own, but keep it conversational and easy to read. Draw the reader, and possible client, into the shoot.

Add mini-galleries of things you like, or places you have been. Show the progress of something under construction. Add value to your site by keeping it current with current information that is aimed at your critical audience.

Examples of the blend:
Andrew Hethrington
ACME Photo (Adam Nollmeyer)

10. Promote something near and dear to you.
A book, a historical district, a group show… mentoring.

Get involved. Promote something good and while at it gain meaningful traffic and PR. Maybe it’s a kids choir, or a historical museum. Perhaps it could be something even more personal like the recovery of a wounded vet, or the vet hospital in your area. No, it doesn’t have to be a PJ approach. It can be portraits or architectural details or whatever it is that you do.

Promote the local chamber of commerce, or a book by a friend, or an artists work that you really admire. It doesn’t have to be tacky, and it can be worked in through the “projects” as well. And it doesn’t have to be a charity as discussed above. This is outright promotion of something/someone… be a mentor.

Helping others with our gifts is something to be very proud of. And it simply cannot hurt from a marketing standpoint. So find someone to promote on your site. Be involved.

Promotion Examples:
Janell Wood (the wonderful Veterans Project)
James Nachtway (through the organization of his images)

Stay “engaged” with the viewers… that is the new ‘buzzword’ and I like it better than most buzzwords.

You don’t have to do all that is presented here. You can do one or two, but these ideas are set forth to get you thinking about ways to promote yourself, do good things and engage your viewers. Get them to come back again and again.

Workshop NEWS is on the Learn to Light page, and as always, those wishing to follow my every idea can follow me on Twitter. See you next time.

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Yeah, I know – everyone who is anyone works in NY or is so famous that entire terabytes of blogs are devoted to them. Sorry, I don’t buy that. Most of us in this business will never be famous, and most of us don’t care. We want to work for excellent clients and provide excellent work. And enjoy our passion in the places we love.

So we will continue here at Lighting Essentials to bring you the interviews with working, successful and excited photographers from all over the world… even NY, and hope that you learn something from each of them.

Claire Curran Corbett: Dallas
“I definitely enjoy fashion and am motivated by current trends. I spend a lot of time going through foreign publications and online looking for new things… color palates, hair styles, etc. I try and keep my book looking current, and love to test out new lighting ideas to create moods that go with the wardrobe.”

Photograph by Claire Curran Corbett

Ken Easley: Phoenix
“I’ve been interested in photography since I was 10 or 11. My first camera was a brownie starflash, a gift from my aunt. My strongest memories are trying to shoot frogs and waterbugs in Oak Creek Canyon. And my Dad complaining about how much film I was using and how expensive it would be to get it all processed. The next year I got an “Ansco Developing Kit”.”

More Photographers to get to know after the jump.

Eduardo Frances: San Salvador
“I’ve been at this for almost 4 years of non-stop fun! To tell you the truth, I think it was slow in some parts and fast in others, I started as a photographer for a small model agency here, then I worked for another photographer (something I now regret because he is not a good person) and after that I decided to go “solo”, and here I am now!.”

Photo by Eduardo Frances

Grant Lovett: Nashville
“Most of the bad experiences I have had have been long burned from my memory as I tend to move on as quickly as possible from them. There are still a few that remain with me still today, but that is just part of the business. It is impossible to please everyone, so I try not to focus on them and instead remember the good ones. It helps keep me sane.”

Photo by Grant Lovett

Steve Korn: Seattle
“I love the creative process. I love envisioning something and then trying to make it come to fruition. I like that, try as I might, intangible elements will always have an influence on the outcome. Whether it’s how my subject will respond, the weather or a technical problem I have to solve, all of these elements bring vitality and a bit of the unknown to every situation.”

Photo by Steve Korn

Kirk Tuck: Austin
“My core motivation is a curiosity about what makes every one so different. I’m trying to find that intersection between common touchstones of humanity and all the things that make everyone so different. It’s the differences that make it all interesting just as it’s the little flaws that make portrait sitters both vulnerable and beautiful. I photograph the way I’d like to write a novel. Observation and narrative. Description and storytelling.”

Photo by Kirk Tuck

Tom Miles: London
“There are many things I love about my job, but after all these years I think the best thing is getting to meet and work with truly exceptional people, on a regular basis, and being placed in interesting situations all the time. When I’m sent to photograph someone it’s usually because they’re exceptional in some way. They may be Olympic Athletes, cancer survivors, millionaires, or any number of things. I’ve always been attracted to people who stand out from the crowd a bit, and I guess that side of my nature is very fulfilled shooting what I shoot.”

Photo by Tom Miles

Daron Shade: Tucson
“I have a notebook with filled with image idea sketches, and I draw from that for both personal and professional assignments. This book also has lists of locations , time of year , time of day and weather conditions I predict would make a remarkable image. I’ve also learned to rely heavily on Google Earth to plan my landscape photography. In fact, I’m going to include a photo for your readers that was visualized and planned using Google Earth. Without that 3d mapping tool, I would have had much more difficulty finding the best location and time of year to capture the depth in this image.”

Photo by Daron Shade

Chris Bohnhoff: Minneapolis
“What gets me going is the chance to interact with really cool photo subjects. Photography is my creative outlet for sure, but what I’ve really come to value about life as a photographer is that a photo shoot is a great excuse to interact in a meaningful way with people that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. Hanging with chefs in their kitchens and watching them create, talking to college professors about their teaching experiences, even being with a family on a wedding day – the interactions with subjects are what make my career so fulfilling and rewarding. And seeing my images used to tell their stories is just a huge honor.”

Photo By Chris Bohnhoff

David Giral: Montreal
“I breathe photography and spend each and everyday either taking photos or editing them, or looking at photos from others . The feelings you get from taking photos and editing them are really amazing, it’s like being connected to the universe. I’m very curious, enthusiastic and driven. Most of my inspiration comes from within and from the beauty of people’s souls and of the world surrounding us.”

Photo by David Giral

I hope you enjoy these great interviews with hard working photographers in all kinds of markets. There are lots of places that interview all the big “stars” but at Lighting Essentials we know that there are a lot of great photographers who are not already household names. We give them the voice to be heard here on our humble little magazine.

As always, if you would like to stalk me on Twitter, feel free. Workshop information is on Learn to Light.

See you soon!

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While some pros are worried about kids shooting Facebook and concert pix for free, I think that the perspective is really skewed when we start to become more interested in what non-consequential folks are doing and forget to be excited about this wonderful thing called photography. To make photographs is a joyous event, something I love to do. I don’t want to sit around kvetching about some dude who shot his company picnic. Hope he had a blast and made good shots. They couldn’t have paid me enough (well, they actually could have, but they probably wouldn’t have regardless of the product manager’s awesome handling of the formidable D-Series camera… and what if he had a Pelican case… Judge Brown would have made him the winner anyway).

I have made my feelings known on the ‘working for free’ thing on several posts. It isn’t for ‘free’ if value is gained… and if it can be a win-win… then take the damn win.

So today we aren’t going to worry about that $400 wedding (with CD and proofs) that happened yesterday, or the IT guy who shoots for the local ice-cream parlor for trade (Mmmm – Rocky Road). Who cares anyway. Did you really want those gigs? Today we are going to focus on what we can do that is positive and fun.

Ten things to POSITIVELY affect your photography that you can do NOW.

1. Shoot something totally out of your comfort zone.
Are you a portrait shooter? Take some gear out and shoot landscapes. If you normally shoot still life, grab some stuff and go somewhere to shoot street portraits. Do something different. Shoot something different. Try a totally different subject matter… and try to bring your aesthetic to it.

Do it with the seriousness of an assignment. Work toward something that would be ‘portfolio’ worthy. Make the date and keep it. Whatever the impending challenges, meet them and create a shot. If it is raining… cool, make that work for you. No excuses… bring back a shot that you love.

Examples:
Dave Hill’s Landscapes
Arthur Elgort’s “Jazz” (you will have to click on it on the navigation. Stupid UI (flash) doesn’t allow for deep linking… but then this is Arthur so he probably isn’t looking for SEO… heh)

2. Do a “series” of images on something new to you.
Or something familiar, I don’t care. But make it a true series. Tell a story. Five or more images that work together. Not a ‘comp’ card approach, nor am I wanting you to write a ‘story’ and make illustrations for it. (Although, that sounds like a possible #11 to me… hmmm.) I am talking about images that ‘belong’ together.

Plan a couple of excursions to that place or event, or some time blocked off to work out all the shots you need. “Cover” the subject with enough shots that when you edit them down, you can get to a set of images that says something about what/who you shot.

Examples:
Joni Sternbach’s Surfers
David Eustace’s Trip with his Daughter
Chase Jarvis’s Songs for Eating and Drinking

3. Rent a Tilt-Shift lens and spend a week with it.
This is a somewhat unique tool. It can change the perspective on an image and allow you to control converging lines and depth of field. Still life shooters use it, as well as architectural shooters. Here is a link to a tutorial I did on how to use it.

Take it out as your single lens for a day or a weekend. Find things that it can do to help make your images different. Play with it. Experiment with it. Shoot portraits and exploit the tilt to alter DOF.

Resist the urge, if you can, of tilting it back and making landscapes look like toy scenes… yeah. Cute. OK… maybe one or two, but don’t get carried away. Oh, and BTW, if you do a google search for Tilt-shift photography you will find a ton of these lameass shots and articles. And most of them are too that silly ‘toy’ look, that is ONLY tilt, NO Shift involved… but hey, stupid runs rampant on them interwebs.

Rent it from these nice folks if you live somewhere they are hard to find. They make a few flavors of wide to semi-telephoto and each do their own thing. I would say start with the 24MM, but that is only a suggestion.

How a Tilt-Shift Can Change Your Work
From Luminous Landscape, this great post.
Wiki has some good info as well.

4. Plan a large-scale shoot. Then do it.
This is great for the soul and great for the commercial shooter working on building a book.

The planning and production of a large-scale shot is one of the things that is so hard to learn from a book, or a blog. It is something that takes practice and experience. And it has a ton of learning associated with it.

Working out the set, the models, MUA’s, stylists needed. Then the time and coordinating the shoot with the realities of time. Three models and one makeup artist means you better have the models on set waaaaay before the shoot. Scheduling them for a half hour before shooting could be a terrible mistake.

Do you need permits or permissions? Get them. It’s good practice. You will have to do this more and more as you move into larger commissions, so get comfortable with the system now.

Do a casting… not a MM thing where people simply show up (if you are lucky) – but a real ‘casting’. Find the people you need and KNOW will work for the shot. Look for the look you want. Settle ONLY as a last resort. And then resist it like hell.

Need props… find them. Find rental houses, if you can. Ask friends and family. Somebody knows somebody with a Harley if you need one. Getting the resources together to make a big shot happen is as important as understanding what it takes to pull a big shot off.

Be tenacious and make the shot happen. If you are lucky and prepared, you will get something for your book. And you will learn a ton of stuff to do differently next time. And then start planning the next time.

Make the jump, there’s more on the other side.

5. Make a Book.
Seriously. Make a book.

Take your images and edit them down to 30 or so, then edit them into a ‘flow’. Take your time and develop the images in a sequence that makes sense. Hint: Cheap 4×6′s are a great tool for finding the sequencing. I cannot do it on a computer… back and forth is not the same as grab and switch.

I generally use Photoshop to create full page designs that are to my liking, and really not use their design software. It isn’t bad, but it is not my preference. You, however, may enjoy their templates. Make a hard cover book and show it around to everyone.

What you will learn is the so valuable as you go through the process. Flow of images, color matching, layout. There are a ton of things that you will face to get it right. And in the end you have a book to go on the coffee table. You can spend as little as $30 on it.

Want a really fun idea? Do the book in conjunction with a road trip, or a series of images, or stuff you don’t shoot very often. If your kids skateboard, spend an afternoon with the lights and get them and their friends doing cool stuff. No matter what you do, where you live and who you know… there is something cool going on around you.

Book Makers to consider:
Blurb
MyPublisher
LuLu
Asuka Book (a little more pricier, but very nice)

I have made books with all of the above. I have been happy with what I received in all cases.

6. Make a Portrait of Someone Famous (or nearly famous).
Yeah… get on the phone, send an email, show up at the door – and make it happen.

Maybe it is a local musician, or the symphony conductor. A local chef who is renown for his cooking. An author, painter, heck – even another photographer. Just make it happen. Could be you set your sights way high… Catherine Zeta Jones for instance. OK, you are going for a big name… can you pull it off? I bet you can… it just takes legwork and time and energy. And if you need anyone to, you know, hold the lights or something, I am available for that one. Yep. Sticking to local celebrities may be easier.

The shot MUST be killer, so make sure your stuff is up to par. But the point of this exercise is to work out how to make this happen. It takes guts. It takes initiative. It takes gumption and the ability to sell yourself and the gift of gab and more… It won’t happen while playing Farmville, and it won’t happen sittin’ on your ass watching re-runs of American Idol (the white-hair guy wins, can’t remember his name.) It surely won’t happen while you are spending every waking moment at your BF/GF… that is for damn sure.

You may also learn a thing or three about celebrity shooting. It isn’t nearly as easy as you think it is, and you already don’t think it is that easy. Correct. Egos, time, PR flacks, weenies with too much power because they glom on… it is quite an interesting world. Get your feet wet locally and see how it goes. However it goes, you will learn a ton about the business/production side of photography.

7. Get a List from Agency Access.
Oh, and then use it. This is for people who have already got their book together and are ready to make the rounds. Get a list. Get a good list. It may cost a few hundred bucks, but it is so worth it. Agency Access.

1. It eliminates that lameass excuse of ‘not knowing who to show’ the work to.
2. It is tailored to what you want to do (magazines vs ad agencies for instance)
3. It gives you a target and a real tangible sources for your efforts.
4. It becomes the foundation for your marketing efforts – and is worth 10 times what you paid for it.
5. None of the above count if you get the list and continue to NOT do a damn thing with it.
6. Read #1 again.

You should have your mission statement, marketing tools and drop-offs and leave behinds ready as you begin this process, so we are going to simply let that stand as a very important pre-cursor of this exercise. If you are not ready, what is your time frame? Don’t tell me – tell yourself. Oh, and you should have some ideas of rates and billing.

Now get after it.

8. Create an EMail Marketing Campaign.
If you aren’t totally ready for the big time yet, you can start by creating an email marketing campaign and get it ready to go.

Finding a template there for your photography by not be the easiest thing to do – even though there are several billions of templates or so. Know what you want to send. Work with a designer to get the look you want, testing it to yourself and a few friends. This will take a while and you can be getting your other stuff ready in the meantime.

You can find some pretty cool templates for email at Envato. Or look for a designer you like and find out what something custom would cost. Not as much as you think, probably. If you are good with html, you will most likely be able to customize one of the templates provided.

Try it out on a few customers or a circle of prospects. This is a list of the ones I have used and recommend. You may find others that you love. That’s cool.

MailChimp
Constant Contact
Mad Mimi

9. Road Trip.
Oh yeah, man. I love them. They get me going. Apply the road trip to any of the above suggestions in as liberal a dose as you can handle.

10. Work With a Designer and Create a Direct Mail / Leave Behind
Get that direct mail piece into the works.

It can dovetail with the list above, and of course the email list as well. It may take a while to get together, and it may cost a bit (tradeout?), but it is worth it. This piece is your calling card, it is YOU when you are not there. It says who you are, and shows your attention to detail, aesthetic, style, vision, presentation and relevance.

Start to research the different styles and methods of these important parts of your business. I would recommend these sites to see examples of direct mail and leave behinds.

A Photo Editor
Heather Morton Art Buyer
Graphis (print as well)
Communication Arts Magazine (print as well)

Getting this vital piece of the puzzle done before you start to get calls is very important.

And anytime you start to actually ‘work’ with your own images, you find out a lot about yourself. We can miss holes in our work, and stylistically out-of-place images when we are simply shooting and storing. But going in and working with them to make a book, or a direct mail piece, an email campaign and other things we can do, can bring them to us in new and different ways – ways that transcend just being an interesting photograph.

Or we can sit around complaining about other people who have no more consequence to professional photography than the man in the moon.

And this should be #11, but it is a reminder that you will probably not spend a hundred bucks on anything more valuable than Selina Maitreya’s 12 hour long audio series, “The View From Here” on success and vision and style. She has examples, road maps and more in this baby, and it could be worth 10 times what she is charging.. and you get half off her price of $200 by purchasing it through Lighting Essentials. Just enter FOSLE in the checkout and you will save $100. I don’t do a lot of ‘selling’ on this site, but I so very much believe in this information that I really do think you should get it.

So that wraps it up for this post. Follow my bloviations on Twitter, and come to a lighting workshop to pop your chops up another notch.

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Rant/Rave today.

So it kinda sounds like this to a lot of young photographers:
1. You can’t get gigs unless you have experience.
2. Without actual shoots you cannot get experience.
3. You must always charge for your work (see # 1 above)
4. Get an assistant gig.
5. There are few assistant gigs.
7. Never shoot for experience alone.
Start at the top… repeat.

That, folks, sounds like a politician trying to tell us that unemployment is a blessing because it increases employment.

Yeah – sure.

There is always a conundrum that plays on in this business, and it makes me crazy to see and hear such a deafening silence when someone actually asks HOW to get off that round-about.

On a private forum I belong to, one of the photographers, Paulo, asked me a set of questions about my post, “Sometimes It Is About Getting the Shot”. He is allowing me to share the questions and my answers with you.

“After all you come out of college with your photography degree, or leave your job with everything up until that point telling you that you are a great photographer but can you really be expected to hit a home run every time?”

Yes. By carefully picking your starting points, and making sure you have the assets in place to produce the work required. In other words… pick your challenges. Would a kid coming out of college have the experience to shoot a 6 day annual report over several countries? Probably not. Environmental portrait in the city… sure. I would at least hope so.

So the point is to begin to build to the point where doing the big stuff comes second nature. My friend Ken, who I referenced in the article, had a client here in Phoenix that had him shooting about 20 portraits a month. They paid $250 per and let him do his thing on the images… he built a great portfolio, and actually put a lot of money in his pocket. If it had been a one off, it would have been too low of a rate… but they guaranteed him at least 10 per month… so it was not a bad deal. I can tell you that the experience Ken got while doing that gig was priceless.

Want to shoot high end real estate? Do work for architects where a ‘re-shoot’ isn’t that big of a problem. There are usually not that many deadlines, and you can return the next day and shoot it again. If access is required, get access for a period of a few days to make sure you can get it. The ‘practice’ and experience should start to build in to your personal ‘apps’ if you will.

It is more about managing your learning, testing incessantly, and building your skills. And many times you spend a lot of your own capital doing so.

Put together a larger shot for a weekend morning – set a shoot time in your head. Three models, a MUA, a stylist. Set the call times and treat it as a professional gig. Of course make great images, but also make note of things like timing, and set control, and managing the shoot from the photographer’s position. We can learn how to go out and make a photograph when there is only a model and ourselves… and no time frame – and no distractions and the freedom to do what we want…

Things change real fast when there are more people in the mix, a time frame and the exponentially increasing challenges that brings. Did your shot come together in the time frame you expected? Or did hair and makeup take longer than expected, lighting take up too much time, or the people become unmanageable for directing into a tight shoot schedule?

If it came off great, wonderful. Do another shoot just like it to build that experience into your personal apps. If it didn’t, imagine how it would have gone if the call were sunset? The sun doesn’t set on your time… it sets on its time. So do it again, but then have the very real, scary deadline reveal itself slowly falling to the horizon.

“So what is the enabler? What turns your average photographer or even a gifted newbie into the kind of pro that you are talking about? Skills, talent , vision and common sense can get you off the starting blocks and for some very gifted people that may well be all they need to reach your standard but I think the vital missing ingredient is experience.”

Experience is the most important thing of all. We used to get it by assisting, and yeah, that is a lot harder to come by these days. But working for smaller companies and smaller agencies can lead one up. You must start “small” – if you will – and keep your abilities to do the gigs in the fore of what you are looking to do.

In some ways your portfolio will help you keep those expectations under control. In your book show the work you are prepared to do. Show the work you are proficient in. Don’t accept assignments you cannot do. If it is out of your league, be smart enough to pass on it. (Or be smart enough to hire the best damn assistants you can find who actually HAVE experience in doing that kind of shot. I did that on a few occasions. Paid the assistants handsomely, LEARNED a ton, put some money in my pocket and delivered exactly what the client wanted. But you better be dialed in to the best assistants in your area.)

In any case, be damned sure you can do what you are being asked to do. Does that mean we play it totally safe and never, ever put ourselves out there on a limb? ROFL… oh hell no… part of this amazing business is the excitement of possibly instant death (well, maybe a little over the top, but the adrenaline that gets pushed… whew!!!)

Let’s say you want to shoot for big time sports officials. Here in the states we have the NFL or whatever. It is nearly impossible to start with them… too big, too much power, and too many gatekeepers. The challenges would be formidable.

So start with the minor leagues. Want to do big setup shots? Do one. It may mean a little more arm twisting and some out of pocket… but arrange and create a bigass setup shot. Do the best damn little league shot ever made. Find some pickup basketball players and bring out all the bells and whistles to do a killer shot of them playing in the street courts. Gymnasts, Ice Skaters, Bodybuilders, and Dancers can all be approached for photography. Do it, do it, do it. Period.

Take the images and do what we used to call a “post mortem” on the shoot. What did you learn? How can you make it better next time?

As you build your book… keep pushing your work and your style to a place where you are so totally comfortable with it that you can create it when needed.

“How do you get experience?”

By doing it. I know that sounds a little snarky, but it is not meant to be. I would say that if someone wanted to shoot music, and couldn’t find anyone to photograph, or bands to work with, or managers willing to take a chance on a portfolio shoot – that person is going to have a terrible time in the ‘music photography’ business. If you cannot find a way to make this stuff happen, how will it be easier when you have a ton of restrictions, expectations and money on the line?

Create your shots, form a group that meets once a week to do a big shot. Assist and shoot. (I have an idea about how that should work… if you are the shooter, you shoot and others assist. Period. When it is your turn to shoot your gig, others assist… but no one shoots but that day’s designated shooter. Otherwise the images can be pretty worthless… Unless you totally change the shot from shooter to shooter. Having a couple of shooters with the same image in their books is just stupid.)

“The best way is on the job, but all the lessons learned can harm your career as your article illustrates. Working as an assistant will teach you how to solve problems by learning from someone who already has the experience or at worst learn from their mistakes without any cost to you.”

It is so important to understand that you don’t start at the top. Shooting an editorial is usually not as ‘gut wrenching’ as shooting for an ad agency. Shooting (testing) models for agencies is less dangerous than shooting editorial for local magazines. So you start there. Shooting real estate for brokers has less ‘failure’ for re-shoots than a location shoot editorial for “Metropolitan Home”. Shoot food for local restaurants before heading out to do a 5 state trip shooting for “Cuisine”… it only makes sense.

It is one of the things that makes the Harrington post, (“12 Excuses for Shooting Photos for Free — and Why They’re Bogus”) that I refer to in my current LE piece (“What is the Difference Between Shooting for Free and Shooting for Me?”) simply wrong. There ARE times and places where you have to parlay your work and find people to work together to create an image that benefits you both. That has value in and of itself. To think that people can start this business without having any opportunities to prepare is simply insulting. Of course there are necessary sacrifices to get to the point where the work has the kind of value that can be considered sustaining.

And ANY pro who tells you they NEVER shot anything for free or nearly free are just blowing smoke. I know too much about this business to accept that at face value. Ask any fashion shooters if they have ever shot without money changing hands? Or travel shooters… or sports, glamour and beauty shooters. Do they do it as a matter of course? Well, of course not. But I know Avedon did. I know DeMarchelier does. I know Elgort does. They are sometimes working to get something for THEMSELVES and the collateral folks needed get something for them.

I would like to share this quote with you from my friend Steve Korn (one of the best drummers ever and a wonderful photographer)

“Musically, I don’t get nervous because I feel prepared and experienced and know I have the skills to handle pretty much anything. After all these years I know that I’ll always sound good sometimes great, but even on a night when I don’t feel like I’m playing my best, I’ll still sound at least good. It may sound like a load of ego, but it’s really just confidence and experience and I know that pretty much whoever calls, I’m up to the task.” – Steve Korn, Musician

Making it to the point of charging good money can take a lot of turns and changes, but the path is one that has to be made. Finding that path and sticking to it is so important. Commitment of time, money, time, effort, time and the knowledge that is built while doing the hard work to get there will pay off. I could go into a rant about the lack of commitment to this business that I see everywhere, but I did a rant about it here.

I hope you liked this Rant. I will be doing a followup on the “Shooting for Me” post on Monday with a list of things to watch for when contemplating working with others and working for your own book without legal tender changing hands.

—-

As always, follow me on Twitter and if you are looking for a workshop to hone your skills, check out Learn to Light.

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We see a lot of talk about ‘vision’ and ‘style’ and they are difficult to put into a specific, detailed set of parameters.

Style – noun (OnLine Dictionary)

1. The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed: a style of speech and writing.

2. The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era.

3. Sort; type: a style of furniture – a type of photography.

4. A quality of imagination and individuality expressed in one’s actions and tastes: does things with style.

5.a. A comfortable and elegant mode of existence: living in style.
5.b. A mode of living: the style of the very rich. (Photographers… heh)

6.a. The fashion of the moment, especially of dress; vogue.
6.b. A particular fashion: the style of the 1920s. See Synonyms at fashion.

We have talked about style before on Lighting Essentials:
“Style: It’s Not What You Shoot. It’s How You Shoot It.”
“Salina Maitreya: 4 To Do’s for Photographers (Interview in Three Parts)”
“What Makes a Photograph ‘Great?’”
“”Breaking Out” as a Professional Photographer: Daron Shade”
So take a look at those articles when you get a chance.

Pretty good definition list, but what do we make of them. (5b is a given for photographers, so we won’t get into that one. My Bentley driver may have a few words later, but only after he fuels up the jet for the weekend MM shoot.)

Let’s see what we can attach to some of the photographers I have listed here. Spend some time at each photographer’s site. Note how the definitions above start to make sense as we view the images.

Rodney Rascona is a fellow Phoenician. His work has always been top of mind for me in this area. A talented photographer who has maintained a strong presence in the national advertising scene and still lives here in the desert. Rodney’s work ranges from portrait to automobile to travel… and he has a style that is so prevalent in his work.

Photograph by Rodney Rascona, Phoenix. www.rascona.com

Photograph by Rodney Rascona, Phoenix. www.rascona.com

Spend some time with Rodney’s work and note how he creates his style. Composition and light as well as presentation are consistent. A drama that is created by formal design and light with contrast to define. Colors are vibrant.

Across the genres of portraits, automobiles and even the photojournalist like shots of the tsunami, there is a consistency of vision.

Joni Sternbach is a huge favorite of mine. Her work ranges from portraits to landscapes.

Joni Sternbach, Photographer : www.jonisternbach.com

Joni Sternbach, Photographer : www.jonisternbach.com

Sternbach chooses an older process for her prints, and uses large cameras for perspective control and limited Depth of Field. But it is beyond the choice of camera and process that makes her images take on a specific vision and style. Study how she approaches the “Surfland” images and compare that to the imagery in the “Salt Effect” series. Portraits of surfers and landscape work tied together by a vision and execution that show a single photographer’s style.

Kurt Markus shoots fashion, sports figures and landscapes… how’s that for variety. And yet the distinctive vision that Markus displays is across all genres.

Kurt Markus, Photographer: www.kurtmarkus.com/

Kurt Markus, Photographer: www.kurtmarkus.com/

A great example of it being not ‘what you shoot’ but ‘HOW you shoot what you shoot’, Markus’ clean style and intimate, natural approach to his images keep his vision consistent. Classical, almost historically iconic approaches to his subjects combine with a fresh, natural feeling seems to run through his work. Modern classicism? Maybe. See what you can find as you go through the images slowly and with deliberation.

I love Kate Orne’s work. It is approachable, natural, elegant and totally free of conceit. It is an approach that lets the subjects be the subjects. No banks of lights and Photoshop magic, just honestly beautiful images.

Kate Orne, Photographer: www.kateorne.com

Kate Orne, Photographer: www.kateorne.com

Notice also how Orne’s style crosses over to her travel work and studio work. It is a vision that is hers, and the style is in the work itself. Beautifully photographed and simply presented imagery.

Nick Onken is a guy I go to often to just smile and take in great imagery. He keeps his work fresh and identifiable by keeping the style consistent. And that consistency has led to major campaigns and recognition from all over. His book “PhotoTrekking” was reviewed here on LE and is a fantastic addition to any photographer’s library.

Nick Onken, Photographer: www.nickonken.com

Nick Onken, Photographer: www.nickonken.com

Nick’s color palette, natural light approach, fun and witty composition and strong emphasis on Point of View gives some consitency. His attention to detail, in every instance, brings an excitement to the images and draws the viewer in. You will have a lot of fun looking through Nick’s work.

Damn, I am a big Mark Tucker fan. Such compelling work and with such conviction of style. Whatever Mark shoots, it is presented in what seems like the most perfect way. There is a pronounced absence of ‘over-the-top’ processing or faddish types of lighting. The work is consistent in color, composition and vision.

Mark Tucker, Photographer: www.marktucker.com

Mark Tucker, Photographer: www.marktucker.com

Mark’s work can be quirky and fun as well as serious. His use of old lenses, tilt-shift lenses and textures also makes the work accessible and seem like a blend of art and commercial… with an emphasis on personal style. As you go through his images, think of the choices he is making as he is designing the shots. What you see in Mark, and all the artists here, is a deliberate attention to detail. If it is in the shot, it was meant to be. The light is chosen to set the subjects off in a specific way… and that approach is taken across genres in his work.

Last up is Bill Phelps, a fantastic shooter that I recently discovered. I am so in tune with this work. Personal, engaged and without the vestiges of over-commercialism, the work Phelps delivers is most definitely his. Not a lot of compromise shown in the vision… it is tightly held and demonstrated in every shot he shows.

Bill Phelps, Photographer: www.billphelps.com

Bill Phelps, Photographer: www.billphelps.com

I am captivated by his post-modern style and the way he uses the frame to isolate sections of the world, and presenting them as slices of reality. A reality that is charged through the use of black and white. The work has a film look to it, although I have no idea if it is film or digital… nor do I care. The careful use of light that is infused within all of his work is intriguing and elegant.

As you look through the images of these photographers ask yourself these 5 questions:

1. What is the thing that ties the work together for you?
2. If the work was presented within different post-processing would it still stand?
3. What is the compositional approach that the photographers use to bring their work cohesiveness?
4. How is light used to enhance or alter the reality in the work?
5. Quick, describe the photographer’s work, style if you will, in less than 8 words.

Of course not every single image will contain every element of a photographer’s style, but taken as a whole – a “body of work” – the images belong to each other. And to the photographer that created them.

A challenge:
Can you find the elements that tie your photographs together and show how they work to present a body of work? Are they cohesive enough to show you as a photographer with vision or just a photographer? And, hey, it is great to be a good photographer. Let’s step it up a bit and be a good photographer with style and vision.

It’s damned hard work. It is a gray area, a nebulous enigma entwined in the emotional ties we have with our work. It is the ability to grasp and let go at the same time. It may mean a slight tweek to what we are doing. It may mean a total disc wipe and on to a new chapter.

But whatever it is, it will be important for us in the long run to have developed a style. Doesn’t mean we are locked in to only one, but one is good to get started.

Thanks for tagging along and I hope I have your juices going on what style may be, how to look for it in the work of others, and your own. It is a journey that can have lots of pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth. Sometimes you feel isolated and fearful and sometimes joyous and victorious. All part of the next climb in the journey.

Please note the workshop schedule, and follow me on twitter if you are so inclined.

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