Not shooting people

Hi everyone. As most of you know, I'm a people photographer. If I'm not shooting people at a wedding or event, I'm working on my fashion skills with models. If I'm not doing that, I'm shooting my family. I took a good hard look at my images 6 months ago, and noticed it was seriously lacking in shots that didn't involve people. And the images of other things that were there, weren't very good. So I tried to figure out what I could do to remedy that. I didn't want to set up lights at the house and shoot still life, I wanted something that could help me in my actual line of expertise, shooting weddings. Which entails shooting the rings, shoes, dresses, centerpieces, flowers, cake, the interior of the banquet and church, the exterior of the church, maybe a beautiful bluff overlooking the water.

You get the point, wedding photography is so much more than just the "wedding couple", that if you want to do it right, you need experience and a bag of tricks to draw from to help you get all those shots. Now that's not to say I wasn't shooting those things, I do. I just thought I saw a little room for improvement.

The great thing about digital photography, the practice is free, and results are instantaneous. No more shooting a roll, then off to the lab to see what you got. If you see an area that needs improvement, you can focus on that and practice to your hearts content. So, I determined that I needed to focus on randomness. That should be easy, right? That could include ANYTHING. Way to focus and make a decision Frank. But I really want to improve at a lot of things in my photography.

So what did I do? Back in May I set off with a 2 other friends to photowalk Olvera Street. I had just gotten the new 5D MKII and wanted to put it through it's paces. It did admirably, and I walked away with several keepers that had no person in the frame.

Then it was off to Scott Kelby's Worlwide Photowalk in July that took place in Chinatown. My account of that is here: Frank's Blog on Chinatown. Now we were up to 50 people. The image I shot of the lanterns reflected in the pond won the local event, and was entered into the worldwide contest. To say I was hooked is an understatement. Photowalking with friends is a great way to remember what you love about photography in the first place. We shoot because we want to share. But why start sharing at the end of the process when the image has been printed? Why not start sharing at the beginning of the process? You know, at image capture?

Why not go off with a friend to shoot something. You probably have lots of other friends that also like photography. Maybe you both have kids. Take your kids to the park to shoot. The kids get some fun and exercise, and you get to share your excitement and passion with a fellow shutterbug. Your kids also get to see you doing something passionately. what a great thing to pass along to them. Even if they don't get the "bug" they will remember fondly that you were doing something you loved.

Like old cars? Head off with a buddy to a car show. Lot's of photogs there. Like beautiful sunsets? When was the last time you sat at the beach and waited? That is also great practice. One of the nuances of photography that needs to be learned is patience. Capturing the decisive moment. Wedding and sports photographers know this and practice patience.

The next step is to share what you each shot. I love looking at images that someone shot who was standing right next to me. What a great way to learn what types of things are appealing to other people. They may be shooting over your shoulder, but with a different lens, different framing, a different aperture, the image looks nothing like yours. What started off as a need and way for me to improve my images, turned in to a very fun endeavor. So if practice and work become fun, what's not to like? And by sharing with a fellow enthusiast, you are making friends. And that may lead to something else. Like shooting a wedding together for some $$. Or shooting the kids sports teams for $$. Or creating still lifes and having a gallery. Who knows? The possibilities are endless. Maybe you could put together a calendar to raise money or awareness to a cause you are attached to.

In the last few months, I've come across several Pro photographers willing to share their passions too. Maybe they aren't telling you what f/stop to use, or what mode to shoot in, but they do share their passion. They can be found here:

David duChemin He also has an excellent ebook available for $5 here: 10
Zack Arias
Chase Jarvis
Joe McNally

They all want the same basic thing. To share their passion.

It led me to wanting to share my passion with you. That's why Jeffery Saddoris, Nicole Rae, and I started this: Faded & Blurred We want to share our passion with you. We want to walk with you, and stand next to you and see the twinkle in your eye. We've got that twinkle. We want to share it. We want us all to grow, experience, shoot, live, breathe, and share. Have a question? Ask it. Don't know how to do something in Photoshop? Post the question. Have a charity that needs some assistance? Tell us. Need some exercise? We have walks coming up. Our 1st walk last weekend had almost 70 participants. Info on our upcoming walks are here: Photowalks. What's the worst that could happen? Meet some new, like minded friends? That would be horrible. Just remember, we want everyone to share what they've taken away from it.

So have I shot anything new that I'm proud of? That doesn't include people? Yes, I have...

Getting ready...

Hey there everyone! I am calling this post getting ready. I am getting ready for a lot of things it seems these days. Right now, I am getting ready for the next semester at Tri-Community. It's always amazing how much I miss being around all the students, the enthusiasm, the common interest that we all have at the Photography school. I am getting ready to teach my new Advanced Lighting on Location course for the 1st time. I am also getting ready to teach 4 classes starting in January, all 4 will be wedding related, including 2 shooting classes, and 1 of those will be on Sunday afternoons, which opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities.

I am also getting ready to put in lot's of time and effort to a labor of love that Jeffery Saddoris, Nicole Rae, and I are molding, shaping, and tending to called Faded and Blurred. We have designed it to be a community for photographers to share, learn, and get excited about the art of photography. We are building it from the ground up to have a main theme, giving back. Now giving back can be doing some charity work, (we are currently participating in http://www.help-portrait.com/ 's effort to give back on 12-12-09, you can read about our efforts here: http://fadedandblurred.com/community/) or passing along knowledge learned with our tutorials (the 1st 1 is up and it's awesome!) or organizing photowalks to get everyone out shooting. Our first walk in Venice had almost 70 people show up in blazing heat during a major fire. The info just went up on our next 2 walks, and we are planning more. All that info is available here:

http://fadedandblurred.com

Please see if you can join us, the photowalks are a lot of fun, and a great excuse to just get out and shoot. And while you are bouncing around the site, stop by the community section, register (it's free of course) and tell us a little something about you. Maybe you work for a charitable organization that could use photographic services? Maybe you've always wondered how some photogs always get beautiful blue skies? Maybe you have some new work you want to share. Come tell us about it.

I am also getting ready for a busy shooting schedule over the next several months. I feel a shift in style and focus coming that I need/want to explore. I have some paid gigs, but I will also be doing a lot of shooting on my own to examine where I think I might be going. Again, this is a journey. I feel like I took an extended rest, stretched my legs, and now I am ready to get on the road again. I have some ideas, a few new toys, some new friends, and a supportive family allowing me to stretch these wings.

Some of my favorite photographers have also been stretching their wings, and their influence with some amazing blogs recently Zack Arias, Chase Jarvis, and David duChemin have become must reads.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=450

http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/

I am also getting ready to turn 40 soon. I don't know why we look at that number as such a life changer, but I certainly feel that my life is headed in a completely different direction then it was just 1 year ago. and that change is good. Home, family, and business are heading in the right direction. It feels like I have been laying so much ground work for so long, and now I am finally starting to reap what I have sown.

I am getting ready, are you?

Where have I been?

Hey there everyone! Seems like it's been awhile since I posted a new blog. So where have I been? Working on finalizing a new project with Jeffery Saddoris that we call Faded and Blurred.

What is Faded and Blurred? In one word, community. A place where we openly share ideas, concepts, and knowledge. A place where "We look out for each other". Where we help each other. Where we nurture each other. Where we learn from each other.

It is our hope that it becomes an interactive experience. Going forward we will be adding forums and tutorials to ask and answer questions. We expect a high level of participation. The home page is up, the blog is up, the info for our 1st walk is up. You did know about the walk, didn't you?

In the spirit of keeping it easy, we have built in Facebook integration. If you have a FB account, you can log in, leave comments, post topics and replies in the forums, all with your current FB info.

We have plans for doing many photowalks. We hope to use these as a way to meet you, share and laugh with you, motivate you, get the creative juices flowing, and most importantly, help build the community. We also have plans to help out local causes. Hopefully be able to organize our ranks, and loan our services to people and causes in need. The most important thing any organization can do to promote their cause is to attach a face to it. We want to help create those images. We want you to help us, so we will occasionally put the call out for volunteers to help us do that. What does that mean? It could mean taking pictures. It could mean requiring professional services. It could mean requiring some elbow grease and muscle. Whatever we can do.

Please, go have a look around. Tell me what you think. Remember, today is day 1. It will grow. It has to grow. And please, tell your friends. Let's all be a part of something bigger than us.

http://fadedandblurred.com/

For those of you that attended my last Lighting on Location class at Tri, please send images to Sam at samgao@gmail.com. He is looking forward to giving images to the wonderful models we had. If I don't see you at the walk, I will see you in 2 weeks when school starts up again for the fall semester.

Frank

Thank you Summer session

I want to take a small moment to thank my summer students for their continued support and the great interaction that you provided. These summer classes were by far my most rewarding classes yet. We had great participation in class, and we kept the attendance high in each class.

Thank you for being engaged and open minded. For allowing me to show you new things, and for absorbing the ideas that were brought to class. Take from it what you will, some of you will implement many ideas, some of you a few, some of you are already on your way, and some of you are just beginning. But you all were active, and that's what makes the experience for everyone much more rewarding. I never have anyway of knowing what you know or want to learn when you arrive, so unless you speak up, I may never cover areas you deem important, not just what I think might be important to you.

Remember, just because school is out for the summer, the shooting doesn't stop.

I've been thinking a lot recently about what we as photographers really do. Is it create art? Sure, some of us do. Is it commerce? Again, some of us do this for money, yes. But is that the only time we pick up a camera? No.

We capture and preserve memories. For our clients, but more importantly, for us. Would you never take another picture if you thought you would never make a dime with your camera? If you ask any photographer what their most prized images are, I am willing to bet very few of them will pick their commercial endeavours. Most will pull out a special album that may have never seen the light of day to the public. Pictures of their families, their parents, their childhood homes or family vacations they went on. They will be of old friends, lost loves, loved ones lost. How often do you hear of someone saying that if their house burned down, they would go in and grab the TV first? I am not including any imagery in this post because I want you to think of you most cherished memories. Are their pictures of it?

Do you have kids? I just recently was given a box of childhood things from my mother. We moved around A LOT when I was a child. There were probably 10 pictures in it. I wish there were more. I have often seen my wife and sister going through albums of images from when they were children, laughing and remembering things, filling in the blanks for each other about who was in that picture or where they were at, how old were they, wow look at the outfit on mom! I have visions of my own children sitting at a dinner table long after I'm gone and doing the same thing, laughing about what a geek I was because I always had a camera. And then being thankful that I always had a camera.

Go, now, and find a way to document important and mundane things in your lives. Sometimes the day to day events are so much more meaningful to us as we get older. It's what bring the smiles to our faces as we remember the way uncle so & so used to belly laugh, or your dad used to give you "the look".

Then find a way to back up those precious memories. Hard drives and space are cheap. Off site solutions are plentiful. Back up to DVD and leave a copy at your office or your parents house. Carry a portable hard drive in your car that you back up to every other week. If you need ideas, ask me in the comments. If you have a routine, let me know down below, maybe someone will determine that may work for them.

And don't forget to create memories for yourself. Laughing and doing something you enjoy. Like going for a walk. While taking pictures. With a few old and new friends. Come join us on 8/29/09 as we celebrate community, photography, and the art of capturing memories.

http://fadedandblurred.com/

See you there. It will be a memorable experience

Faded & Blurred....

Some of you have heard rumors and murmurs about a new project that Jeffery Saddoris http://jefferysaddoris.com/ and I are undertaking. We are calling this new endeavor "Faded and Blurred" and we have several ideas and irons in the fire. One of the first things we will be doing to kick off this new project is a free photowalk. We will be photowalking in Venice Beach on August 29th, from 3pm to sunset. We will be meeting in front of Muscle Beach at 3pm, so don't be late. A map of the beach is here:

http://www.venicebeach.com/images/vbmap.jpg

We would also like people to sign up for the walk, so we are in the process of building a website that will allow you to register so that we can have an idea of how many people will be attending. That website is here:

http://fadedandblurred.com/

It is currently under construction, so don't mind our dust, but there will be much more content coming in the next few days and weeks.

So while we wait for teh site, let me know down below in the comments section who is interested. And we have some custom designed T-shirts available, specific to this walk. We will design a new 1 for each walk, and then they will dissappear...

There are several color options, and mens and women's styles available. That link is here:

http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/product/471537

And lastly, why are we calling this "Faded and Blurred"? Because "Sharp and Vibrant" are so overated...

Frank

What is photography providing to you?

I took my daughter to the Los Angeles Arboretum this week. This is not news, we have family passes, and are often there 2-3 times a month. They have recently redone the entrance building, and have added the flags that you see in this post. 6 flags with 6 single words on each. The words were meant to describe the experience you may derive from a trip to the Arboretum. But I read those words and had my own single word:

Exactly

These words are exactly what my photography does for me and provides to me. Many of us have arrived here through a passion for photography. We have been told we have "the eye" or we have always enjoyed taking pictures. We become the "family & friends" event photographer. We get invited to all the family birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, etc, so the family knows good images will be taken. And then the inevitable question arises. Can I make money doing this?

One must be very careful when trying to monetize a passion. If you came to this honestly, and just have to share your work with the world, and are able to satisfy your clients with your imagery, satisfy yourself with good quality work, and put some money in your pocket, congratulations! But please be careful that your passion, doesn't become your job. If you lose the spark, or the drive becomes more about making money, and less about the image, it shows. And as soon as that happens, you have lost a creative outlet that was providing the energy to fuel your passion.

Here are the words on those 6 flags (6 flags, more fun!) that photography provides to me, and I hope it is providing to you. If you feel like you lost one or all of these along the way, please stop and examine that. Find a way to get that back and re-ignite it. It's important to us... This first word is pretty self explanatory. I love shooting. Anything. Everything. The time spent with the camera. The time spent reviewing the images. The time spent with family and friends. Teaching. The time spent scouring the new B&H catalog. Like when I was a kid and the Christmas edition of the Sears catalog came. I love being out and about with my camera. I love capturing other people in love at their weddings. It has brought me so much closer to friends and family, and it has allowed me ways to show my love to others.


This next word, Enjoy, is a biggie. If you have stopped enjoying your time spent in photography, please find a way to reconnect. Shoot something new or different. Go out shooting with a fellow shutter bug for a day. Make something for yourself. Again, if this has become a job that you dread going to everyday, perhaps it's time to find another job? Photography is a creative endeavor, much like any other artistic medium. When the sole focus is on making money, the work suffers, and you have lost an outlet to enjoy yourself.

This is a no brainer. If you are currently working in a 9-5 job, what is it you do on the weekends to unwind and relax? You grab your camera. So if your a mechanic, or a Doctor, or a Barrista, and have a tough day at the office, you come home, grab your gear, and head off to shoot a beautiful sunset. Even if the sunset isn't particularly spectacular, you still wind up getting immersed in the art of photography. It allows your mind to focus on something else and forget about the labors of your day. But what if your a full time working pro? Does that mean in order to relax you need to take up golf? No. There are so many specific niches in photography that you probably specialize in something, so how about trying a different subject matter than the norm?

This should be happening all the time. Discovering new techniques. New subjects. New locations. New Photoshop actions. New friends. New feelings. New passions. New self revelations.

Explore the not so obvious, yourself, your feelings, your reasoning for doing this, your drive. And explore the obvious, new locations, travels, friendships, love of photography.

A sense of wonderment in photography is a tangible and beautiful thing. You can see it in the eyes. It provides the spark that we need to continue to grow as artists. Don't ever loose it.

Frank

Death Punch!

For those of you in my Lighting on Location class, you should recognize these guys. I had the opportunity last night to shoot a live performance of the Punk Rock band Death Punch. What you see here was all shot with my old 5D (just in case there was any melee's or spilt beer), and it was all shot with only 2 lenses, the 50 f1.4 and the 35 f1.4L. And all shot on the same settings, ISO 1600 at f1.4. No flash, all available light, using only the AV mode, so the camera was picking my shutter speeds.

I have never shot a live music performance before, so I was excited about the possibilities. Most venues don't allow flash, so I didn't bring one. Of course, this venue probably would have let me bring in studio strobes on stands if I wanted. Live and learn. But, I am happy with the way these turned out.

These were all processed in Lightroom. I haven't done any cropping even. Prior to giving them to the band, I will clean some of these up, and I have about 100 more I am really happy with. I ran the new Default settings we have been discussing so much in my Wedding classes, and it really tweaked the colors. I loved it, so for this set, I left it. Shot them last night, posting them today.

The effect that Lightroom gave them is kinda gritty (aided by the ISO 1600) and the colors are saturated. This is Punk, it ain't pretty...

The band was awesome, I had a great time, and I had a couple of fellow friends shooting with me, they were in definite need of a diversion, and a live Punk show was just the answer. I am excited to see what they got, as they were using flash, and much lower ISO's. But for a 4 year old camera that has been banged around for years, and is normally used to quieter, much more reflective and intimate wedding shoots, I think it performed admirably. After all, ISO 1600 at f1.4 is Canon country. (sorry, couldn't resist) You can see a lot more of my images here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankwise/sets/72157622001083244/

As I edit some more I will add them there.

This is the last week of the summer session at Tri, so here is what's going on this week.

Monday night we will review the semester, answer any questions you might have, and relax with some inspiration from Mike Colon

Tuesday night we will be shooting

Wednesday night we will be gaining more inspiration from Jerry Ghionis' work.

Feel free to bring food on Monday or Wednesday, pot luck is welcome!

See you all soon,

Frank

What do you want to learn?

Hey there everyone! I have talked to many of you about up coming classes at Tri, and many of you want to know what comes after Beginning and Advanced Wedding photography. Well, currently at Tri, there isn't anything after those. Consider those classes like Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. These classes are offered each semester, and they are always the same classes.

With this in mind, I spoke to Alan (our director at Tri) about the possibility of creating a NEW wedding photography class, and he thinks that would be great. My question to you would be "What haven't we covered in these classes that you would like to learn more about?" Leave me a message in the comments. I probably have until the end of the week to come up with a rough outline, but I am asking you, my students, to help design it with relevant information you would like to learn. Beginning Wedding and Advanced Wedding aren't going away, so this new class would need to have brand new content to be accepted. Is there more specific Photoshop/Lightroom that needs to be covered, shooting information? Or hell, does it even need to be wedding related? What do you want that you haven't gotten or seen offered from Tri?

Go!

Frank