5 Truths from a Photographer…

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do you feel under pressure? Now that you’re a photographer?

Or now that you’ve loudly proclaimed to all who will listen that you have a passion for photography and you are going into business? Yeah, guilty.

Truth #1: Sometimes I just want to take a photo like a tourist.

I’ll make sure everything’s in focus, but really, it’s a cookout for crying out loud.

Do I really need to lug along a tripod so I can get good “fire” photos?

Or the low-light lens collection? Which consists of one 1.4 lens, one 1.8 lens, and three 2.8 lenses. Oh, and don’t forget the fourth 2.8 – the FISHEYE! I love that lens and wouldn’t dream of doing fire photos without a fisheye! So that’s 6 extra lenses.

And the bag I have to carry that will hold them all.

The big bag. You know the one. It weighs like 30 pounds and I wind up schlepping it around all night because I’m afraid to set it down. It’s insured, but I don’t take chances.

And sometimes….yes… sometimes I can’t fit it all in the big bag and I carry a second bag. Yes, I am *that* person.

Truth #2: Sometimes I feel pressured to be “working”

and to produce “artistic” and “competition-worthy” images.

And I wind up not enjoying myself. No one wants to be “on” all the time.

I’m thinking of that song from “Rent” – the on that talks about how many minutes there are in a day (525,600) and inside I’m screaming “and not all of them are photographic moments!”

So, if you see me walking around with my hands in my pockets because I didn’t bring a camera at all, smile and know that I have chosen to enjoy myself & would be happy for you to share your cell phone pics with me or your “amateur” camera photographs of the event.

And before you get in a hissy about the above – I’ve had people apologize for their cameras. Don’t worry!

Truth #3: I don’t have the latest and greatest gear!

Right now a D4 costs more than my car is worth. You know? Hey, it’s 10 years old, holds all my gear and is running fine (check with me after this article hits the www, sometimes I’m a jinx like that). It does the job for me. I’m kind of the same way with cameras. If there’s not something actively wrong with the camera. I’m not upgrading unless I have a specific need for the camera and have the extra $. Or I’ve saved for it. Right now I have 3 Nikons and one of them just developed a dead pixel. One. That’s not “sick enough” to ditch in my book.

Don’t be embarrassed and apologize for your photos. I had someone tell me once that “of course this isn’t as good as you” and I said – no, it’s better, I didn’t take any at all!

Truth #4: Sometimes, I worry.

It’s not all happy,happy, joy, joy. I know, I know, but we make money at something we LOVE!!!!

Give me a break. Please.

I worry.

Sometimes I have weird worries that you can’t relate to, especially if you’re not a photographer.

A couple of months ago I submitted a proposal to teach a workshop the title containing “A 12 Step Program”. And just days ago, a well-known photographer released a 10- step program and a popular photographic comedienne  has a 3-step program. Not that either of these people copied off me (seriously, no), but what an utter BAD coincidence.

But… I know you’re not going to “get” that, so instead, I may say “oh thing are just fine!”. Even if you’re not convinced. That’s ok. I won’t bore you with the story.

It’s not because I don’t like you – it’s because I DO. I won’t subject you to my boring photographer-talk all night. After all, I don’t have to hear about all of your escapades as a pole dancer.

Yes, I have a friend that is a pole-dancer. So there.

Truth #5: I don’t like Kool-Aid.

We are not the same.

Yes, sometimes we have the exact same problems. But I don’t believe the exact same solution that works for me, will work for you. I can head you away from the wrong direction, but the answer FOR YOU cannot be determined by anyone else other than YOU.

So, when I teach, talk or write, I try not to hold myself as a “holier-than-though” guru on the subject. I try to give options. I try to brainstorm with you.

I’m not going to say “Do EXACTLY this, and you will succeed!” We are different. What worked for me may not work for you.

So, I can share MY path with you and tell you what *I* did.  I worked my ass off. And to be honest, I could have worked harder.

But, my path may not apply to you at all. That’s okay.

Maybe you’ve already got it figured out in a way that works for you. Fantastic! That’s a “Wootness!” right there.

We’re different. So don’t be drinking any kool-aid.

So, those are my truths. In this moment.

What are yours?

What’s Important?

So, yeah, I went MIA for awhile.

Life got a little bit overwhelming because yours truly had WAY too many irons in the fire and then was hit with a health issue that required rest and care. Nothing serious and things seem to be fine, now, so I’m carrying on.

While I was MIA, I did some reprioritizing. What started out as business revamping, studio clean out, website upgrade and new pricing for the year turned into a reprioritizing of my personal life.

Huh?

Somehow I had let my life become overwhelmingly photography-based and was neglecting my role as mother, wife, grammy, sister, etc…

Or perhaps I was not taking the time to enjoy my role as mother, wife, grammy, sister, etc…

So, for the past month or so, I’ve been relaxing and enjoying life,  taking LOTS of naps and eating fruit. If you know me in person, you’ll understand the fruit thing. I have been surviving on fried food & junk food for the past 20 years, so popping something fresh and nutritious into my mouth is just not something I do. The closest I get to fruit are tropical flavored life-savers . 🙂

I’ve taken the time to just enjoy life.

I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve just sat and looked out the window at the sky.

I’ve cuddled with my kitties and given WAY too many treats to the dog.

I’ve increased my husband’s hug-dosage by 300%.

I bought plane tickets on the spur of the moment and traveled to meet the newest grandbaby and then spent an entire weekend holding her.

I made a cake.

I picked out a project on Pinterest, pinned it and actually made the danged thing. It’s not perfect, but it’s hanging on my wall.

I went through my underwear drawer and finally threw away all those expensive underwire bras that were falling apart and poking me in the you-know-what.

I’ve let go of people and things that were not healthy for me.

So, while I’ve neglected Wootness, it was a temporary measure in order to revamp my life a bit.

I’m back and will be around on a semi-regular basis. And if you read yesterday’s post, you can assume that a kinder, gentler Wootness is forthcoming.

Smooches,

Christine

My MWAC Epiphany

Yes, it’s been awhile, we’ll get to that in another post.

For now, I’d like to tell you about an epiphany I had the other day. February 25th, to be exact.

On that day, I was part of a birthday gift to a young woman who had started a photography business. Her good friend was planning a special day for her and booked a mentoring session with me.

I spent about an hour and a half talking to this young lady who was exceptionally sweet and loved photography. She was a stay-at-home mom of three and was using photography to supplement the household income.

Yes, she was an MWAC.

I set aside my reservations (how is this going to go?) and talked to her about wedding photography, baby sessions, camera and lens information, background and prop information and a multitude of other subjects that she wanted to know more about. And yes, we talked about the proper licenses and insurance she needed.

And my preconceived ideas of MWACs were shattered.

She was nice, she was sweet, she was thirsty for knowledge and soaked it up like a sponge. She was excited, enthusiastic and horror of horrors… passionate.

She had NO CLUE that her pricing model was one of the many that have pros gnashing their teeth and beating their breasts.

And I realized something…MWACs are not purposefully trying to screw us over. Really. They’re not.

They got a camera, took a lot of photos and people that don’t know better told them they should be in business. So they went into business. Illegally, but they did. And they’re happy. They’re making some extra money and their husbands are happy, too. They haven’t yet learned to do the math that makes it obvious that they’re working for less than minimum wage.

Instead of picturing MWACs as these nasty, disrespectful women who are trying to screw me out of business, I am now picturing them as happy women with a hobby that they love and making some extra cash.

They’re still wrong, but they’re not being evil and vindictive about it.

I’d like to challenge my fellow pros out there to try and give these ladies a break. The key is education, not ridicule. They’re naive, that’s all. And we can help them learn a better way.

Maternity Photographers: STOP it with the crazy baby block colors!

It drives me absolutely crazy when I see a photo like this:

Seriously, how HARD is it to change the color of the blocks so that they look nice? Don’t give me the blah blah about not knowing how to do it. The Photoshop technique for this is REALLY simple. Much more simple than the skills required to take care of skin smoothing and stretch marks.

And if you don’t know how to take care of stretch marks on a maternity client, you should NOT be shooting for pay at all. Mkay?

HERE is what I’d rather see:

THIS is MUCH better! It looks great AND your maternity clients will be SO grateful!

Here are the step by step directions on how to achieve this. I don’t usually post tutorials on this site, but the crazy block colors are driving me nuts, so I’m going to pass on some helping hints to ease my suffering.

1. Duplicate the background layer. You know you should always do that, right? You’re inviting trouble by making edits to the original layer. Always make your edits on a duplicate layer.

2. Using your selection tool of choice (I used the “magic wand” tool) select the colors on ALL of the blocks. Hold down the shift button while you do this so that you can select multiple areas. If one of the blocks is already the color you want, select it anyway – you want ALL of your blocks to be the same exact color and this is the only way to assure that you can do it.

3. After you have selected the colors you wish to change and those areas are surrounded by the “marching ants”, do a copy and paste maneuver to create a new layer. This will be JUST the colored areas you wish to change.

4. Select your new layer and then go to the blending options area and choose “color overlay”. Then choose the color you wish the blocks to be and finalize it.

There, all done.

What? Where are the screen captures ? Oh, hello! I’m not here to hold your hand. If none of the above directions make sense and you need further instruction, that means that you don’t know Photoshop well enough to be using it and if you don’t know PS well enough to retouch your client photos – YOU SHOULD NOT BE CHARGING MONEY. OK?

If you think you do know what you’re doing and I’m just being mean – then utilize the “help” section in PS and you will find the instructions you need.

The Gospel according to Aperture

In the beginning, the camera gods created the kit lens. And it was good. Kind of.

But soon, heretics began worshipping at the feet of the kit lens and its goodness and proclaimed its glory throughout the Kingdom of Photographic.

The prophets confronted the existence of the kit lens and smote them. The heretics saw the sin in which they had become immersed and turned their backs on the kit lens and looked to the prophets for guidance in replacing their current lenses of worship.

The prophets decried the existence of the kit lens and proclaimed the glory of the “fast” lenses. The heretics repented and rushed to find altars of f/1.2  at which to worship.

And all was good. For awhile.

But soon, the prophets saw that the heretics were abusing the lenses at the altars of f/1.2. The goodness and glory of the creation of the 1.2 lens had been desecrated by the heretics.

Gone were the crisp focus of points of interest. Portraits of little sweet little children no longer had both eyes in focus and sometimes not even one was crisp. Instead, the the 1.2 lens was being used to focus on hair, or ears, or teeth, or noses. Or nothing at all.

The prophets wept and beat their fists loudly upon their breasts. (ouch!)

They were saddened and tried to lead the heretics back into the proper worship of the 1.2 lens, but no one listened. And the creation of out of focus portraits continued. And it was not good.

The Kingdom of Photographic soon lost some of its power and glory. The heretics became false prophets of the 1.2 lens and soon there were more false prophets than teachers and elders in the churches in the Kingdom of Photographic.

And thus the 11th commandment was borne:

Thou shalt not purchase a “fast” lens before learning the prayers of Depth of Field and mastering the lessons of Aperture and Focus.

 

What’s your 20?

Have you ever heard this? If not, it’s CB-speak for “What’s your location?”

I’d like you to go to your website and pretend that you are not you. Pretend you are a potential client. Pretend you want to know what city your photography business is located in.

Look. Keep Looking. Look some more.

Did you find it?

I didn’t think so.

This is one of the biggest falldowns I see when looking at photographer websites. More often than not, there is NO indication as to the geographic location of the photographer.

Do yourselves and your clients a favor and update your website immediately.

Have a nice weekend!

The best high key tutorial in the universe

Copyright Zack Arias | www.zarias.com

So… remember my little rant about shooting on white bedsheets? If you don’t remember it, CLICK HERE and read, I’ll wait.

Recently, a Wootness reader commented on that article:

If the skill level is only at the bed sheet stage, then getting white seamless paper is going to be useless. They will have no clue why it come out grey in their photo. It will be highly unlikely they will have the proper lighting and know how to overexpose the paper for white. So if they are going to have an ugly background anyway, it might as well be a wrinkled bed sheet.

Well, that may be true, but I think a little education is in order. Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the bedsheets (and the not-so-good high key). Now I can certainly sit down and write a tutorial on high key photography, but it’s already been done. And very well, I might add. There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel.

Let me introduce you to Zack Arias. You may have heard of him. He’s a photographer that’s been elevated to “Rockstar” status, although don’t confuse him with the Rockstars I wrote about HERE, this man is deserving of his reputation.

He just happens to be the author of an exceptionally well-written tutorial on high-key. It’s the method that I use. So – check it out – practice and get off the list of people we’ll just leave alone about the bedsheets, okay?

ZACK ARIAS HIGH KEY TUTORIAL

Please note that there are 5 parts to this tutorial.

Read through them all and follow them step by step. The secret ingredient in this tutorial is the use of the cutters/flags. THIS ALONE will make a marked improvement in your high hey lighting if you feel you already have a handle on it – so pick that up as an extra technique – it really controls the light flying around in front of the client that is overspill from the background.

You’re welcome.

Embrace your inner MWAC…

MWAC…we say it and we sneer. We jeer when Missy pronounces it the way she does and we roll our eyes when someone says they’re proud to be one.

MWAC, DWAC, GWAC…they all mean the same…someone with a camera.

We scoff and pronounce ourselves professional photographers and move on.

But maybe, just maybe these chicks have it figured out. In a way. The technical crap churned out by newbies – not figured out – no way – no how – but just maybe they have some other things figured out that we haven’t been paying attention to.

I’ve been fairly absent over the last few weeks. I’ve been doing my end-of-the-year analysis for the business, some studio cleanout & reorganization as well as just spending a lot of time with my family. I even did a mini-remodel in our kitchen.

It’s been a long time since I took a break. I finally stopped trying to fit photography in with all my other activities. I had hit burn-out. I stopped letting it take priority over my family and home. I started to think. And started to ask myself some tough questions.

When is the last time I referred to myself as anything other than a photographer?

When did being a photographer become my identity instead of my occupation?

When was the last time that I put “work” on the back burner to enjoy life?

You see where I’m going with this?

For a long time I looked at the MWACs and rolled my eyes whenever they had their children in the studio with them or had a baby strapped to the front of them while shooting a wedding or were vocal about needing to schedule sessions around children nap times. I still think this is an extreme and would not make them practices of my own, but I guess I’m going to have to give them some credit for trying to maintain a better family/work balance than I have been.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. it’s not work, it’s a passion. Whatever. It doesn’t matter what you call it or how much you enjoy it, it’s still work.

I’m going to be giving this a lot of thought as I revamp some things for the new year. How about you?

 

So long, 2011. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass…

Yeah yeah yeah. I’m supposed to be all optimistic and think positively about the new year. Screw that. All I can say is “so long, good riddance.” 2011 frankly, sucked. For a lot of reasons.

Business-wise, it was a toss-up. Business was down, but I’m in tune with the reasons why.

On a personal level, though, I could have done without the year.

So, here’s to re-grouping and moving forward. 2012 -the pressure is on!