After a fashion... Blue Mountains Photographer goes 20's

I'm woefully behind on blogging. There's a lot happening in my life right now and it's just crazy!

Anyway, Katoomba held the Roaring 20's festival a few months back and I enjoyed shooting many of the events.
One of my favourite shots is this one, with models from the Charlotte Smith 'Dreaming of Chanel' /Darnell Collection. These guys aren't professional models, but girls who just 'suit' the clothing and era.


Check it out next year for awesome 20's events, dress up, pop your tux or flapper dress on and come join us.

Via Flickr:
Part of the shoot for the Roaring 20's Festival in the Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains Photographer - Hangin' with the wildlife

I know there's a few American and Canadian friends who read this blog so I thought I'd just post a pic of one of our Antipodean furry friends especially for them.

This mob of kangaroos were on the beach and then later came to lie around on the grass in front of our beach house, so we lay there with them for an hour or so just watching them. They really are beautiful and unusual creatures.

They have REALLY amazing feet... (Click the images to make them bigger)

They also really like apple... 

 And a good snooze afterwards ....

(How sweet is that?}



***If you'd like to use my kanga pictures for your personal (non commercial) use, please just right click and save.  Commercial, please contact me first.  I haven't ever said no but it's just a courtesy:-)

Blue Mountains Photographer ~ Catching the light

So I headed away from the mountains and down to the coast. It was late when we arrived. We drifted off to the sound of the surf on the beach.
I woke just before dawn and grabbed my camera, walking down the few steps to the beach in my pyjamas.
There were kangaroos nibbling the grass in the half light in front of me.
Down on the beach, the sea was calm and over on the horizon, the sun started to appear.
I snapped on the beach for over an hour but this is my favourite shot because of the other photographer standing there on the headland who arrived to do the same exact same thing. We never met and he's just a black figure in this shot... just another like minded individual who was up at the same time, waiting to capture the sunrise like me.

Blue Mountains Photorgrapher ~Shot of the day...

Such a beautiful shoot in the Megalong Valley this morning. The birds were calling, the morning mists lifting, the sun filtering through the rainforest canopy and onto the paddocks below.
The Megalong Valley is filled with such calm beauty at this time of morning, it's a joy to be there.
Enjoy your weekend.

Tall trees

These trees on the southern coast of Australia reminded me of Mel Jones' work.  I was trying to take them at the angle that she paints them.  If there'd been a setting moon behind them, it would have been perfect.  Alas, it was the wrong direction for that. 
You can see her at Journeymoon Art... Mel's currently the Artist in Residence at Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens.
Check out her beautiful work around the Blue Mountains.

'Liking'...

'Liking' every other photographer's artwork on Facebook will not only waste your time, but it will hamper your creativity.

You think it's giving you good ideas to see what other people are doing but really, it's limiting you to what other people are creating, and removing the focus from what you are creating.
Not only that, if they're being hyper creative, it will merely point the finger at your lack and you'll feel bad.
Then you're on the Ultimate Photographer's Spiral of Doom...

'Oh no, their work is so much better than mine.  I'm rubbish.  I'm not doing what they're doing.  Boo hoo me.'

Do you WANT to be on the Ultimate Photographer's Spiral of Doom? (The UPSD for short, because I like FLA's)

There comes a point where it's a good idea to stop looking at other people's art, pick up your camera, your paintbrush, or your pencils and let out what is inside you without giving a damn what other people are doing.  Their work is no 'better' than yours.  There is no 'better'... there is only 'different'.

Release your creativity.   Stop embracing theirs.

There, I said it.  So shoot me.

So You Want to Be A Photographer? Part II

So, you've decided you're going to set yourself up as a photographer.
Great!
So now you're a photographer... you say you're a photographer and you have a website that makes you look like a photographer.  So now you need to market yourself.
So how are you going to do that exactly?

At this point, you should be referring to your business plan because you'd be crazy to go into business without a business plan, right?
 I've got mine sitting in this basket besides my desk (It's not the rubbish basket, it's my 'on hand' filing system)  Where do you keep yours?

What, you didn't write one?  Are you serious?
 Doh!
Go directly to jail.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

See that question I asked up there... the 'How are you going to do that exactly' question?

That's the question you need to have answered in your business plan.
Not only the how but the why and where and when of your business.  If you haven't written one, you're 'winging' it.  Chancing your arm, (I don't know why we say that in England but I'm sure someone will enlighten me) and hoping for the best.
Basically you don't have any direction, you have no idea how you're going to grow and market your business and you have nothing to show a bank manager should you want a loan but not only that, you have nothing to refer to which will keep you on track.

You may be a creative artist, but if you don't have a clue what you're doing and how you're going to do it, then you deserve to fail.
Truly.  And I'm sorry if that's harsh, but it's for your own good. 


Find a business plan template on the web NOW and download it.  Banks have them for free, and there are plenty out there.  Now fill it in and then we'll talk further about building a portfolio.

Have fun!

So You Want to Be A Photographer?

Really?
I've read a lot of stuff on being a photographer over the past few years of running my business and there's been none better than the text I'm about to share with you.
This is the bottom line in photography... it's kinda bleak, it's pretty depressing in its stark reality but also, it's up to you to make it work.   You ARE the bottom line.

Would you like to photograph anything you want, anywhere you want, anytime you want, any way you want, with a great professional camera system? Would you love to travel to luxury destinations and photograph whatever, whenever you want?

The only way to do this is to keep your real job and do photography on your own time.

If you want to photograph professionally you'll make less money, have to shoot the boring stuff in crappy locations for which you're hired, shoot it the way the client wants, and probably have to shoot everything as if it's some big emergency every time. You'll probably only be able to afford beat up old gear that's "good enough."

Making a buck in photography is a lot tougher than keeping a real job. The photo jobs and locations that pay the most are the most boring. Think you're going to have people hiring you as a travel photographer? Guess again.It's exactly like golf or surfing. Golf is fun, and it's almost impossible to get people to pay you to do it. Only one guy in ten million makes lots of money in surfing, photography or acting. Everyone else who makes the money does it in something allied to the field, like making or selling product or the dream.

We all know the few actors who pull in $20 million per movie. Did you know the average annual income of the many SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) members, the majority of whom we've never heard, is something more like $20,000? The SAG website's FAQ page offers this advice on how to become a performer: "Develop another career to supplement your income." People pay photographers less than actors.

A person who studied stage lighting in college and worked in Hollywood discovered that almost no one makes it in the fun job of lighting. The people who make more money more regularly are those who become lighting salesmen.

Who makes more: an actor, or an agent who earns 10% from each of the 20 clients they represent?

If you want to make money in photography, it's probably not by doing photography....

Read the rest of the article here.
With thanks to Ken Rockwell for the most down to earth, sanest post ever made in the world of photography.

Think Local - Act Global

In the coming weeks, I'm going to be blogging about businesses that I'm connected with both here in the Blue Mountains and some further down towards the plains.  These businesses are ones that I know personally and recommend because they're the best at what they do. 

Amongst the businesses are celebrants, those in the beauty industry, web design, and graphic design so keep watching.
I'll also be focussing on some new businesses in Katoomba too, as well as taking some photographs along the way.

Enjoy the ride!

Headshot time

Been very busy this week with headshots.

Now, headshots are commercial thingymabobs essential for everyone who wants to get their face 'out there' into the wide world of public land.  You want to look like yourself, but you also want to look dynamic and professional, right?
Well sure, but how do we do that?

Generally I shoot commercial headshots with a prime lens.   Nikon's 50mm lens is my weapon of choice for portrait shots, but when I take my tiny lens out of the bag, the client usually asks 'Is that it?' because they're expecting some all singing, all dancing piece of kit the size of the Eiffel tower. 
Well because it's tiny, doesn't mean it doesn't kick ass!

Try it some time.

I also shoot with a telephoto lens, because I love the depth of field it gives me (That's when the client says 'Wow - that's big!).  You'll really stand out.  It really depends on what look we're aiming for.

My client B has co-authored a very interesting book, entitled The Sixth Wave, and I highly recommend you add it to your reading list.   It's fascinating stuff.
In her case, we're looking to get nice and close up and keep the background as a relevant part of her shot.  It's lovely aged wood which has a great texture and colour.  It's a nice shot given her science journalist background which we're keeping relevant.  We're shooting outside using perfect afternoon light so no need for a load of lights and a softbox.

No teeth always makes a commercial headshot look better.  We're going for quiet professionalism here, not grinning like a chimp.  Whilst my client has lovely teeth, we keep them out of the shot.

The client wants something natural, a little relaxed and something that is 'her' - not too posed and not too 'studio'.

I keep close up, shoot rapidly whilst my client is relaxing into the session and we're done.
This shot to the above is taken whilst I'm on a ladder I bought with me - a pretty essential part of kit if you're going to shoot people - which we'll talk about later.


Next post, I'm going to talk about how you can achieve great results with your headshots or in fact, any session in front of the camera.

Style

Style has no formula, but it has a secret key.
It is the extension of your personality.
Ernst Haas

My eleven year old daughter has told me that she can always recognize one of my photographs, even when they're with a load of others, like on the Korowal school website for example.  This is because they have a certain style.
Someone who's just started in photography recently asked me how long it took to 'define' my 'style'.
The honest answer to that is that I don't really know though at a guess, probably two to three years if we're talking about what I present to you when I take a photograph right now.
But style is not just about 'seeing'... it's about showing who you are through your artwork.  It's an extension of your personality.

But how can you develop a style?  And why should you?  Is it really that important?

If I gave you a load of photographs from Ansel Adams, Yousuf Karsh and Jerry N. Uelsman, (three of my photographic gods) you'd have no problems sorting them out because of their difference in style.

Creating a style is about a unique way of 'seeing'.  The way you see things is the way no-one else sees... and the way you see is coloured by who you are.

 People don't watch enough. They think. It's not the same thing.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri, above, has it totally on the nail when he says people don't watch enough.  As a photographer, you need to see whatever it is you see and the only way to do that is watch.
It always amazes me how many photographers copy other famous photographers styles.  I see it time and time again in the exhibitions I visit.  There's nothing really wrong with this legally.  It's a good exercise to produce something 'in the style of', and you'd probably get asked to do this if you were at art school or doing a photography course... but for your photography it's not your vision you're using, it's theirs.
Developing your own style isn't about copying someone else's style, it's about knowing who you are, the way you see and letting your work become an extension of who you are inside.  If you make a living from copying someone else's work, you're not including your own personality in that.


Everyone seems to use Photoshop these days.  PS is full of filters, actions, and techniques.  These are not new and throwing the latest PS technique over your shots won't give you style.  PS is merely the software version of what has been available in the darkroom for many, many years.  Often, working in PS or other software manipulation can lead to new discoveries... new ways of processing, but PS is not a style in itself.  It's a medium... Something that can help you achieve your personal style.

I know of some photographers who PS the hell out of their shots, when the shot that came out of the camera first was absolutely fine and good.    Did it need to be re-coloured, softened, sharpened, actioned, etc?  Nope.  Leave it alone.  Let it speak for itself.
There's a pressure here... 'What do you mean, you don't use PS?'  'Really?'
Yes, really.  I have PS.  It sits here monolith like on my computer and wow, it's a great tool, but I rarely open it for any of my photographs.  It's not what defines my style.  If you'd be lost without digital manipulation tools, then why is that?

And as regards my style, I'm not sure that I have entirely finished developing it.  To say that I've finished would be an acknowledgement that I've stopped growing as a person, and that's just simply not true.  Whilst I guess my personality has pretty much set, my growth as who I am has not.  If I look at my very early photographs, they're very different to what I do now, technically and in style.
I'm still journeying.
My only advice to those who are developing their style... keep taking photographs, keep making mistakes, don't be afraid of making errors, keep learning, keep experimenting but most of all, enjoy it.

Style isn't a destination, it's a journey.

Weekend shooting...

I was shooting at Korowal School's fair last weekend.  Such beautiful children everywhere!  Now mine are growing up, well, older than toddlers anyway, I get to enjoy everyone else's chubby angels.
I couldn't get over this little girl's beautiful eyes.  Incredible!
Hope you enjoy these candid shots from the day.

Weddings - by Solitary Photographic

There's something quite lovely about a wedding ... especially when the shoot is in the beautiful Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia.

Welcome to Solitary Photographic's blog. I hope you enjoy your stay.