Eliminating the specialty work mindset (sell your work to the world!)

I do it, you probably do it, we all do it.  And no, I'm not talking about procrastination, though this does relate (and we all do that as well)!  What I'm talking about is when we don't believe that theres much of a market for the type of work that we do.  I call this the "specialty work mindset".  By definition (which I'm making up right now...) this means that we believe that our work is very niche and only has a very small and certain market.

Action sports photographers find themselves in this niche all the time.  My eyes were first opened wide to what I was doing when I spoke with pro skier Trevor Hiatt.  He explained to me that "the money is outside of the ski industry."  But how can that be?  Here I was thinking the whole time that the only places to sell skiing photos, was to skiing companies, resorts, and ski related magazines.

Video Tutorial: Make your images pop using LAB mode in Photoshop

Video is easiest to watch in full screen mode, click the bottom right corner button to enlarge!

Shoot Journal: Slack Line Photography

Basic slack lining takes a  lot of balance, strength, and determination to learn.  It's a lot of fun, but doesn't appear to be too exciting (photographically at least).  For my shoot last night, I decided to try and capture it in a more artistic and dynamic way.  My goal was to make the athlete look like a model on the slack line.  It was tough to accomplish this, and the results aren't what I was intending for, but I ended up with some very cool shots by changing the approach part way through.

Anatomy of an Image #7

Capturing architecture seems like it would be incredibly hard.  The area you have to light is very large, and the shot should be technically perfect.  With a few little things to remember, you will be well on your way to capturing great images.  So here's some advice for approaching a shot like this.  And remember, practice makes perfect, your first attempt might not come out very good.

When setting up for a shot like this, I will first always scout the location.  If you don't know what your shooting, how can you expect to show up at sunset and create a great image in a matter of minutes?  Determine whether the shot will look best at sunset or sunrise.  (It sucks and no it isn't fair, but sometimes shots actually do look best at sunrise....)  So good morning sleepy eyes!  Lucky for me, this was one of the shots that looked best after sunset.

Shoot what you love to shoot

Photography is a passion, an art, a lifestyle, and if your smart enough, a career.  As a photographer, you are challenged to come up with consistently enticing and amazing photographs for clients and yourself.  The vision grows with you and becomes better with time, but for success, should follow a basic rule:  Shoot what your love to shoot.  In other words, don't force a career by shooting subjects that don't entice you.  Spend your time shooting the things that you enjoy shooting, and build your career off those subjects.

If you follow your passion, and really stick with it, you can become a huge success.  But when photography turns into work that your only doing for the money, you lose some of your vision and passion.  Stick with the subject matter that is important to you and your photos will reflect your happiness.  If skateboarding is your favorite thing in the world, shoot it!  If weddings are your cup of tea, shoot them!  The one's who shoot just for the money rarely get great images.

Shoot Tips: Shooting an amphitheater

Over the past few evenings I have been on assignment capturing images of the Ford Amphitheater in Vail, CO.  The assignment seemed quite intense, and lighting everything was not a possibility, until it was dark enough out.  Fortunately, theaters have excellent lighting (at least for the stage).

(more images to be added soon after editing!)

There are several things I learned on this shoot, and I felt the best way to share them was with a list.

Inspiration to make you more successful as a photographer!

It's been a bit of time since the last post, and I'm sure the wait has been almost unbearable for many loyal APB fans.  I've been off shooting Crankworx Colorado with barely enough time for sleep each night, and will have posts all about it later this week!  I've also been on a custom film/photo shoot sponsored by Red Bull to shoot Dirt Jumping on Mountain Bikes.  And finally, I'm now sitting at home trying to heal my mouth after having my wisdom teeth removed. Whew, what a week!

Get Published!!

Becoming a published photographer in a magazine can jump start your career and get you noticed by the right people.   I’m writing this article to help all the photographers out there that dream of seeing their work published, but don’t know how to go about getting it noticed by the right eyes.

The ins-and-outs of event photography

Event photography is both exciting and challenging.  Securing saleable shots at an event where you have limited access and no direct connections with the athletes can be an extremely difficult task. There are usually hundreds or even thousands of fans standing everywhere you want to be, and your press pass will only get you into certain places containing handfuls of other photographers who are all vying for the best shots.  Through my own experiences I have learned some very successful ways to overcome these obstacles. 

Cold Calls (Effective, and Smart!!)

Calling some company/person who you have never met can be terrifying.  It's awkward, uncomfortable, and definitely out of almost everyone's comfort zone.  The truth about it is that it CAN increase your business and WILL land you new clients.  It may not happen in the first 10 calls, but you must be persistent.

Shadow/Highlights Masking with Photoshop CS4

before

after

One of my all time favorite adjustments that I will perform on just about every single image is shadow/highlights.  This is a very simple tool that if used correctly, will yield incredible results.  The most important detail about this tool is that it CAN be overdone.  If you over do highlight recovery, you will lose your true whites, and if you overuse shadows, you will have a halo around the darker spots of your images.  

Up and Down days.

Every job has it's ups and downs and photography is no exception. Occasionally I will find myself sitting at home wondering why my career is not where I think it should be, and if I'm really good enough to make a living off photography.  This is normal.  It's easy to get on top of the world one day, and then lose all confidence the next.

Start selling stock today, and see why it's so great for photographers

If your not on Flickr yet, it is now time to join!  I've found it helps bring traffic to both this blog, and my personal site.  It's a great place to showcase your work and to get feedback on results from recent shoots.  I recommend joining many groups that reflect what you shoot and which equipment you use.  From there you can post your images in groups and people will view and maybe comment on your images.

Every pro needs a professional website

Let's face it, the internet is not the fad that Dwight from The Office claims it is.  It is here to stay.  I've now had a website for over 3 years, and have finally designed one that I feel really represents my work, you can view it at www.cnwphoto.com.  After looking at sites I liked on the web I found one that really stood out to me.  It's professional photographer Cole Barash's site at www.colebarash.com.  I noticed at the bottom that it was created by a company called Livebooks. They are running a free 14-day trial, and after that, it only costs $39 a month.  Not too bad for the photographer with little time to manage a site, and not much experience with design.

The art of delicate light balance

This is the shot that I took 2nd place in the Teva Mountain Games with.  My lovely assistant/girlfriend (Kelly) helped carry my 18.6 pound alienbee battery pack and flash head halfway up Vail mountain.  I highly recommend getting an assistant of your own (especially if they don't charge....)

Ladies Restroom photography...need I say more?

On-Location photography with mixed lighting, and a failing flash is a worst case scenario for someone like me.  I definitely prefer the great outdoors, with a simple mixture of sun in the equation.

I was assigned to shoot photos for a case-study this week at the Eagle County Regional Airport.  They needed photos of the partitions in the ladies restroom, along with photos of the GM of the airport and the architect who designed them.  Pretty weird if you ask me....

Skate Denver Shoot

Sunny weather, smelly people(you know who you are...), sessioning features, and sun burns.  These are just some of the aspects that made up the great shoot that I had on Thursday for Cavan Images.


Read more and learn some of my methods to the madness.....................................

Preparing for a stock shoot...

The day shoot seems like such a simple idea, you get your models together, head out and shoot.  Easy right? 


Read more by clicking link below...........................................

The Update E-mail (what is it? Why will it improve my business?)

The update e-mail is sent when I have something new happen to my business. It does not need to be big or exciting, just something that's either changed, or improved.  When something like this happens, such as an update to your website, a good change in business policy, just about anything that could be viewed as a positive thing, send out an e-mail describing it.  When I update my website, I like to send out a broadcast e-mail to all of the people that I am currently working with, or have worked with before.  This reminds clients that you are working hard, and motivates them to view the new update.  Although this is not direct marketing, it does start the gears turning.  Almost every time I have sent out an update, a client has contacted me with either more work, or desire to purchase an image.

My most recent update described my cover and spread in Photoshop User magazine this month.  Next time you have an update, send out that broadcast e-mail to everyone, and enjoy the work that may come from it.

Senior Portraits, Moving to a new place, running business, sales.... soo much to do so little time!

(Note: ALL IMAGES ARE UNEDITED AND NOT RETOUCHED AS OF NOW)

I Know that my posts have been lacking lately.... but I will tell myself right now that it is OK because I am so busy.   Saying that will at least let me sleep tonight (can't disappoint my fans!).  The last two nights I've been shooting a couple of senior portraits.  When I went out to capture these shots, I decided that I wanted some traditional, and some very unique shots.  My results are posted above.  Going out to shoot, there was no set location, and we drove to places I believed might be good at this time.  Normally, I like to have gone out and scouted everything in advance, but this is not a perfect world....  I used my Alienbees B1600 lights, a 32"x40" softbox, and some lastolite trigrip diffusers and reflectors.  If the sun was shining on the subjects face, I would place the softbox to the side that needed the largest boost.  This is known as fill light, and helps even the lighting and get rid of harsh shadows.  I would get more into the technical details, but I will save that until I have more time!  Look for more posts on this subject soon and enjoy these shots.  Any comments or feedback is greatly appreciated and can be posted by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.  Now it's time for me to get back to packing, and editing!