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Yesterday was my birthday, which is why I wasn’t sure if I’d get another post up earlier in the day. I have to admit I’m usually not much for the whole birthday celebration things, but this year was just a great birthday. Maybe because it was my “golden birthday.” Either way, I just had a great day all around. Nothing in particular, just felt good.
I can’t thank all the people enough who took the time to tell me happy birthday on Facebook. I only wish they had a way to tag more people in notes. I only tagged a small portion of people with my thank you note because I hit the limit. So if I missed you, I apologize.
Now back to business. Stephanie and I have come up with a small tradition. Out of our love for cheap Champagne, we’ve decided to enjoy some each time we book a wedding. Well, I’m happy to announce that we booked two weddings this week. We’re also meeting with a few couples next week two. We’re very excited these couples have trusted us enough to cover their weddings.
So here’s to our couples. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and wish you many years of happiness filled with nothing but the greatest memories.
I’ll be kind of brief about this post. I spent a few minutes with the crossing guard at Lincoln Elementary School earlier today. This covers the 3 – 4 p.m. time frame, but I definitely didn’t shoot the whole time.
Clyde Strouse’s duty only runs for about 20 to 25 minutes each day, so I had to be quick. I grabbed enough frames to get something I really liked.
I’ll leave out the final shot again, but put up the ones that won’t make it. Let me know what you like or don’t like about the frames that are left out so I can compare your notes to my own and see if I was on the right track. Oh, again, if you’re a Flickr friend you can see the final shot here.
I may get another quick post up later today, but I’m not 100 percent sure.
I’m going to be playing with my new softbox and lights that I got in the mail yesterday. Thanks for looking.
I just really thought this shot was kind of funny. Everyone probably wishes they had a stop sign when a photographer starts shooting pictures of them.
Sorry for the short absence on the blog lately. I’m working on getting a few things up and going in the next few weeks, so posts may be a bit sparse.
I did however have a meeting with another photographer today to get some professional advice about pushing my business forward. Roger Kyler of Kyler Photography in Malta was kind enough to give me about and hour and a half of his time for lunch today.
Not only does Roger do excellent work, but he’s built a very successful photography studio in a relatively small town. Precisely what I would like to do.
I came away from the meeting very motivated and excited about some of the advice he gave me. There were two main points I got out of the meeting with Roger.
No. 1 – Customer service always trumps everything else. Reasonably speaking, you’re not going to be able to impress everyone 100 percent of the time, but you can certainly try. Word of mouth is always the best advertisement a business can have.
No. 2 – Find a niche and go with it. So many photographers try to do too much. As a photographer you need to develop your own style and expertise and really focus on that. Not to say you shouldn’t do other things too, but spend less time on them than you would your main focus.
I think it’s extremely important to have peers that have been there and done that and I’m incredibly grateful for Roger’s time. I just hope I’m able to pay him back for the advice some day and hopefully able to provide similar advice for another photographer in the future.
One of the assignments I chose for this project was to follow a person closing the laundromat down.
We only have one fully-attended laundromat in town, so it made the choice quite easy on me. The time was from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. and the subject was Yolanda Garcia.
Garcia is the mother of five children in Rochelle and has worked at the laundromat for about 11 years now.
It was so nice to work with someone so outgoing and easy to talk to. To be honest, this was the ‘fastest hour’ I’ve shot so far. I looked up one time and said to myself, “Oh crap, I’ve only got 10 minutes!”
I made a lot of really good shots that I was pleased with which made it even harder to edit down this time, but I did it. I’m going to leave out the one I’m going to use, but if you’re a Flickr friend you can see it here.
The other thing I did last night was to make images I knew wouldn’t make the cut. Not because they are bad shots, but because they don’t tell the story. Here’s a few of them here and I’ll explain why the surely won’t make the cut.
The others that do tell the story are also below and I’ll explain why I don’t care for these too.
This one really doesn’t have anything to do with ‘closing time at a laundromat.’ I just kind of liked the look of the nostalgic machine and pop cans displayed at top that I had to make a shot of her cleaning it.
Here you can see Yolanda cleaning the arcade room through a glass bubble gum machine. I just really like all the colors. Again it lends nothing to the story except most laundromats have gumball machines, arcade games and need to be swept.
This one’s not making the cut for one reason. I CHEATED. Sure I’ll admit it, I opened the dryer door, but this was the kind of shot I was imaging when I went in to shoot it. I had already grabbed a lot of what I wanted anyway, so I figured what the heck. It didn’t really turn out the way I imagined either, but most things usually don’t. That’s a lot what I like about photojournalism is that you go into it with an idea of something and it morphs into its own entity.
I just don’t care much for the angle on this one. I’ve got a better angled one, but it’s not as sharp.
I actually like this shot, just not my first choice. If there was a washer or dryer in this shot it would be perfect. It says a lot of what the story is about I think.
As for the first image at the top, I like it, but something small is missing. I may end up changing my mind on which photo I use and switch to that one, but I’m just not 100% sure. I just don’t feel it tells enough of the story. If it showed more of the shop being empty, I would probably have loved it, but that’s almost impossible cosidering it’s tucked away in the corner. You can always hope though!
Soon I’ll be heading to a downtown jewelery store where one of the workers does in-house repairs, hopefully for a ride along with an officer on duty and many other places. If anyone has any great ideas for other jobs or people to cover, please let me know. I’d be more than happy to consider them.
I don’t usually talk about personal stuff on here, but this one kind of ties into business. Yesterday I spent the entire day with my wife for her birthday. We mostly spent the day hanging out, chatting with family and friends and finally went to dinner.
I also started a new tradition. I’ve decided to take a portrait of her each year on her birthday. This year’s portrait was really rushed. I felt like I was shooting a really famous person because I was only given about 5 minutes of her time. She’s a pretty popular person because of how awesome she is.
Between all the phone calls she was getting, the rush to get to dinner and pick out her present on time and the cold weather, it was pretty challenging. We just stopped off near a park and snapped a few.
I’m eventually going to frame her photos year by year when we have at least 10 of them.
Here’s where the business ties in. I’m eventually going to be offering a birthday special for portraits. Customers will have the opportunity to schedule an appointment near their birthday for a free session and free print.
Maybe I’ll even find cool frames for people to use like the one that I’m eventually getting Steph.
I also wanted to post the photos from our dinner. We went to JMK Nippon in Rockford. It’s a Japanese steak house. Having dinner there is more like a show. The cook prepares everything in front of you. Highly recommend this restaurant and in case you’re wondering, they’re very reasonably priced.
Happy birthday Steph! While you may brag that’ you’re older than me just remember, as we get older, that just means I’m 11 days younger. 
Here’s the photos from the rest of the day:
I continued the project last night at Joe’s Hub Lounge in downtown Rochelle. I hung out from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. during closing time. Joe was nice enough to let me hang out and get the photos of him cleaning up and preparing to shut down.
This isn’t the photo I’m going to use, but it’s similar. I have one that I like just a little better.
I had a blast by the way. I normally go up to Abe’s in Rochelle, but I think I’m going to have to make a few more stops at the Hub Lounge. I played a few round of darts too, but quickly realized I needed to start shooting again. I used to be pretty decent, but the combination of bar darts and lack of playing got me rolled.
I will say I definitely did a lot more watching than shooting this time. Normally I shoot a few hundred photos in the entire hour, but last night I only shot about 150. Very low for me.
I took the chance to shoot some middle school basketball earlier this week and finally got them uploaded.
I tried a slightly different lighting setup this week in the gym and was somewhat happy with it, but I still want to tweak a few things. Instead of keeping the lights at the same end of the gym behind me, I decided to put one at each end and only shoot from that side.
The effect gave me a lot of rim light and really opened up the backcourt a lot. A plus and a negative. I really like the rim light, but didn’t like the bright background.
I had the light spilling across the backwall so it would be a little softer and wouldn’t give me as much flare at the far end, but it skimmed everything on the backwall.
Here’s what it looked like. You can see the light on the far end bouncing off the wall on the far end. It gave me a really nice soft light when shooting from that end. I just wish it spilled further out, but my choice is either that nice soft light or harsh dark shadows. I’m trying to come up with a way I can get the lights really high. I might have to make a pole that can be raised up and down with a stud on the end and mount it to the bleachers. Something to think about at least.
Something I’ll definitely change in the future. Part of the problem is I usually don’t have a ton of time to mess with the setups before I start shooting at the games. There’s only about 30 minute span before the games start and school ends.
The more I shoot there the more I’ll get used to it though. Here’s just a few from the shoot. If you’re a Flickr friend, here’s the link to the rest.
I’m back and updating again. Been a little silent for mostly one reason. I’ve been a little lazy. About the blog at least. I could give you a ton of excuses, but it really comes down to that. I’ve just had other things a little more important lately and this has taken a quick back seat. Don’t worry though, wedding season is right around the corner and should lead to a lot of blog posts. Plus, baseball season is even closer and I’m sure I’ll be updating shooting some of that.
Today, I’ll talk a bit about my last shoot for the 24-hour project. I chose the barbershop for an early afternoon shoot. Specifically from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. I have to admit I love barbershops, though I rarely get my haircut there. There’s an old-timed feel to them of men sitting around complaining about their wives, the weather and whatever else comes to mind.
I’d have to say my experience was pretty much up to par last Friday with what I expected. (Minus the wife complaints). All the guys were really relaxed and talked to each other like they had known each other their whole lives. It’s very endearing. I’m a big fan personal relationships with customers. Not only does it usually make business easier and more honest, but it’s just great to build friendships and relationships with other people.
Best part about shooting a bunch of guys in the barbershop is that none of them are too concerned with their looks. If I had tried this in a salon it would be a different story. I’m not bashing on women, it’s just the truth. Girls usually only want their picture taken when they look good. Understandable, but hard for what I’m trying to do because my job isn’t necessarily to make the subject look pretty. I’m trying to tell a story. A little different when I’m shooting portraits.
So let me take you through the shoot. I also wouldn’t mind a little advice on which photo tells the story the best.
1. Arrival
I show up shortly after 2 and introduce myself to the barber I haven’t met yet. (I only spoke with one of the guys previously.) We talk a little bit about who each person is, who knows who and what exactly I’m doing. I always like to clarify to people what my project is to ease any fears. I know if a photojournalist was following me for an hour I’d be a little nervous too.
2. Shooting (Survey)
I always like to snap a few frames to check my exposures and see what I get. I usually start from where I enter and work around. I also look for things I might want to shoot in the future. I try to take my time and make each frame count, but I’m a bit OCD, so I get a little shutter crazy sometimes.
3. Shooting (Find the angles)
After the survey of the area I usually move in and out of different angles finding how the light reacts differently to the frames, finding where I can and can’t get to and mostly getting a better feel for the area. Barbershops are pretty tight, so not a lot of movement here.
4. Shooting (Details)
No matter what I shoot, I almost always shoot detail shots. Not necessarily with sports, but definitely with regular assignments. You never know when it could come in handy. I’d really like to get a 100 Macro for this, but can’t warrant it right now.
5. Shooting (Talking)
After long periods of silence I start to talk with subjects to ease them again. Many times conversations get started and then halt because I begin shooting. The more you talk to a subject the move you ease them into acting naturally. It wasn’t a big problem in this case as everyone was joking and having a good time, but I’ve had it happen before.
6. Watching
I like to take about 5 or 10 minutes and just watch what the person does. I get so wrapped up in shooting at times that I miss important details. This forces me to calm down and analyze my shots. It doesn’t always warrant better shots, but it USUALLY does.
7. Finish
Before I leave I snap a few more shots as safetys. I know they’re usually just repeats, but you never know.
8. Regrets
Inevitably, as I’m leaving there is always an “Aha” moment where I see something and say “Aha, that’s how I should’ve shot it.” Sorry though, too late. The time was 3:03. Actually, I didn’t really regret it. I still grabbed the frame for my own sake, but wish I would’ve seen it before. Sure I could sneak it in as a photo between 2 and 3, but that would be dishonest and against everything I believe in.
Now, which photo do you guys like the best or best tells the story. I won’t tell you where I’m leaning in order to keep my opinion out.
I finally got a start on my 24 hour project this morning. I had planned to do it a week and a half ago, but after sleeping in last time, I didn’t get to actually start it.
Luckily Greg at the radio station was cool enough to understand and let me reschedule with them for this morning. I spent from 6 a.m. to a little after 7 a.m. with him in the studio at the station.
It brought back memories of when I briefly worked for an AM station back home. I used to run the St. Louis Cardinal games on the weekends. A monkey could’ve probably done my job, but I remember being so nervous about it all the time. All I really had to do was queue (?) up the commercials and when the announcer said they were going to commercial I would have to move a few sliders and click a button or two.
Greg’s job is a little more complicated than that and he has to speak on the radio.
Being in the studio made me a slightly nervous, but for different reasons this time. Even though I had asked Greg if my shutter sounds would be heard over air and he assured me it was near impossible, I still felt nervous about it. Plus I hate to interrupt anyone’s normal flow. Especially when they’re speaking to people on the radio.
Greg did a great job and acted like I wasn’t there at all. Something every photojournalist struggles to do with most their subjects. I’ll post these beginning photos, but can’t promise to put all 24 hours online until after the project prints. Just wouldn’t seem fair.
I would say it’s a decent start to the project and can’t wait to get some others done. I don’t have the full list complete for things I’m going to shoot, so any suggestions are more than welcome.
