New Ventures: Stock Photography

Hard to believe that a few weeks have gone by since I've posted anything.  I have to be better about posting quick, little things.  Lots of new and exciting things happening but one that I want to share now is about becoming a photo contributor for a company that I now work for - Shutterstock.

Stock photography is an industry that's relatively new and its setup to allow for customers (people like ad agencies, designers or other creatives) to use "stock" content for their advertising.  Because there's both photo and video, this could be for something like a print ad or possibly a television commercial.  What the stock house (e.g., Shutterstock) does is license the use of the media (photo or video) to the buyer.  There are a few competitors in the space and probably the best known is Getty Images.

So, shortly after I started here I attempted to create an account and become a contributor but....I was rejected.  10 out of 10.  Not even one got through.  Hmm.  Okay, plan B.  I met and became friendly with the content manager and asked him to sit down to take a look at some of what I consider to be my good work and it turns out I was just submitting the wrong stuff.  He helped with what to submit and after I obtained a few model releases to grant permission from the subject of the image to sell them, I resubmitted new content and was APPROVED!  Yay!  When you get a chance, check out my images for sale on Shutterstock.

Pittsburgh: Our answer to Hurricane Irene

Every year, we take a family trip out of town for our anniversary at the end of August.  This year, it coincided with Hurricane Irene.  We originally planned to go to Ocean City, MD however, this was directly in the path of the storm and made a decision to go elsewhere.  So, the day before we were supposed to leave, we canceled our trip to Ocean City and that evening we had to plan for a new location.  We knew the destination had to be: 1) Out of the storm's path, 2) Drivable in a day and 3) Has a mix of kids and adult things to do.  After an hour or so of looking, we landed on Pittsburgh.  

Neither of us had been before so our expectations were low.  We did some additional research in the car using our iPhone, something that wasn't even feasible not so long ago.  We packed several things into the trip for such a short time (we were there for 2 full days, not including driving time).  We went on a cruise that had a pirates theme.  As you can see from the picture above, Emersyn was into it!  We also went on an inclinator up a large mountain to get some great pictures (that's where I got the pano at the top of this post - its about 15 shots stitched in Photoshop).  Finally, we took a ride around the city on a "ducky tour".  Pretty fun time and we made it in and out of the water on this "boat" without a hitch.

6 hours drive in, 2 days there and 6 hours back to fortunately find our house in the same condition we left it in after the storm.   Sweet.

Mom's Visit

Its always nice to have grandparents in to visit, especially when its not for a birthday or holiday.  It allows for some quality time.  We didn't have a ton of 1:1 time with "Grandma Sharon", as she's known, and Emersyn but I managed to get a few good pictures I wanted to share.

Lights, Camera, Wall Street

Everyday can be an interesting day when you commute into lower Manhattan.  There's been extra activity around Wall Street lately with the media and the focus on the economy.  Here's a quick snap-shot of what I walked through this morning...

People Watching: How People Take Picture

Something that might turn into a series here on the blog, since I now have access to LOTS of great people watching, is various takes on things I see each day on my commute.  First up is my observation of how others (mostly tourist) take pictures in NYC.  As you'll notice from my collage below is that there are a variety of ways people approach the basic snap shot.  Some get in what seem to be very uncomfortable positions.  Some focus the lens with their hand from the top, others from the bottom.  Some try to emulate the expression they're hoping to get from their subject (like a smile) others don't appear to have their eyes open.  Some count down with their fingers.  Some hide behind objects.  The collage shows a pretty diverse selection of tourists.  Old and young and people from all over the world.  That's NYC for ya.

One interesting fact behind this mini project image is that I probably spent more time putting this image together than it took to take all these pictures.  I took these on two separate days and probably spent 10 minutes on each day snapping away.  There are lots of tourist to choose from and what I found fun and interesting at the same time is that people are so focused on the picture they're taking they hardly paid attention at all to the fact that I was taking a picture of them taking pictures.  :-)

 

 

My Commute is like a Scrum Project

I like to draw parallels between different things sometimes just for fun. I have a new commute now and it got me thinking that I can see a lot similarities between my commute and running a Scrum project. Check out this link for a longer explanation but it's essentially a way of approaching problems (like with software development) in an iterative way where you have short blocks of time to deliver something and after each time boxed iteration you think about what you could do better next time to improve.

In my commute I'm bound by very specific timelines. I have a train to catch and things to get done at work so every minute counts. So here's how I think of it. See if you see the similarities....

My requirement or "story" would read something like, "As a commuter, I want to make my train each day with minimal delay so that I can accurately predict my arrival time and maximize my work time." Some tasks that might fall under this story are things like:
- research paths from train to office
- research paths from office to train (can't assume they'll be the same)
- understand average elevator time on the office building during rush hour times
- know range of walking times during different weather
- know the time table for the train from NYC to Hoboken which is my connection to the NJ commuter train home (how long and when does it leave)
...you get the idea

I've done this commute for a few weeks now and it sounds like a lot to think about...and it is, at first, but you get to know all the variables pretty quickly and once the process is repeatable an predictable, you're on your way to being successful. Got to make something like commuting challenging and fun!

 

A Wedding To Shoot

One of my bigger goals this year was to shoot a wedding.  Actually, to second shoot.  Its a pretty big difference between the two as the primary shooter is on the hook for really delivering the goods to the bride and groom.  The second shooter duties vary a little but for the most part, they are there to help the primary shooter in any way they need to make the day better for them and ultimately for the couple.

There are a couple forums I watch on a regular basis to keep an eye out for postings from established photographers when they need a second shooter.  You'd think that in the NYC area, there would be a lot of opportunity for this but there are very few.  A couple months back, I was able to line up a second shooter "gig".  Not terribly local however, it was a great opportunity.

I exchanged many emails with Erin (the primary shooter) prior to the event and then made my journey up about 4 hours north the night before the wedding to be ready for shooting the next day.  My first task was to shoot the groom getting ready.  As I got closer to the house, I was waved on by a few guys sitting in the garage drinking beer and smoking.  Its 10am. 

They were very nice and invited me in. As I was approaching, I heard the groom say to the other guys, "I forgot the photographer was even coming by today".  Hmm.  Not sure what to think so far.  I proceeded into the garage and hung out for a few minutes as they said they were waiting for someone else to arrive.  I met the grandmother and the grooms son from a previous marriage.  He was about 8.  The other person they were waiting for never showed and time was running out so we proceeded into the house to start the prep.  The room was poorly lit, on the small side, and had a lot of distracting elements.  That's okay, its my first challenge and I was able to get a few images I was happy with before we moved onto the church.

I headed to the church and met Erin in person for the first time.  We talked quickly about what she'd like me to get and went to it.  She was so easy going and that helped me so much when it came to relaxing and focusing on the images.  The ceremony started around noon and felt like it went so quickly.  I said to Erin afterward that either that was a super fast ceremony or it was just the fact that I was so focused on capturing as much as I could that I lost track of time.  Either way, it was fast.

 

Onto the formal shots.  The weather wasn't cooperating so we shot most everything inside and I was there to catch the alternate angle.  One thing I noticed throughout the day was that I really needed to have a second camera body on me because there's NO TIME to change lenses. Next time, I'll have to rent that second body to help me with speed. :-)

For the reception, we setup some off-camera lighting that Erin had so that was fun to experiment with a bit.  From what she was saying, its a little unusual to have a second shooter that knows much about off-camera lighting so I was glad I could add that to the mix.  I got some table shots and a few of the toasts…and that's about it.  Actually, no.  One other interesting thing came up that I think is fairly common.  Toward the beginning of the reception, we heard that the groom was DONE with pictures.  Didn't want them anymore.  That was a bit of a problem considering we hadn't taken any "formals" of the bridal party.  I managed to kind of nicely talk them into a few pictures which helped Erin out since she really needed these shots and she needed to focus on some other things at the time I was getting these.  Hence, the value of a second shooter, right?  Anyway, because of the long drive, I had to leave around 3:00.  By the time I got home it was around 8:30.  Long day.

It took me a while but I finally went through the ~450 images I shot and narrowed it down to about 30 that I was pretty happy with.  From that, I've further filtered it down to about 8 to post here and add to my gallery.  Its true what many have said about this profession.  You really have to love it.  Its a lot of work, long hours, and often not much pay.  Even still, I'm looking forward to doing it again.!

Work isn't supposed to be like this…

Just the word "work" should conjure up certain things for you.  Everyone's job is different but for me, especially recently, I would think of words like "politics", "power struggle", "resistance", "complicated", "restrictions", etc.  That's not to say that it was all bad.  It wasn't.  It's more that if someone asked me what I thought of where I worked last, I would use these words first to describe it.  I just started a new job and for me, its a whole new way of thinking of "work".

Now, to be fair, this new gig does very nicely line up my personal interests (photography) with my professional skills (Agile Project Management) so that's a great step toward happiness.  My previous employment was in NJ (driving) and now I'm back in NYC on the train and for me that's a plus.  It allows me to get things done (like writing this blog) that I would have otherwise lagged for quite some time to finish. 

When I interviewed for this new job, I could tell that the culture was somewhat similar to where I was a couple years ago except for one major thing.  Big vs. small company.  All my previous employers have been for pretty large organizations.  I know that I'm still in the honeymoon period so I hope I don't eat my words later but so far, I'm lovin' it.  Things are just easier.  I'm thinking it may be difficult to work for a large company again. Time will tell. The other welcome change for me is being able to work on a Mac all-day-long!  This is huge for me. 

To summarize:
- Fun work focused on Photography and Video
- Work in cool setting in NYC
- Work on a Mac all-day-long
- Train time to get things done

I'm hoping to try out the well known phrase, "if you do what you love, its not work".

Amy's Bat Mitzvah

A few weeks ago, we were able to make a family trip up to CT for a special party to celebrate Amy's 13th birthday; and in the Jewish religion that can also mean that you have a Bat Mitzvah.  Before I get too much further, Amy is my mother-in-law's, boyfriend's granddaughter.

The event was held at a country club that we had been to one other time (for Amy's sister's Bat Mitzvah a few years ago).  It has a nice area for eating, a bar, and a dance floor.  They also have some entertainment for the kids with a magician and DJ and a little candy booth.  Emersyn enjoyed the magic and I think she understood some of it :-).  Its fascinating to watch her learn and grow.  Check out the hula hoop competition pictures.  Emersyn gave it her best shot!

A little piece of [photography] history

There's so much information to consume these days that you have to be selective about what you choose to spend time keeping up with.  For photography, there are only a handful of photographers I follow on a regular basis.  One of those photographers is Chase Jarvis.  He's a commercial photographer that has done a lot to bring a sense of community to photographers around the world and oh, by the way, he take some pretty great pictures too.

A recent project was of interest to me to check out, especially since it's being displayed in NYC and now that I'm working again in the city, its pretty easy for me to get to. Yesterday at lunch, I made the trek to the Ace Hotel to check out the "Dasein: an invitation to hang" display.  Its a collection of snap shots from around the world, hand picked by Chase and placed in this gallery space for people to take it all in and contribute either in person or virtually.  To some extent, it takes on the next step to a "Best Camera" app his team also developed.  Fun stuff.

Here's a couple pictures I took of what the display looked like...

Grillin' it up

As we get closer to May, one thing I'm really excited about is getting back outside to grill.  I'm writing this as I'm sitting in Phoenix and it reminds me of the different mindset you have around weather.  Here, the weather is warm most of the year and hot the rest of the time.  By April, you can probably break out your shorts and keep them around until probably October.  For those that don't absolutely love 100+ temperatures, you'll try to stay indoor as much as you can during the summer and be outside to enjoy the weather the rest of the year.  

On the east coast, people tend to hibernate in the winter.  This particular winter brought us a lot of snow and cold.  Personally, I'm glad to be done with it and looking forward to being outside with a beer (Sam Adams, of course) and the grill fired up.

Photos are magical

One of the reasons I find photography so compelling is what you don't expect it can do.  It can bring people back to life.  Back to life in your mind during that point in time when they were physically in the same room.  When they were still here and you were able to speak to them and laugh with them.

This weekend I'm heading to a funeral for a childhood friend, Heather.  Its been a while since we've been in touch but not so long since she's been in my thoughts.  I have a 4 year old daughter that's about the age I remember being when I would play along side Heather and her sister Kelly.  Our parents were friends pre-kids and stayed in touch when we were all young.  I'll miss Heather and I'll treasure the memories we had.

Heather and her mom, Sharon

Some time with Brandy

Brandy is someone I met quite some time ago.  She's a good friend of my sister's and has recently moved to NJ to be with her husband and to invest her energy in attending auditions for NYC Broadway plays.  Exciting stuff.  She's spent a few years in Las Vegas in great performances and is now trying her luck in NYC.

When I first met Brandy, she was in grade school.  She's now all grown up and here to make her mark on the east coast.  She saw a post I did on this blog and sent me a note through Facebook offering to help out on a future shoot...I got to thinking and thought she'd be better in front of the camera vs. behind it.  I think I was right.  Check out a few of my favorites from our session.

Next up.  A shoot with her and her husband.  Stay tuned for that.

Vegas Baby

Okay, so this is a little out of order.  We made a trip to Vegas back at the beginning of February for a rather important birthday of mine.  It had been very cold and snowy lately in the North East and the whole family was very anxious to leave that all behind for a nice visit out to Vegas for some R&R and optional coats.

We arrived on a Thursday night and had a couple days to do some family time during the day and since we had both grandma's in town, they were gracious enough to watch Emersyn while several of us made it out at night.  Thanks Mom(s)!

Some pictures, of course.

One tangent.  So, we decided we didn't want to spend much on a hotel because we'd rather put that money into gambling.  We wanted to stay on the strip however, so we ended up at the Excalibur.  Wrong decision.  As soon as we walked in with our suitcase, someone approached us and tried to sell us stuff.  Go listen to our pitch on our timeshare.  How about a show?  Huh?  How about leave me alone!  How cheesy is this?  So if this wasn't bad enough, as soon as we checked in, someone tried to do it again between the check-in counter to the elevator.  They said this is the way they market their new properties, etc.  Wasn't working for me. 

Chocolate, Lighting Essentials #5

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm doing my best to keep up with the Lighting Essentials blog and the assignments that come out of it.  I'm not doing as well as I thought I would but I'm trying.  Really.

Assignment #5 from the blog (and #2 that I've done) was about Chocolate.  The assignment was to shoot for a local restaurant has decided to run a special on chocolate on their menu for the next month. They need something that says, no - SCREAMS Chocolate!!! More details are here but ultimately the output, after several versions is what's listed below.

Chocolate

A gift

There aren't too many people I put gifts together for but there aren't too many people like Suman & Rishi.  They are just good people.  It helps that they're smart, good looking, well traveled and have a fantastic set of friends and family in their lives.  They just celebrated their one year anniversary and while they were away in India and who knows how many other places, I put together a little something to recognize their anniversary (late, but hey - better late than never, right!?).  A quick internet search revealed some nice wodden boxes but there were too many to choose from and I know them pretty well but didn't know their taste exactly so I turned to a mutual friend of Suman's that could help narrow down the choices.  The next day I had a response and I was set to place my order.

I received the box and now came the fun....customizing for them.  Since I photographed their engagement and parts of their wedding, I had some fun images to work with.  I looked through what I had and printed several of them.  My wife suggested I make a photo collage so once I had everything in front of me, I used some funky sissors to cut the photos and made the collage.  I think it turned out pretty well.  Here are a few images of the packaging and the collage.  To make it interesting I plan on hand delivering the package to them.  Its fun to give!



Photography Assignments: Vision Statement

Since I don't shoot full-time, I sometimes look for activities to keep me challenged and thinking about photography.  'Round about the 1st week of January, I discovered a blog that I follow pretty regularly was going to setup 52 assignments throughout the year.  Sweet.  Its mostly focused around commercial photography but has elements from various disciplines.  Mostly, its a way to challenge and inspire me all year.  The assignments are posted to a flickr group giving me the chance to see what others have posted and after a few of these, have some new and hopefully interesting work to show.  So, each time I finish an assignment, I'll write about it.

First assignment: Writing a vision statement and creating an image that represents that vision.

My first thought was to take a picture of the front of an A4 with the Xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights and my vision statement would be something about intrigue and mystery.  Scrapped that.  Second idea was to get the slightly opened laptop, showing the Apple symbol; still thinking along the lines of having something very sleek, simple imagery the vision would focus on imagery that invokes certain emotions (good or bad) when you see it.  Killed that idea too.  After thinking about it more, it was just too impersonal.  My photos are about people.  About emotion.  About capturing that point in time that will never be again.  That was it.  Once I had that, I knew what I needed to shoot and how my vision would read.

Here's what I posted...

Vision Statement

I want to create images that capture that moment in time that's just that...a moment, "frozen in time". What you keep in your own mind may fade, the image remains.

A Brand New Year

I'm not going to start with a bunch of promises of things I know I'll never get around to.  As I get older, I'm coming to the realization of a couple things: 1) I'm a believer in 'You always have time for what you do first' and 2) There's limited time so you have to make the best of everything you choose to spend time on.

Something I choose to spend my limited available time on are things that are photography related.  I'm trying to grow my business and figure out some goals for 2011 since I'm a goal oriented person.  Without goals, I wouldn't have much to show for my time.  One long standing aspiration is to shoot weddings. I'm finding it hard to set this up.  Its kind of the chicken and the egg - people want experience but without someone taking a chance, I can't get experience.  I have something setup for this May as a second shooter which I'm really excited about and I'm actively working on other assignments.  I'm keeping positive and I'm determined to make it happen this year!

One step in making this a reality is gear.  I know, many talk about the fact that its not about the gear.  For the most part I agree but with weddings I think its a bit different because of the conditions you're often shooting in (low light and other tricky situations). So, right before the holidays, I won an eBay auction for a new camera.  A HUGE upgrade for me as I was starting out with the Nikon D40, the entry level DSLR.  A great camera to learn on and I've taken a lot of pictures I'm very proud of.  However, now its time to kick it up a bit.  I'm now the proud owner of the Nikon D700. Huge upgrade.  Its like going from a Honda Civic to 5 Series BMW.  With that, a few random "test images".  Keyword is random.

Oh, small detail left out.  When I bought the camera, I only bought body.  No, not an oversight.  It just works out better in the long run if you can purchase each piece separately to put together the whole collection of bodies and lenses.  Ugh!  Fortunately, I have one lens that will work between each of my cameras; the 50mm 1.4.  Many more images to come - real ones next time.

 

 

Help Portrait - NYC

For me, photography is about many things.  One of which is the ability and privilege to capturing a single point in time.  It may not always be the best time but it’s a point at which you can later look back and know that it’s what was happening in your life on that day – at that moment.  Help Portrait came out of a small effort for a group of photographers out of Nashville (I think that’s correct) looking to help people in need receive a gift of a portrait (everything from hair, make-up, photography, post-processing, and the print).  Sounds simple but consider how it might feel to have all the focus on making you feel special and taking your picture to remember that point in time if that’s never been done in your life.  It has a different impact.

This was the second annual Help Portrait event that happened on Dec 4th.  It’s a global effort where local communities are established and local photographers affiliate with organizations to use photography to give back to the community.  I participated in one of six groups in NYC.  The group was the Bowery Mission to help people that are transitioning back into society.  There were about 15 of us that volunteered in for this event, there was more of a need for someone to help with processing the images vs. shooting them.  I was overwhelmed – in a good way.  The men (some women but mostly men) would enter the room, get some wardrobe assistance then move over to the photographer’s station, pictures taken then the memory card was handed to me (there were two of us doing post processing), I would bring the images in, label them with the person’s name, bring them over to have them pick their favorite, clean that image up then get it over to the next person to print it.  BAM!  And repeat, and repeat.
 
I was there from about 9am to 1pm and had a hard time keeping up but loved the great energy in the room the whole time.  The people receiving the pictures were very appreciative.  I would hear them say, “Hey, there I am” as I scrolled through the images looking for the next one to sit down with and choose the one we would print.  Such a nice time and great way to give of my time.  I look forward to digging in again next year.  I put together a quick sheet that shows some of the images that were selected from the ones I processed.  There were many more that came out of the location I was at.  Check out the page on-line for more about Help Portrait.  For some behind the scenes images from around the world, visit the Flickr group on-line.