|
|
September 2009 archive view all recent posts |
 |
|
|
Sep. 28, 2009 - Featured Members |
| 1) Name: Riz Crescini
2) Location: Kitakyushu, Japan (southern Japan) Website coming soon via Show It My blog [ b ] School Profile @rizcrescini on Twitter |
| 3) How long have you been in business? I’ve been part-time since fall of last year but I plan to kick my business up a notch in a couple of months. Details to come…
4) How did you get into photography? I really, really got into photography after I moved to Japan back in 1997. My wife and I caught the travel bug and have been all over Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Photography was one very important way for me to preserve the awesome people, cultures, and places we saw on our travels. 5) Tell us how networking with other photographers has affected your business. As I am just starting out, networking with other photographers has been extremely valuable in my growth as a photographer. How? In terms of vision, goals, craft, business, etc. I owe so much to many of my photographer friends in the [b] school who are helping me lay the groundwork for what I hope will be a successful career. If you’re just starting out, let the word “network” be your mantra! Networking trumps expensive camera equipment any day. But it’s still nice to have toys :) 6) What is your favorite part about shooting weddings? I will let you know after I shoot my first wedding on September 23rd :) Up until now, I have been a portrait photographer having done photo sessions of families, children, university students as well as school and church events. But now that I think about it, I did shoot a friend’s wedding back in 2007 but I was not in business yet. What I recall and remember vividly was the bride crying looking at the slideshow of her wedding. That was a pretty special moment for me. 7) What’s your favorite piece of equipment these days? Hands down the Canon 135 2.0L! That lens is tack sharp even when the aperture is wide open. It’s great for indoor photography and don’t get me started on how awesome it is for portraits! I’m also getting some love from the Lensbaby Composer. 8) What is your favorite iPhone App? I like Facebook, Skype, Scrabble, and Twitterrific. 9) Please tell us something personal about you so we can get to know you better: A) I proposed to my wife after dating for only one month. Love still going strong 11 years later! B) I’m a people person. I really get pumped and energized just hanging out with friends. C) I love children! I really do! They are truly a gift from God. A lot of people have this wrong impression that learning is one sided: adults/parents teach kids. Nothing can be further from the truth. I have found children (including my daughters) to be the best teachers of life. D) Other: I’m a bookworm. I love sports. I play the guitar. I love to teach and lead others. I love authentic Japanese food (Sorry, folks but California rolls and knife-juggling steakhouse chefs ain’t authentic!). 10) Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5 years? The previous featured members gave pretty good responses to this question already so I will confine my answer to Japan. In terms of style of photography, the classic “posed” studio look still dominates much of what you see in photography from weddings to family pictures. But I am beginning to see a rise in candid and relaxed portraits. Competition is fierce in Japan and so I hope to see more openness among photographers. I want to see more lovecats in Japan! 11) Who’s your favorite vendor in the industry? ColorInc is my favorite digital lab. And I am a happy KISS Wedding Books customer. 12) How important is your blog? My blog is very important to me. It’s a very easy way for me to showcase my work and to share what it’s like to live in another country. You get to see my work. You get to know my family and me. And all in the context of Japan! How fun is that?!? Come visit my blog 13) How has Facebook and/or Twitter impacted your business? Photogs and entrepreneurs use Twitter to share links to educational resources. I use Twitter to interact with friends but it has become an educational tool for me. Since I’m relatively new, I haven’t yet received any business from Facebook (it hasn’t fully caught on yet in Japan) but I am getting a lot of exposure through it. 14) Favorite thing about [ b ] School? The people!!! What more is there to say?!? It is an incredible community of givers. Forget photography for a moment. Look under the photography “hood” and you will find people who are genuine in helping each other out. Thanks, [b]ecker, for putting this tribe together. 15) Are there any workshops or upcoming GTGs that you’d like to plug? Scott Robert Lim is an awesome photographer/mentor and he has a China workshop in October. Wanna join me? For details, Click Here Our very own Matt Saville went to Scott’s Spain workshop last year. Tell us what you line about the 5 photographs below: |
| Kids being goofy... I love it! I'm all about goofiness!!
|
| I love that the Mom is just full of joy for her child. And check out the HAIR on this kid! Love it!!
|
| I love this picture because it captures the celebration of a life. And it is a reminder to me that I should celebrate each day to the fullest.
|
| I love the creamy background and the leading lines. This image was captured with my recent favorite lens: 135 2.0L |
| I love how they are looking at each other. On some of my images, I go for the fine art look. I love how the texture really adds to the intensity in this image.
|
|
|
|
|
Sep. 25, 2009 - What's Happening |
| Back by popular demand, I'll be coming back to Canada next year eh?
This time I'm kickin' it in BC... West Coast! Start your year off right with a day jam packed with useful information, ideas and inspiration. Click the image below to sign up and be sure to follow @vanphotogs to stay in the loop about the workshop and pre-connect with other Vancouver area photographers. |
|
|
|
|
Sep. 21, 2009 - Featured Members |
| Name: Chris Fawkes
Website Blog [ b ] School profile Location: Melbourne, Australia How long have you been in business?: 19 years How did you get into to photography? I picked up a job working as a photographer for Deakin University in 1985. I worked for another company traveling around Australia photographing child and family portraits and eventually opened my own business in 1990 then studio in 94. Tell us how networking with other photographers has affected your business: I wouldn’t be working as a photographer today if not for networking. I visited a lot of studios in the early nineties offering my services to shoot weddings. I came to a point where I realized my wedding work was so bad that it was unfair to charge for it. I decided to give photography away and the phone rang. One of the studios I had dropped a card off to a year earlier rang to ask if I could assist another photographer who was shooting for them that weekend. I continued to assist that same photographer for some time and he taught me the craft. Many others who have either critiqued my work or simply shared their own little secrets have influenced my work over the years. I was shooting a lot of portrait sessions when I started out but not making wage. It was another photographer who was able to look at what I was doing and tell me the simple differences I needed to make. My sales went to a minimum tenfold overnight. I also have a number of friends working full time throughout Australia and the U.S who I had the opportunity to train when they were starting out so networking for me really works both ways. What is your favorite part about shooting weddings? I love people and the emotional energy of a wedding day. I like directing events and feel honored that the couple entrust me to do that throughout much of the day. I’m not so much a fly on the wall photographer I like to get involved with the couple and direct the way things are going. What's your favorite piece of equipment these days? I love the 16-35 and enjoy playing with the video lights. What is your favorite iPhone App? What’s an iphone? No seriously my cell phone is years old, not even a camera in it. I try to create the perception that I’m a cool guy but when the phone comes out my status as the worlds biggest dork is displayed for everyone to see. Please tell us something personal about you so we can get to know you better: I was also a youth worker for over 20 years with various churches I’ve been involved with. Volunteer but it really took up most of any spare time I had. Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5 years: I think we are going to see a sharp increase in product related business models through education and testimony. I am expecting that photographers will come to realize that selling products is less work than selling a disc that requires every image to be edited and that clients will end up with something much nicer I may be naive but I expect this will lead us away from the shoot to burn business model. I mean shoot to burn will always be around but I think much less so than it is now. How important is your blog? I am a blog slob but even after six months of no posting I was still pulling about 500 hits a week. I often meet people when I’m out who follow my blog that I had no idea about. It really is a great way to stay connected in your community. I also find the networking with other photographers an excellent side of blogging too. I entered the WPPI 16x20 in 2007 as a direct result of the friendships I had made with U.S photographers and was fortunate enough to win a 5D. How has Facebook and/or Twitter impacted your business? I’m just new to twitter so working out the potential of it. Facebook has yielded great results for me from the paid advertising and simply by updating my status regularly friends feel like they have stayed in contact and this keep me in their minds when they get engaged or know someone getting married. I also love stalking other photographers or FB for inspiration. Favorite thing about [ b ] School? I really love the idea of the video classes and some great stuff up there. Some real gold. I have been meaning to add something for a few months now but need to get my head around the video side of things. I love to share with others but I don’t like sharing with those who are not serious, the uncle Bob’s. Why should I help train people who will compete with my peers by shooting for free? For that reason I’m guarded as to what I would share on a free forum. The nominal fee to be a [b] school member is enough to preclude your uncle bobs as well as trolls and to my mind a much better environment for talking trade secrets. Are there any workshops or upcoming GTGs that you'd like to plug? I am working on some ideas for a workshop for a handful of photographers that I train. It will be two days and held in Albury and will cover a range of subjects but focus on lighting and marketing. Being my first workshop I won’t be charging for it and I will be extending an invite to fellow [b] schoolers once I have firmed up a date. Tell us what you like about the attached favorite photographs: |
| Completely posed but Belinda just looks so beautiful.
|
| I love cats, it’s all about their attitude to life and everyone/thing around them and I get that vibe from this portrait.
|
| I had taken my friend Ruth’s little girl shopping and promised her an ice cream after lunch. When the waitress brought her milk and sandwich over the milk had a scoop of ice cream in it. This didn’t stop Ella from holding me to my promise as soon as lunch was over so I had to buy her another one. She kicked off her shoes and made herself comfortable as she slipped into that special world where only little girls and their ice creams can go. I had to take a pic.
|
| I was walking past this gondolier and held my camera by my side and snapped. I have created a photoshop action to replicate the holga camera style look (read about it here http://www.chrisfawkes.net/holga.pdf) which I used to finish the image.
|
| Ella spent nine hours with me shopping for props for this shot. I was sure she would crash before we started shooting but she and Ethan had so much fun. It was summer so we started at 9pm and shot for an hour. Ice cream followed.
|
| I saw the end of Christine Aguilera’s Candyman video where she was riding shotgun on the shoulders of the soldiers. I literally caught it out of the corner of my eye but decided to try to replicate what I thought I had seen on my next wedding. Sarah was one of those brides whose energy leaps out of her photos and it worked for me here.
|
| This image was from an engagement session. I broke some rules to get it and there is a lot of blowout but I love it anyway. |
|
|
|
|
Sep. 15, 2009 - What's Happening |
Click below to see an awesome, in depth conversation about branding for photographers. You must be a [ b ] School member to view the video, so if you aren't enroll, do it now! |
|
 2010: January February March April May June July August 2009: January February March April May June July August September October November December 2008: January February March April May June July August September October November December |
RSS posts: 350, comments: 6,235 visits: 1,576,958, page views: 3,904,138 |
© 2010 the [b] school, all rights reserved. - blog by infinet design
