Views, Reviews & Interviews In Photography

Crafting Your Photographic Vision Leads To Success

by Guest on September 1, 2010

This guest post is by Daniel Milnor who splits his time between the chaos of Southern California and the spiritual landscape of New Mexico. He is happiest with his notebook, Leica and trusty leather boots, sizing up whatever situation is happening in front of him.

Milnor is the author of the blog, Smogranch, which allows him to speak his mind, post his mother’s poetry and bring together like minded people around the globe. Connect with him on Twitter.

For being a “creative industry” we sure love to conform.

A trend develops, no pun intended, and suddenly the industry publications, blogs, advertising, seminars and trade shows are filled with what is hot, new and temporary.

I’ve never completely understood this.

This isn’t unique to photography. Look at television. One reality show becomes a success and suddenly three or four similar shows pop up, all slightly less relevant than the original. Within a year or two the public is saturated, bored and searching for a new thrill.

Today’s photography world is filled with more photographers than ever before as the barrier for entry into the professional world falls lower and lower.

So what gives? How do we look to the future with a positive glow in our eyes?

Well, to me it comes down to finding our individual vision and refining our style, and accomplishing this isn’t possible by following industry trends or what’s hot.

Finding your vision comes from intense soul searching, time in the field and mastering the basics of photography, things like light, timing and composition, not to mention actually having something to say, something unique and native only to you, or me, and not simply what the industry wants us to say.

Often times, words like “vision, soul, passion, style,” are thrown around with reckless abandon, but most of the time this is only for show. These things, these traits are easy to talk about but very difficult to actually acquire. The good news, you already have them and all you have to do now is find them inside yourself.

Why do you need vision? Style?

Well, in essence, your vision is the most valuable thing you have. Making unique imagery, instantly recognizable imagery, is what will create the demand around your business.

Yesterday I received an email from a potential portrait client who said, “I had another photographer booked to photograph my kids, but after I saw your work I canceled with them and knew you were the photographer I was looking for.”

If I followed the industry trends, used all the same tools that the masses of photographers were using, then how does the client differentiate between my work and the masses? What do I have to negotiate with?

If I’m using camera A, lens A, Photoshop action A, Filter A, and you are using all these same things, then where is the value in my work? Why would anyone hire me over the photographer down the street?

When photographers conform and follow the masses, what typically happens is the job comes down to price and how much the photographer is prepared to give away. What gets lost? The photographs.

This is NOT the situation you want to find yourself in.

When you produce unique imagery clients recognize they are seeing something they can’t get everywhere. This doesn’t’ mean you are going to book every job, the reality is far from this, but what becomes the focal point of the negotiation is the IMAGERY.

My point with this little story is that finding your vision isn’t easy and might require time alone and asking some serious questions.

“Who am I with a camera in my hand.”
“What am I trying to say?”
“What do I REALLY want to do?”

You might think this last question is an easy one but I can’t tell you how many photographers I’ve spoken with who have simply followed what the industry has told them to do, or what they feel “They have to do.”

How did I find my vision?

I found my vision by NOT working as a photographer. I began working as a photographer, full time, around 1993. By 1997 I knew something wasn’t right. I was working but I wasn’t particularly thrilled with what I was producing and after looking back at what I had produced over the entire year I realized I didn’t have anything to show.

So, I took a job working for Eastman Kodak and signed a non-competition letter stating I wouldn’t accept any assignments during my time working for the company. I sold all of my equipment except for one Leica M body and one lens.

Over the following four years I learned much about the industry, other photographers, but more importantly I had the time to learn about my own work.

Over the four years I worked for Kodak I shot extensively on the side, not for anyone else, strictly for myself. When I picked up a camera I had only my own vision in mind.

After four years I looked at what I had accomplished and finally recognized who I was with a camera in my hand.

I made the decision to leave Kodak and become a photographer once again only this time I had a personal vision to lead my way.

Had I NOT stopped working as a photographer I don’t think I would have ever come close to finding my vision. The industry and the controls being placed on me were just too powerful. There was little room to explore and what was expected of me was cut and dry.

My jobs today come more from me making suggestions than from a client telling me what to do. This is a very liberating feeling. When I book a portrait shoot or a wedding I book it because my work looks different and I have a clear vision of what I want to accomplish. Working this way feels like you are part of a creative collaboration as opposed to having to adopt to someone else’s idea of what images should look like.

My advice? Think about studying photography, really studying. Take classes, go to bookstores, go to galleries, museums and study what photography really has to offer. Learn who the masters were and are, and not just those in your genre. I’ve learned FAR more about how to photograph a wedding by looking at documentary work than I ever have from the wedding industry.

Also, think about taking on a long-term personal project, a project that is entirely controlled by you and preferably something outside your normal comfort zone.

And finally, approach one of your best clients and suggest a new direction.

We can make all kinds of excuses about conforming, about not taking the time to find our unique point of view, but ultimately we simply owe it to photography to continue to explore the limits of our vision.

Finding your vision can be frustrating, confusing, sure, but when you begin to see a pattern or begin to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel the positive feeling will far outweigh any struggles you had to endure.

So go forth, take chances, break some eggs and keep your eyes open for the spark that can set you free.

Milnor is a former newspaper, magazine and commercial photographer who now tries to work solely on his own projects, projects that allow him to work in the fashion he feels most likely to produce images that go beyond the temporary. Milnor is also a member of the advisory board at Blurb, a print on demand book publishing company comprised of some of the most creative and talented folks he has ever encountered.

He has taught at Art Center College of Design, The Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, The Julia Dean Workshops and is scheduled to teach in Peru, California and New Mexico in 2010. He has also found considerable success with his portrait work, which is represented by the agency Masterfile.

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Get Better Seo By Finding & Using Long Tail Keywords

by Guest on August 31, 2010

in Marketing, Photo Biz

This is a guest post by Zach Prez who offers 1-on-1 coaching and SEO workshops. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Everyone knows choosing the right keywords begins the SEO process (or at least you know now). After all, search engine optimization means optimizing keywords so you can rank for them. In this post I’ll refer to keywords as a phrase you want to rank for, and demonstrate how to find longer keywords where competition is less extreme. Even a new site or beginner can rank quickly.

Knowing Keywords is a Critical First Step

Without a keyword list it’s easy to optimize for the wrong words, repeat words, words nobody searches for, and words that don’t create new business. All of these take time away from your true talent (hint: not SEO) and are doomed for failure. Let me demonstrate some examples of what not to do. Feel free to bang your head against a desk for having fallen victim to one of SEO’s classic blunders such as:

1. Wrong words: optimizing for wedding binders won’t make you crazy cash like a successful rank for wedding albums. Go with words people actually use.

2. Repeat words: No need to put Los Angeles wedding photographer in all your blog titles and images. Do you really expect every one of them to rank for that phrase? A homepage will outrank a blog post for a main/primary phrase. Target one page per phrase please.

3. Words nobody searches for: Cool, you rank #1 for Arizona ocean photography but nobody has yet to search that in Google. Don’t waste time optimizing for that.

4. Words that don’t create new business: A #1 rank for celebrity photographer may build your online rep to Ashton Kutcher levels, but if you’re based in Minnesota and not willing to travel it probably won’t deliver new clients. Avoid the above by doing a little up front keyword research to find the most searched terms. We’ll put those terms into a list and map it to a content timeline.

How Longer Phrases Can Help SEO

Before you go picking the top 10 most difficult keywords in your niche, let me explain how Google works.
1. A user types a phrase into Google
2. Google looks for a page about that phrase
3. Google finds lots of pages about that phrase and ranks the page with the most authority at #1 (authority is mostly determined by the number of links pointing to the page or site)

Thus, Google looks for keywords on the page (in the title, then URL, then body copy and images). A phrase like Los Angeles wedding photographer appears on 3.5 million pages.

Rather than try to compete on authority for that phrase (or in addition to), find phrases like Hollywood Indian wedding photography ideas. No pages exist with that phrase, so if you optimize a blog post then you will easily rank very high. Plus you might even rank for different keyword combinations such as Hollywood Indian wedding, Hollywood photography ideas, etc. Even if only a handful of people search for that every month, that blog post provides exactly what they are looking for. Specific phrase + little competition = new client. Multiply the number of posts optimized for specific phrases and the traffic becomes significant. Look at this Google Analytics snapshot from a Sacramento Photographer. The main phrase Sacramento photographer was just 1 of 3,868 keywords that she ranked for and contributed to less than 1% of total traffic. Most of the few thousand phrases are very specific searches you would never imagine people would type.

Long-tail SEO is a strategy to find and capture search presence for the thousands of long phrases users will type to find you. Here’s how to locate and organize them.

Keyword List Worksheet

Start with a 4 column list on paper or spreadsheet using the following column headings

Adjectives: Indian best
Locations: Los Angeles Hollywood
Niches: wedding photography
Nouns: ideas

As the columns fill out, use various keyword combinations to develop the best phrases for your business.
1. Indian Hollywood wedding ideas
2. Best Los Angeles Indian wedding photography

Put the most important phrase at the top of the list. Next time you write a page or a post, take a look at the list and see if you can incorporate one of the phrases into your post idea. Or you can proactively start writing posts about each of your phrases. This week write about item 1, next week item 2, etc. Cross them off your list so that you don’t optimize for the same phrase twice.

Idea! Create a “best-of” post using content you already have written elsewhere. Take a paragraph here, and image there, and using old posts you can quickly create a new and optimized post.

How to Find Great Keywords

Two of my favorite 10 SEO Tools for Photography Keywords are free Google Keyword Tool and Traffic Travis PC software. Most everyone knows about the Google Keyword Tool for keyword research, but may be confused on how to get great ideas. I searched Los Angeles wedding photographer has 170 broad searches per month, meaning those 3 words were somewhere in the search criteria. Notice other keywords that users type as a part of their search phrase: Indian, top, ideas, photography. Add these to the keyword list worksheet for future use.

Yes, it is that simple. Looking up Hollywood Indian wedding photography ideas would not show any search volume, but we can see that users do search with those words in different combinations. If people are searching top wedding photographers, then they would also search for top in local searches as well. You don’t need 1,000 visits to grow your business. Rank high for something that 5 people search for each month and you can snag all of those clients ASAP. Traffic Travis just offers a second opinion. Another search uncovers more great keywords. I add the following keywords to my list: tips, best, destination, beach.

My next post might be something like “10 Photographer Tips for the Best Beach Wedding in Los Angeles” and capture users searching for beach wedding tips, best photographer tips, Los Angeles beach wedding, etc. The power of long-tail SEO gains a little traffic from a number of phrases.

Compare Two Keywords

The other time a keyword tool comes in handy is when comparing the search volume of two or more keyword phrases. If I’m a wedding photographer in Southern California it would help to know which cities have the most searches. After typing a few phrases (at the same time) into the Google Keyword Tool I find that Orange County is very highly searched. Optimizing for that location has a lot more potential than Beverly Hills, while Hollywood and Burbank have very few searches. The keyword list should reflect this priority with the majority of phrases going after Orange County and maybe only 1 or 2 for the other locations.

For the creative and visual learners out there this video speaks to some of the tactics above.

Take Keywords to the Next Level

Keywords are a small portion of search engine optimization strategy. My Photographers SEO Book and Blog SEO Zen ebook are quickly becoming the standard do-it-yourself guides for ranking photo and wedding businesses. Learn about site structure, link strategy, and tools with no technical knowledge needed.

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Photographers – Don’t Use Email Marketing To Market!

by Guest on August 30, 2010

in Marketing, Photo Biz, Photography

This is a guest post by Dean Levitt, Mad Mimi’s Chief of Culture. Based in Brooklyn, Dean spends altogether too much time thinking about email, people, music and hanging out in the park.

I’ve always been a huge fan of poetry, especially the sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay. I think that the “aha!” moment with poetry came to me at the Boston Museum of Fine Art while strolling through a photography exhibit. I saw some line somewhere about photography capturing a moment in emotion (or the other way around depending on your outlook) and it kinda hit me how similar the two arts are. Poetry (at least the kind of poetry I enjoy) is a wordy photograph.

No one understands better how one medium can be two things than photographers. There’s a world of difference between a “photograph” and a snapshot, miles between prose and poetry and a gulf between an email that “markets” and an email that reaches out and connects. That’s what we do! We connect… Think of your email marketing service as a way to share, touch, explore and exhibit. Whether your art form is expressed professionally as a portrait or wedding photographer or in purely aesthetic shots for the joy of it, you can utilize the available tools to stay visible and grow (as a business and as an artist).

Poetry is a wordy photograph.

Our entire culture has moved into a system of immediate sharing. Via Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and email, we’re constantly sharing and updating. This only gets annoying when we’re bombarded by advertising, marketing and spam. Anyone still use MySpace? It’s like trying to add a slogan into a rhyming couplet! Take a step back and think about the beauty inherent in the social mediums rather than the possible benefit to yourself.

Building an email with Mad Mimi provides an easy way to share with hundreds (or thousands) of people in moments but it’s only really sharing when it’s personal and sincere. Take advantage of these tools in our lives to give a moment of your time to tell your friends, clients, customers and potential customers what’s on your mind, what you’re thinking and what is coming up professionally and personally. It makes receiving an email more like a coffee break with a good friend.

Emails provide a lovely way to exhibit your latest works by embedding images directly into the email accompanied by the story with it; whether is the story of a lifetime captured in a portrait, or the love shared at a wedding. Your email becomes a gallery. It’s like a wormhole really – an gorgeous powerful email received at a desk whips the reader into a gallery where the photographs transport the viewers out of their moments into the moment captured by you.

So stop marketing and be a photographer, even when you’re being an email marketer.

Please do email me and I’d be happy to help you with the boring technical bits of building lovely emails!

Dean and Mad Mimi have been instrumental in my launching MANTRA, a monthly e-newsletter about my wedding photography. While an in-depth review of the service and my experiences will be published soon here, I went ahead and became an affiliate of Mad Mimi. If you were to click the links or the image in this post, I do get a small commission. Thank you and thanks to Mad Mimi.

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A Photographer’s Life Is A Juggling Act

by Guest on August 27, 2010

in Photojournalism, Prints For Sale

This a guest post by Ken Jarecke, a world-renowned photojournalist and founding member of Contact Press Images, an illustrious photo agency based in New York. Please also visit and read his blog, Mostly True.

The past few years it’s been hard for me to pick up a camera. We all know that the industry, at least the editorial side of it, has been at an all time low. Sure, I’ve worked to put a good face on it, like in this piece on the New York Times Lens blog, but more often than not, my desire to make wonderful images has been absent. My heart has just not been there.

It’s not the creative side. I’ve rarely cared about the choices editors make about my work. That’s never been my motivation. Besides, I figured if I made great images, they’d get published. Somewhere. Sometime.

For example, here’s a take from the Beijing Olympics. After nine Olympics, I felt this was the best job I’d ever done. Normally, the Olympics will generate tons of tear-sheets, but outside of China, where my agency had a deal with the local English language newspaper, I managed to get only a single image published (in a French newspaper).

Frustrating to be sure, but still, not something that would stop me from making pictures.

No, I’m sad and ashamed to report that my lack of desire stemmed from nothing more than a lack of money. More specifically, the constant worry, and the ongoing struggle to pay the bills had taken its toll.

It’s sad, because I didn’t become a photojournalist to get rich (I was never that crazy or misguided). I’m ashamed because much of my money problems were the direct result of poor or stubborn decisions that are completely my fault.

In the past, I hesitated to book weddings. I made the excuse that I couldn’t book something that far in advance. What if an editorial job came up? In reality, I felt this type of work was beneath me. I felt the same about the portrait market (Yes, I know where this is being read). It’s easy to say now, but what’s more important than a wedding, or capturing a child’s life? Oh well, live and learn.

I didn’t let the magazines determine if a picture was good or not, but I sure put them in charge of what was important enough for me to photograph!

Pride and arrogance, a nasty couple of vices. As you can imagine, the only people to suffer from the choices I made was my family. Over the past few years, we’ve cut expenses, and eliminated most of the extras that come with family life, in my vain attempt to reinvent the editorial market and make things right (vanity, there’s another one).

Although I never stopped loving being a dad or a husband, the only thing I accomplished was to give my family a grouchy dad who hated making pictures.

As a photojournalist, I always try to have a backup plan. I would look at every situation with the perspective of a worse possible case scenario. Like, what would happen if I got a two flat tires in a post-Katrina New Orleans?

Practical to be sure, but it also gave me a sense of being in control. Maybe we all do this. It would explain tings like always having a pocket bulging with extra batteries.

Well, about three weeks ago, I ran into a situation that I couldn’t control. One of our children came home from camp very sick. It took twelve days for the doctors to figure out what was wrong. Plenty of uncertainty. Lots of prayers. Scary times. I don’t want to put too fine of a point on it. She spent four nights in the hospital and has been home for about a week now. She’s getting better everyday and is on her way to a full recovery.

Ironically, being in this powerless situation has seemed to heal me also. I have no cares about my reputation, or my standing in the photography world. I should be totally freaked about the medical bills (on top of everything else), but instead they just don’t seem important. I just want to be a better dad and husband (I thought I always was, but I didn’t give any thought to the huge burden I had placed on my family).

Strangest of all, I also want to make some really good pictures. Go figure.

I’m working on getting some portrait jobs… I booked one yesterday! I did my first wedding back in June. I gotta say, I really enjoyed it. The pictures were good too! I hope I have the chance to do some more.

The medical bills? Well, I hope to pay for some of them with a special print sale. I’m going to offer eight or ten prints at a special price for seven days only. They’re signed, archival pigment prints made by me.

You can see a preview here. I don’t know what the final selection will be, but I’m open to suggestions. Please check the above site on Monday to find out. The 17” x 22”s will be $300 and the 8.5” x 11”s will be $97 (plus shipping).

The two black & whites shown here are from an essay I did for Time magazine in 1990 called, “The Rotting of the Big Apple”. They’ve been very popular with collectors over the years.

The image from the Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989, shows a lone hunger striker sitting in front of Chinese soldiers. It has also been popular with collectors. At some point it was named “The Rose”. The Beijing Opera performer was made in May of 2007. It’s one that I like. I think it works well.

If you have ever considered creating a photography collection for yourself, Ken’s offering here would be a terrific start. In fact, I have already told Ken that I will be buying one of his prints! Supporting each other through the valleys and peaks of life is what will make us stronger. Give it some thought, but don’t wait too long because these prints are very likely to be gone soon.

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The World Through Our Eyes, A Cambodian Project

by Guest on August 25, 2010

in Uncategorized

This is a guest post by Jen May Pastores, a lifestyle photographer and portrait photographer based in Los Angeles, California.

There’s a window by my desk and outside are two elementary boys peeking in with their smiles eagerly anticipating my returning glance. “Teacher! Study? 4?” is the question I heard everyday from them. “Chaa, chaa,” I reply with a nodding yes. The boys run over to their friends practicing headstands on the side of the center’s building and bring them over to my window. “Can I study, too?” asks a new student. “I’d love that,” I say to him. I check my watch to see I have only a few minutes to prepare the cameras for the next class, so I quickly download the rest of the memory cards to my laptop and head upstairs to the classroom.

This was my typical afternoon at the Tiny Toones center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Three times a day 15-20 students met me in a classroom to learn and practice photography with each class split among age groups from as young as 10 to 24-years-old. The majority of the youth barely knew English, so the center hired a local translator to communicate for me. Imagine trying to explain f-stops and shutter speed to a translator who was new at photography, then having her explain it to the class! It was a month-long experience with lots of picture drawing on the chalkboard and grand gestures, but it led to creating images and capturing stories that no language barriers could trap.

One of my students once asked me, “Do you take pictures and get money for it?” My class knew I was a photographer in Los Angeles, but they were curious as to why I was there teaching them for free. “Yes, people do pay me to take their pictures. Why do you think they’ll want do that?” I asked. “Because they want to remember something important or special. They want you to tell their story,” answered a student. “So why are you here?” they asked. “Because no one wanted me to tell their story this summer. And, I love teaching others that photography is more than making money. It’s about showing who we are and what we care about.”

Last summer, I ran into my first season where I had no weddings or sessions booked. I decided to look at it as a season of opportunity instead of as a failure. I had never considered visiting Cambodia before, but–as timing can work out perfectly–I was invited by Tiny Toones to offer a photography program at their center. The only thing asked was that I needed to provide everything, including cameras and my airfare, and do it all voluntarily. I looked into who the organization was and discovered that Tiny Toones uses the elements of Hip-Hop like break dancing and djing as creative tools to empower the youth, especially so they could live healthy lives apart from drugs and violence. I then realized that photography could be a complimentary, creative class to educate the youth.

My decision to go happened only a couple months before my program start date. A season with a seemingly bleak outlook turned into one of the busiest, but fulfilling season I’ve lived out so far. My main obstacle was raising funds to buy classroom supplies like digital cameras, memory cards, rechargeable batteries, and chargers for the batteries. This led me to announce my first workshop held in L.A. (which so happens to be the same place where the L.A. Smug group meets every month) where all proceeds went directly to my endeavor. I also reached out to industry professionals requesting donations and out of this Shootsac, Dane Sanders, and local camera stores and photo labs gave items for my workshop and program in Cambodia. In less than a month I was able to raise enough money to purchase 10 cameras, my airfare, and other necessities to main the program for a month.

After the completion of my program at Tiny Toones a gallery in Phnom Penh invited to exhibit the student’s work where 100% of proceeds from sold prints were donated to the center. This began the international tour of what is now known as, “The World Through Our Eyes.” Since last year, the exhibit traveled to Philadelphia, is currently in California, and has plans to continue in Hawaii this fall. None of this would have happened if I didn’t take advantage of an opportunity to give back, especially during a time when I could have easily given up.

The program covered the basics of photography such as composition, lighting and finding good backgrounds for portraits. More importantly, the workshop encouraged students to exercise their voice in telling their story and how they see the world around them. A series of photographs taken during that workshop, “The World Through Our Eyes” is a vibrant statement by youth countering stereotypes of artistic, emotional and urban desolation in the developing world.

To further read up on this cause and how you can help please visit http://cambodia.jenmayphotography.com. You can also watch a documentary on the site that interviews students who participated in the photography classes and find out about upcoming exhibits to see the photos in person.

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A Snapshot Into SnapKnot, A Brief Introduction

by Guest on August 19, 2010

in Photography, Web/Tech, Weddings

This is a guest post by Michael Rheaume, co-founder of SnapKnot.

SnapKnot is a website dedicated to helping engaged couples find the perfect wedding photographer. SnapKnot is photo-centric, showcasing the work of photographers such that a bride can compare and contrast style and quality side-by-side. Couples can select their location and budget range and browse through photographers who match their criteria.

SnapKnot is easy, fast, and fun to use, and free for interested couples to contact photographers they like.

SnapKnot was founded by Mike Rheaume and Reid Warner. We were freshman year roommates at Dartmouth College and have remained good friends since. Most people ask if we are photographers or have experience in the wedding industry – neither, in fact!

Reid was married in 2007, and he and his wife had a very frustrating experience trying to find a wedding photographer. They spent a lot of time and effort in their search, only to be disappointed time and again by photographers they liked who they later discovered had prices that were out of their budget. (Fortunately they ended up with a great photographer who they were very happy with: Jim Kennedy

Because of that largely frustrating experience, Reid felt that there was a better way for couples to start their search for a wedding photographer. This is how the SnapKnot idea started. Mike used to work for a small marketing firm, and was looking to use his knowledge and experience in a new venture. We jumped in with both feet from there!

We launched the site in February of 2010 and have experienced tremendous growth so far. We have just over 1200 photographers on the site worldwide. This makes the site a great resource for just about any couple planning a wedding in either the US or abroad.

Our primary focus over the last few months has been increasing our bridal-related traffic to the site, to get more potential clients to view photographers on the site. To this end we are engaged in a variety of strategies, including website SEO, online advertising, partnerships with bridal blogs/websites, and a particular emphasis on social media marketing through our presence on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and Flickr.

In fact, we have been pleasantly surprised by the number of photographers who range from active to *very* active in social media. Perhaps this is because of the largely independent nature of the business? We were immediately able to tap into an extended network of photographers, and in turn we are able to more easily promote new content such as new engagement shoots, weddings, special offers, and more to our own growing network of engaged couples. One of the benefits our Premium members receive is that SnapKnot acts as a marketing extension, effectively amplifying their brand’s voice in the marketplace.

One of the benefits our Premium members receive is that SnapKnot acts as a marketing extension, effectively amplifying their brand’s voice in the marketplace.

SnapKnot makes it easier for couples to find and contact photographers who match their criteria, and it’s also quick and easy for photographers to create an account (5 minutes or less).

In addition to the online world of social media, we’ve also found that “old school” networking has worked wonders for us as well. Fresh out of the gate we made it to WPPI in Las Vegas this March, where we were fortunate enough to connect with some great people in the industry.

We met Becker of the [b] School, and recently appeared on his weekly Study Hall.

Mike was able to attend the Beantown Bride and Two Bright Lights event in Boston, in July.

Folks like Mark Stagi of Digital Photo Buzz, Chris Gampat of The Phoblographer, and the guys over at BridePOP have been very helpful and supportive as well.

We appreciate you all! It’s a great industry to be working in.

We encourage any wedding photographers reading to at least create a Free account – test out the service and see how you like it.

For those interested in trying out the Premium version we are offering a special discount code for Tiffinbox readers: SESHU1 (only applies to new Premium accounts & upgrades; expires August 31, 2010). Use this code to receive 1/2 off your first month of Premium service for $24.95.

You can read about the details of Free vs. Premium features.

Please leave a comment below with any questions or general feedback, and also do not hesitate to email us: contact@snapknot.com

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What Can You Expect To See At JVS’ Lighting Workshop?

by Seshu | Hartford, Connecticut Wedding & Portrait Photographer on August 18, 2010

in Lighting, Photography, Workshops

JVS just me this video that I had to share with you. It gives you a glimpse of what to expect at his workshop. If you are coming to his Boston workshop, please let me know in the comments. Only a few spots remain.

If you are interested in joining us in Boston, use this link to register. Please enter “PICSESHU” in the “Enter Promo Code” box during step one of three on their shopping cart. The cart will automatically apply a $50 discount for the first 10 people to register.

Check out these links to learn more about JVS’ Lighting Workshops and Wedding Photography:

Off-Camera Flash
1 Day Speedlites Workshop
JVS Wedding Photography

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Brides: Are You For Real?

by Seshu | Hartford, Connecticut Wedding & Portrait Photographer on August 17, 2010

in Commentary, Culture, Photography, Weddings

Sometime this afternoon, on Twitter, I came to know about a gallery of images on Brides magazine’s website called Real Brides’ Favorite Wedding Moments.

Let me be very clear at the outset that I have nothing personal against Brides magazine, its editors and publishers. I am just voicing my opinion here and being pissed off doesn’t come easy for me.

Now have you had a chance to look at the gallery? What did you find? Or, rather, what did you NOT find?

As a wedding photographer, I immerse myself in a couple’s celebration regardless of their background. It’s what makes my pulse beat a little faster. There are times when two different cultures come together. I recognize there are all kinds of people in the world who wish to have nothing more than a great celebration of their wedding and work with a photographer who is mindful of their presence to document their event in an elegant manner. And some even want me to find those real moments and capture them as they occur without being obtrusive.

Yes, couples come in different hues and shades of color, with very different expectations. When I saw this Brides magazine gallery, I was quite frankly, appalled. No, the images were spectacular. In fact, I was happy to see two of my friends – Scott Lewis and Robert & Kathleen Trenske’s images were part of this selection (they are truly great people). What got me in the gut was what was missing. The magazine had not picked even a single bride from a different cultural or racial backgroun, for their selection of “real” weddings.

Chelo Keys, a photographer in New Jersey responded by saying: Wow! I guess Brown/Black/Asian women cannot be “real brides”.

That was my reaction as well. My question to Brides magazine and others in the industry is a simple one – how accurate or “real” of a representation do you have in your magazine of couples from different backgrounds, faiths, sexual orientations? Is Brides being inclusive or exclusive when it chooses not to acknowledge other types of brides?

Denying the presence of other cultures is nothing short of a travesty. No, I am not asking that magazines shift gears and start publishing images of just a few Indian weddings from time to time. That would be patronizing. What I am ~~demanding~~ requesting is that magazines, blogs and other outlets that claim to showcase “real” weddings take a bit of time to understand what that might mean to people across the spectrum before laying claim to the term “real weddings.”

“What to Look For In a Photographer” is directed towards photographers, but I suspect the message in that blog post can be reiterated to magazines that fail at every turn to showcase brides and couples from all walks of life.

Are the rise of magazines like South Asian Bride or blogs like Maharani Weddings a direct response to how most of these widely read publications are shunning multicultural, ethnic or gay couples? I understand the need to focus on your niche, but is that just a clever way of saying “I am going to segregate and serve only one type of client over another based on their skin color or sexual preference?”

As publishers of magazines and bridal blogs that are read widely, you do have the power to dictate what is truly happening in the wedding industry. And you also have the responsibility to represent all brides in an equal manner. But will you?

Imagine the African American bride or the Indian bride or the Chinese bride who may just stumble onto your magazine and website, only to find what you have published simply does not relate to them. Or, that all they have access to when planning their wedding is what you supply to them. It scares me that a couple’s or culture’s visual history will be but a fading memory, while clearly only one dominant culture continues to highlight its celebrations all the time.

Why is it that other cultures get sidelined? What perverse rationale is used to NOT acknowledge that other people exist among us? I ask these questions not to point fingers but to really figure it out. I am sure other people have these thoughts running through their brain too.

Even I am not infallible. My galleries were once segregated to “Eastern Weddings” and “Western Weddings”. My website has this on the front – “Seshu Is A Documentary Wedding Photographer Serving Multicultural, Ethnic & Interfaith Clients In Connecticut, New England and Around The World”. This will be changed pronto to make it more inclusive. I am a documentary wedding photographer of ALL people. Period.

A good friend and I have talked about this a lot. A wedding is a wedding and the documentary approach I use isn’t going to be any different because the clients are different. Makes sense to me, so I thought about it and have decided to display the very best images from all my weddings, regardless of what traditions my clients have chosen to follow. In the end, it’s about telling everyone’s story – not just Indian, Japanese, Iraqi or French couples. Get my drift?

Perhaps I have been naive all along. But folks, it’s 2010 and I say let’s mix it up. It’s more fun that way!

*The above image was created by Jigar Champaneria, a photographer in the Bay Area. Check out the covers. Isn’t it indicative of what this blog post is about? Thanks, Jigar!

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Working With An Elinchrom Quadra System

by Guest on August 13, 2010

in Lighting, Photography

This is a guest post by Justin Van Leeuwen, an Ottawa-based portrait and wedding photographer trying to find his way through the sea of part time photo mommy-bloggers and seasoned, grumpy, veterans of the wedding profession. As a father of two photogenic sons, he loves spending his time with a camera in one hand and a beer in the other. In his ~~spare time~~work week he labors for a local charity making sure they raise lots of money but was once fired from Best Buy for giving his supervisor the “double-middle” – which he does not regret.

I’ll preface this article to say that I’m new to the world of wedding photography, lighting, and portraiture in general. I have no classic schooling and have just studied, sought inspiration, and worked my butt off to the point that I’m at; and at this point, there’s a lot of room for improvement. I think, though, that I can help a lot of you out who are interested in a similar style of photography but just haven’t taken that plunge.

The Elinchrom Quadra System

This blog post will be about the Elinchrom Quadra system that I recently used at a wedding. The first question a lot of people ask me is why I got Quadra’s? There are a million different light options out there and all I can say was that this was the right choice for me. You’ll have to do your own research when it comes to using lights more powerful than a speedlight.

In my own research I found blogs like www.strobist.com, www.zarias.com, & www.joemcnally.com invaluable – as I do every day.

Why not just use speedlights?

I can tell you, quite simply, it comes down to power. A Nikon or Canon or “other” speedlight just can’t come close to the quantity of light that a more powerful strobe like the Quadra’s can produce. If photography is all about ratio’s and f/stops of light that increase by doubling numbers then you’d need to double up your speedlights pretty fast to get the same power output that a Quadra system will offer you. If you’re thinking a good flash is $500 – how many of those flashes are you going to need to bungee together to just get one pop the equivalent of the Quadra’s? 4 … maybe 8? Right there you’ve paid for the bigger set with cash left over; so the decision is easily made to grab a good portable Elinchrom System.

Another thing I like about the Elinchrom lights is that it IS a system, a system that pre-exists with snooths, and grids, and softboxes that have been refined and perfected over the years. And with a few adapters I have access to every light modifier Elinchrom makes.

But, at this point I’m working on a very limited budget, I can’t very well afford every piece out there, and with limited (read: no) rental options available to me, it’s buy and try. Luckily there’s help if you know where to look: I put a Tweet out to the pro’s and asked, if they could have just one light mod for the Elinchrom system, which would it be? Overwhelming response was the Deep Throat Octa (sexy no?). The deep throat is great because it’s big, produces a wonderful quality of light close up, and can be easily used backed up to throw a strong (still pleasing) harsher and powerful light in the direction of your subjects.

That’s what I was working with going into this wedding: 1 Elinchrom Ranger Quadra set, 1 Deep Throat Octa, a light stand, a broken budget (don’t tell my wife!), an assistant, and a really windy day.

Lighting The Wedding Day

I’m determined to use quality lighting at my clients weddings. I think it brings a dimension that is not as easily replicated (as in you need the gear and know how to use it) and will help set me apart from other weekend warriors.

Pictured: me adjusting my blackrapid R-strap, with the Ranger Quadra & Deep Throat Octa (outer diffuser removed) on an Avenger C-stand. Photo by David Hicks.

As you can see in the above image, aside from me needing to lose some weight, I’ve removed the outer diffuser of the softbox. The reason for this was that the material does absorb about a stop of light, and since the day was quite sunny (though we weren’t shooting in full sun) I wanted the latitude to change my exposure on the pack and use less power. Using less power per flash would mean a faster recycle time and more “pops” on this formal portraiture shoot.

Setting all this up was dead-simple, the heaviest component being the C-stand (and you want a really good heavy stand when you spend this kind of ~~cash~~ credit on lights). It was sandbagged but, with a giant wind-sail like the Quadra attached it didn’t matter, it was a very windy day and we required someone to hold the stand at all times.

Pictured: The groom & his boys. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

I love the contrasty look that you can get by under-exposing the background of a daytime scene – it makes the blues of the sky so much richer, like how I remember them, or how I want to remember them. It also serves to separate the foreground the lit elements (the wedding party), from the ambient light of the day: this really makes your subjects “pop” out of the image.

Pictured: The bride. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

There are some tricks here and I’ll run you through them. Most people know by now – thanks to visionary teachers like David Hobby, Joe McNally, Syl Arena, and many others – that the ambient exposure is your “available” light and your flash can come in as a key light to add some ‘pop.’ The means to control how much pop is there is pretty simple – your shutter speed will control your ambient light (so 1/60th will let more ambient/available light in, and 1/250th less) while your aperture will control how much flash gets in (so f/2.8 will be brighter than f/8 assuming your flash power stays consistent). And the combination of these two that you choose will all be according to your tastes. Some like to keep the flash and ambient levels balanced to create a more natural look, while others, like me, like to pop it up.

Most digital SLR’s are limited in their ability to sync the flash with the shutter speed. 1/250th is pretty typical, though a lot of 5D users are more in the 1/160th range and others fall in-between. For your model be sure to RTFM. The reason for this is that your shutter doesn’t move fast enough to capture the full power of your flash – leaving a black, or dark, area having only exposed for the ambient light. But there are a few ways to cheat this and even use it to your advantage.

One way, when you’re shooting manual (which I always do for my lit portraits when not using a TTL flash system) is to just crank that shutter speed up anyways. 1/250th? HA – I LAUGH AT YOU! It’s called cheating the sync and, when done right, it looks like a strong vignette on your image. When done wrong you have a horrible black bar across the frame. The thing to know is that whatever shutter speed you choose, will still expose the ambient, it’s the flash that won’t get captured in the region (the bottom of the frame). So you can use it like I did here to still expose, but create a natural vignette highlighting the area of the subjects I wanted to focus on.

Pictured Bride & Bridesmaid the heavy vignette at the bottom is due to cheating the sync to 1/400th of a second, thus the flash exposure was never recorded at that lower portion of the frame. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

Others can manipulate this technique by turning their camera’s upside-down and letting that vignette hit only the sky – which is usually brighter anyways – or compose in a way that they’ll crop later. Shooting on a now ancient 1DMKII, I didn’t have the MP to spare to crop down.

Another way to cheat the sync, and this I love, is to use a different kind of camera. Point and shoots aren’t SLR’s right? So they’re not bound by the same “rule” of a max shutter speed because there’s no shutter – just a sensor. Sadly, i find, the cameras are still limited in their firmware to a number that is much lower than they’re capable of – if you’re using a TTL system a camera like the G11 is still limited to 1/250th or so. A camera like the G11 (or the Panasonic LX3 which I’ve also used) has a hot-shoe which allows me to put a remote trigger in it (like the Elinchrom skyport that triggers the Quadra flashes: very similar to a Pocket Wizard). The G11 was able to reach the shutter speeds I needed for the day (1/400th), to darken the sky, without the burden of worrying about a shutter vignette. In fact, I could have gone with an even FASTER shutter speed, effectively turning day to night if I really wanted to. To sweeten the deal, the G11 is 10MP (2MP more than the 1DMKII) or if you had a G10 that’s 15MP to put to use.

The groomsmen were shot at 1/1000th of a second. Two other images (above) were also shot with the G11.

Once I’ve figured out my ambient and ideal working aperture the rest of the shoot goes like any other, lock in your settings and keep the distance of light to subject consistent… except when the clouds cover the sun and you’re effectively starting from scratch because your ambient just went down a hole…

Lighting the Group

One thing a single speedlight can’t do very well is light a large group… heck, even a medium group it’d be struggling with if they were spread out.

Pictured: The Bridal Party. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

Another advantage to removing the outer diffuser panel of the Octa was that it also gave the light a bit more spread – not only would it carry farther, it would spread wider – allowing me to light the group who, otherwise, would have been in shade, unevenly lit and definitely not standing out.

Tearing Down

Packing up the Quadra is as easy as it is setting it up, except you’re no longer balancing exposures, you’re racing off to the ceremony that starts in 30 minutes.

For posterity, here’s a shot of the bride with the flash off, and the next on.

After the ceremony we were able to put the Quadra to use again in larger groups for the family formals.

The bride’s family. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

Finally, I also added a “Photobooth” as an add-on benefit for your clients and a great point of sale for your business. But I found that I need a good amount of clean, wrapping light to do it right – also to get a small enough aperture to capture depth in case someone does something crazy.

Wedding revelers don’t fit my 10’ seamless (which wasn’t seamless after this shot)

Full disclosure: Admittedly, I was inspired by “The Image is Found” Nate & Jacyln Kaiser who rock the Crazybooth like nobody’s business – actually they rock it like THEIR business. And you can buy their secret sauce recipe for how to do it right (which I don’t – YET) here.

What did I need?

An awesome assistant and second shooter. Dave saved my ass that day; he held my lights up in some serious wind, and shot a bunch of photos that I would not have been able to when he wasn’t a living land-sail. I’d argue a good 2nd shooter is always a valuable resource to have at a wedding for both you and your clients – they can also be someone to hold your lights – even better!

Pictured: David Hicks. Photo by Justin Van Leeuwen

Just to be clear, I did not use the Quadra, or any sort of strobes for many other parts of the wedding. They were just a tool that I utilized to give my client a bit of a “studio” experience while producing images that, I hope, will set me apart from some of my competition. The capital outlay wasn’t much more than some of those “L” Lenses I look at (and own), plus it gave us some images that were must haves for the wedding album, and even 12×18 print orders.

I still have a long way to go before I get what I’m really aiming for – these images aren’t perfect – and I can pick them apart. I also welcome you to – seriously – let me know what you think, how they could have been improved, a light in the rear for separation? Shallower dof (you’d need ND filters for that) Just no comments on the subjects okay? They all look awesome.

If you have questions about this or anything else, I also welcome them. You can reach me on twitter @justinvl or by email at justin.vanleeuwen AT gmail DOT com When I’m not taking care of my two kids and taking pictures of them, you can sometimes find me on my photography blog.

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U.S. Customs Procedures For Photographers Who Travel With Their Equipment Overseas, A Rebuttal

by Guest on August 5, 2010

in Photography, Travel

This is a guest post by Steven “Fish” Frischling, a Connecticut based intrepid photographer. You can find him blogging about his escapades in airports and on airplanes at Flying With Fish. And, I do recommend you follow him on Twitter for his sage advice about the air travel industry.

In the world of travel there are regulations, laws, gray areas and the simple facts of every day events. All of these possibilities don’t always match up and sometimes it seems traveling photographers may get caught in the middle.

Recently Scott Bourne wrote about a photographer who nearly had to pay taxes on US$15,000 worth of camera equipment while traveling back into the United States because he did not have a Form 4457 that proved his ownership of the equipment.

In reading the blog post by Scott Bourne, U.S. – Based Photographers Traveling Abroad – Beware The Duty, I was left pondering the realities of travel. Having racked up more than 1,000,000 butt-in-seat miles traveling since I started paying attention to my miles in 2005 I have done my fair share of international travel and researched travel with camera equipment extensively.

In my experience, a Form 4577 is cumbersome, as every single piece of equipment needs its own form filled out in detail. To negate the sheer time and annoyance it takes to fill out a Form 4577 I prefer to use a Carnet. A Carnet is a single form that lists all items a photographer would be traveling with, it proves ownership and eliminates the need to pay taxes and US Customs Agents are legally required to accept it … but do I really need a Form 4577 or Carnet to reenter the United States? No, I do not … and let me tell you why.

In my experience, a Form 4577 is cumbersome, as every single piece of equipment needs its own form filled out in detail.

If you follow the links from Scott Bourne’s post you’ll find one to the US Customs & Border Protection (US CBP) Traveler’s Checklist. Under the US CBP Checklist if you read #5 it states: “Receipts or registration paperwork (CBP Form 4457) for any new electronics, such as a camera or laptop, that I’m taking with me? (Only suggested if traveling with recently purchased goods. Not necessary for goods more than 6 months old.)”

I have asked about getting stopped and having gear searched by US CBP and the best answer I got from a Supervisor at Los Angeles International Airport (who wishes to remain anonymous) is “it’s all about red flags.”

US Customs scans tens-of-thousands of passengers in airports daily. Some are flagged by passport control, others for body language, and others by intuition, but you need to send off a red flag to have your bags checked upon reentry into the United States as a Citizen.

I have set off red flags and been checked more than once, but never once have I been threatened with a duty on my equipment. I have been flagged after traveling to Tokyo for 36 hours. When asked why my trip was so short I replied that there were no earlier connections home … that was a red flag. Explaining to passport control that on a trip I had travelled to Basrah Iraq for six hours followed by a two-hour stop in Kuwait City … and I was not traveling with the Military … that was a red flag. Having passport control notice I had been in and out of Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport 3 times and Paris’s Charles De Gaulle Airport once in a single day … that was a red flag.

I have set off red flags and been checked more than once, but never once have I been threatened with a duty on my equipment.

In all of these red-flag instances when my camera gear was revealed it was obvious that I was a professional photographer, my equipment was my own and it had likely been in my possession longer than six months.

US Customs agents are over worked and under staffed at nearly every airport I know. I spent a considerable amount of time documenting US CBP as a news photographer for a major magazine a few years back and got to witness how they operate from the inside out, not just from the perspective of a passenger, and agents generally use their own common sense to determine who is being truthful, who is lying and if equipment being brought into the country left the country with the traveler.

One way to ensure your gear will not get a second glance should you get red flagged is to take ownership of your gear before you leave. All of my equipment have uniform labels with my name and contact info on them, some pieces of gear have it twice. All of my gear is marked with tape (I use pink tape to quickly be able to ID my own gear), the tape on all the gear makes it uniform. My cameras all have gaffers tape in the eyepieces, nearly all my lenses have gaffers tape on the lens hoods or marks of the tape where the hoods attached to the bodies. All my camera batteries have pink tape and identification labels as well.

One way to ensure your gear will not get a second glance should you get red flagged is to take ownership of your gear before you leave.

When my bag is opened up an agent knows my equipment is … well … my equipment. Gear that is 2 days old may look cleaner than gear that is six years old, but having them taped and marked the same way speeds up the process and I never get a second look.

The one time I ended up being significantly scrutinized by a CBP Agent, at Atlanta (ATL), the agent asked for my card, I handed it to him and he walked off. He checked my web site, saw I legitimately was a photographer, he apologized for the delay, helped repack my bag and sent me on my way.

One thing to note is that in Scott Bourne’s post he suggests filling out the Form 4577 then having it signed by the US CBP at your Port of Entry (POE) prior to departure. This is problematic for many travelers. Never mind that nearly every CBP Agent I have asked said they hate signing off on Form 4577s because its never one form, its 30 forms and they need to verify every piece of gear … but there is no CBP Office near many travelers and most travelers depart from a location different than their Port of Entry. For example, most of my trips start and end at New Haven’s Tweet Airport, but my Port of Entry when I fly home is usually Philadelphia … although my Port of Entry can also be Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shannon (Yes there is US Immigrations & Customs in Shannon Ireland), Miami, Toronto (Yes there is US Immigrations & Customs in Toronto), Newark, Detroit, Dulles, etc etc etc.

One thing to note is that in Scott Bourne’s post he suggests filling out the Form 4577 then having it signed by the US CBP at your Port of Entry (POE) prior to departure. This is problematic for many travelers.

Travelers who feel the need to have a Carnet or Form 4577 for reentry back into the United States should look for a local CBP Office, although there are many regions that simply don’t have an office conveniently located.

So what should you do when you fly internationally and are returning home to the United States? Know the rules, US CBP will not laugh at you, as Scott Bourne states … and I have had my fare share of run-ins with Agents (just search my blog), but if you are right you ask for a Supervisor and as them to review the US CBP Traveler’s Checklist … unless you’ve already read the CBP Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (which I don’t suggest reading, its quite boring).

Happy Flying!

Your comments below will inspire a dialogue. We want to hear your opinions. So, step up and speak up!

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← Previous Entries

Crafting Your Photographic Vision Leads To Success

Get Better Seo By Finding & Using Long Tail Keywords

Photographers – Don’t Use Email Marketing To Market!

A Photographer’s Life Is A Juggling Act

The World Through Our Eyes, A Cambodian Project

A Snapshot Into SnapKnot, A Brief Introduction

What Can You Expect To See At JVS’ Lighting Workshop?

Brides: Are You For Real?

Working With An Elinchrom Quadra System

U.S. Customs Procedures For Photographers Who Travel With Their Equipment Overseas, A Rebuttal

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