Life without Facebook…

Since I’m getting texts about my Facebook page getting updated and why am I on Facebook, lol..I have a WordPress plugin that  autoposts to my Facebook page jackasses! leave me alone! lol. ..but yeah, technically I’m Facebooking without being on Facebook.  I guess that’s cheating huh? Oh well…My last to blog updates I’ve had texts rubbing it in my face that I couldn’t do it since they saw the Fan page update…

exists!! So I had given up Facebook for Lent.  Odd right? but it was something I did evvvvry day and had very little benefit to my daily living.  But it being a “Social” networking website and me being a somewhat of a social-holic I found myself on it constantly.  Do I miss it? hmm, not nearly as much as I thought I would. In fact, i’ve gotten more texts and emails of people urging me to come back for a visit than i’ve had of urges to take a sneak peek.  I’ve found myself doing a lot of other things I’ve been neglecting now that I’ve got this new found time on my hands…like editing some personal shoots. I have 2 shoots and a video that’s been on the back burner now since before Mardi Gras.  Hmm now that I am looking, I think I need to fix that image a little. 3am work isn’t my best..unless I’m drinking wine which is another vice I had given up for New Years.  Maybe I’ll get to editing that video soon too…

 

 

 

Back in 2010 I took a semi-cross country trip with my son and since then I’ve been meaning to put together an album of some of the photos I captured along the way.  Ironically, the first day of that trip I found my 5D to be useless.  Seems one of the pins for the CF card had bent and broke rendering it POO. So the trip was documented all with my then iPhone 3GS. Anyways, I finally put all the images together and made a Blurb book. I was just doing it out of boredom (free from the chains of Facebook!) and got that task completed today! 2 years…better late than never.

You can check it out  here on BLURB. I believe I set it up for purchasing, but you can view the travel blog for free  here - http://www.pacificandback.com.  Despite having to use an iPhone to photograph some of the most beautiful scenery in the U.S., I think we still captured what we felt during the trip. Close to it at least.

 

 

 

 

Going back to discussing my photography, I often get some questions via email that I’ll reply to personally.  I think I’ll start posting them to the blog (as well as a direct reply) because often times it’s the same questions from multiple people.  The two main repetitive ones I get are :

1. How do you light your photos?

So to answer the 1st -   Contrary to what I’ve told people in the past, I do not use lightening bolts fired from my ass…  Whatever the way I see the photo in my head.  Meaning almost every single shoot (my personal work) that I do, I have the images I want to capture in my head.  I’ve already mentally shot it and when it comes to actual shoot time, I just try to replicate it.  More often than not, It’s composed of 1-4 strobes. Hitting the subject at various angles.  I usually shoot for something dramatic in the look.  But not always…. I’ll get more into my lighting techniques and preferences in a later post.  It’s a big subject that should be dedicated to it’s own post.  When I first started photography I was somewhat thrown to the wolves.  The sites I hung out online comprised of some very talented artists and not just “professionals” out to make money first and art 2nd.

<-One of my all time favorite images of one of my all time fav models. Lindsey, if you are reading…let’s get that 2nd shoot done.

 

2. How much do you charge?

This one I hate…If photography was my main source of income and livelihood…maybe I’d love this one.  But when I get it, I usually find myself cringing at committing myself into “work” instead of creating something.  Don’t get me wrong, some of it I LOVE doing.  Some of it is challenging and I have free reign to express myself artistically while getting paid to shoot. Those jobs I love and wish I had more of.  It seems i’ve gotten more of that lately, maybe that’s a legitimate sign of becoming successful.  I don’t know…  But to answer this question as broad as I can… minimum shoot charge is $300.00..  So basically, a single portrait/headshot session.  Anything more involved will be at least double that.

Weddings?  I’ll refer you to someone very good. I know a handful of superb craftsmen when it comes to catching that intimate moment.  For me to shoot a wedding, I have to be emotionally attached to the couple. If i know them, love them, like them and am happy for the love they are sharing…I’ll be inspired to shoot it.  If not, I’m just another person snapping pictures.  I’ve tried it, I just can’t find myself getting inspired to shoot a strangers wedding.  I’ve literally got in an email argument with someone trying to convince me why I should shoot their wedding and me telling them why I shouldn’t.   lol.

So if you have a question for me regarding my photography techniques, I’ll try to answer them the best I can.  If I don’t know an answer I’ll make something up that sounds believable.

Submit your questions to my email here. Or anonymously via Formspring here.

Till next time…

Flip