Photo Stuff

In one year: (2007)

• My wife divorced me, and took my life savings.
• 90% of my company was no longer mine, on a technicality.
• My apartment was destroyed, so I slept and showered in the warehouse.
• All my employees, led by my good friend and VP, led a mutiny against me. (I never returned, and never saw them again.)
• I invested everything I had left in a very conservative fund, which fell 50% immediately, and never came back.
• I invested everything I had left in a different conservative fund, which also fell 50%, and never came back.
• The woman I was madly in love with married the guy she would always complain to me about.

Two weeks after that year ended, three companies called asking if I wanted to sell my company. Though I had said no to that question for ten years, this time I said yes.

I had messed up so bad, I had to walk away. I had done everything wrong, and needed to cleanse myself of all those bad decisions. I needed to take some time to learn from my mistakes, and replace my thoughts with new ones. A self-made back-to-schooling.

I look back at that year, and know it won't get much worse. If I can handle that, I can handle anything.

The company sale was announced. The first time someone said “congratulations” I said, “For what? I messed up so bad I lost my baby. That's nothing to congratulate.” (For future congratulations, I just shrug.)

We all underestimate our ability to massively change our life when it's gone off track.

Say “no” where you used to say “yes”. Say “yes” where you used to say “no”. Do the thing that scares you the most, then get up and go.

For those of you considering a massive change, I can tell you from experience:

It's awesome here on the other side.

I received an inspiring gift from a friend the other day that I thought I’d share with you here. Chew on it over the weekend. Hopefully this resonates with the creative part in you as it did with me. I made me want to make stuff even more and share it with the world. It is a confidential prospectus for a new magazine:
THE PURPOSE: To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things – machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see our work – our paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to: the women that men love and many children; to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed; Thus to see, and to be shown, is now the will and new expectancy of half of humankind. To see, and to show, is the mission now undertaken by a new kind of publication, THE SHOW-BOOK OF THE WORLD, hereinafter described…

This new magazine? LIFE. This is the opening paragraph from Henry R. Luce’s 1936 original, confidential prospectus for what became LIFE Magazine. I couldn’t help but be wildly inspired by the concept. It’s a passionately written piece on the power and potential of photography, as well as a wonderful slice of history.

We all know the plight of magazines, but this gave me hope for their new era, whatever it might look like. Just think about how much more wildly capable we are today to actually deliver on this purpose and this promise. We have the internet. We have devices, screens and even still papers in places where there are no screens or fiber channel chords-to share now more than ever before. More than ever before we have our cameras with us day everyday and the means to digitally pipe this information around the world in a millisecond. The rest of this prospectus is worth a read. Link for download is after the jump.

A downloadable pdf of the original LIFE Magazine prospectus is here.

Enjoy and share. Have a great holiday weekend.
*note that I inserted gender neutral rhetoric in two places. Reference the original on the pdf if you care….

Thanks @johnnyvulkan for the gift.

NPPA member Jim Richardson, a National Geographic photographer, has a new feature on the National Geographic Web site where he offers lessons on how to research stories, lighting, and even how "pure dumb luck" can drastically change your photographs.(author unknown)

U.S. Marine Cpl. Reynaldo Leal captures life behind the scenes in the war in Iraq.(author unknown)

A Guest Post by Wayne Turner from http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com

Photographing people in groups is a challenge especially when shooting young children. Understanding the dynamics and a few fundamental steps will assist in shooting group shots of quality. Every one is unique so there is always a challenge. These keys will show you just how easy it is to take a great image.

Image by HAMED MASOUMI

I am always hesitant to shoot large groups of people for the basic reason that it’s difficult to get everyone doing the same thing at the same time. So, I prefer to shoot a large group divided into smaller, more intimate groups. This has great advantages and enables you to see more of the people in the image instead of tiny faces scattered across the photo.

Here are some keys to shooting quality images.

1. Small is better

As I have just said it’s important to have less people with more of the people in the image. Groups are shot for memories. You want to remember the event and people. Rather have two groups of three of four than a large group of eight. Smaller groups are easier to direct and placing the subjects is far more simple.

2. Planning a shot is essential

Planning is key to any good photo shoot. Become a director like in the movies. Don’t just let people stand where they want to. Move the people around and create a more interesting scene. Be creative and go beyond tall people at the back and short to the front. Group others around the most important person in the image. Know where you want each person to stand in relation to the whole group.

3. Good location is vital

Where you take the shot is very important. Of course there are times where you are limited as to where you can shoot. But always be aware of your backgrounds and the edges of your image. You don’t want elements in the photo that distract from the main subjects but you do want something that will help the group stand out from their background without any distractions. Sometimes it’s great to place the group in their context, for example, a surfing team needs something at the beach and not a wooden fence.

4. Get in close

This principle ties in with our first point. You want to get in close to the group which is why you don’t want it too large. The closer you are the more detail you’ll see in their faces. If the group is large try to get them to get their heads closer together. Excluding body parts is fine but nobody wants to see half a head. Again, you are creating memories not just a record of an event. As the old adage goes, less is more. Fewer people but more detail.

5. Use the multiple shot feature on your camera

This is especially useful when taking shots of small groups but absolutely essential when shooting large groups. Taking multiple shots makes it easier to get the shot as there might only be fractions of a second when everyone is looking at the camera and not blinking. By shooting on continuous mode you’ll pick up dynamics in the group which you may not usually find in a single calculated photo.

6. Be happy

There is nothing worse in a group photo situation than a tired and grumpy old photographer. Be happy even if you don’t feel like it. People feed off the energy of others and a smile or a laugh can be contagious. A smile will most times relax your subjects and make them feel happier. Engage them, tell jokes and above all find ways to relax them. If you are not in a great mood don’t do the photo shoot.

No group is the same as the next even when you’re shooting class after class at the local school. Every group has its own dynamic. What drives it. So find this out and milk it for all its worth. Shooting groups can be a lot of fun if you take the time to get into their world and engage them. Remember that practise makes perfect and the more you do it the better you will become. Happy shooting!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

6 Keys to Shooting Great Group Photos

In this month’s “Ask the Photo Business Coach,” I answer the following question submitted by a Black Star Rising reader: “Should I put my pricing on my Web site to attract more clients?”

Content-Aware Fill and Puppet Warp are the attention grabbers of Photoshop CS5 and, as the recent online sneak peeks have shown, these new features will enable users of Adobe's flagship image editor to bend pixels in novel and creative ways. But if you're a news photographer, or any other kind of shooter trying to keep it real in your photographs, then neither feature is going to see much use - or shouldn't. The good news is that Adobe's Photoshop CS5 efforts weren't limited to these two whizzy features. They've implemented numerous other improvements to the program, ones that will be useful to photographers simply trying to prepare pictures for the web, delivery to a client or onto the printed page. We have a summary of what's new.(author unknown)09098942182171249632001135337657863866121341005488002188072415286133258752504582