Week 8 EOC: Is She Fair Game?

In the movie Roman Holiday, the plot revolves around a princess who has run away from home. She has landed in the arms of a man who works for a newspaper, but she does not know what he does. He knows who she is, but never tells her. He immediately develops the idea to get a story about the princess that no one else can get. One of his best friends is a photographer. He arranges for the photographer to meet him while he is out for a fun day with the princess. Little does he know that he (the newspaper writer) will fall in love with the princess. While this is all going on the photographer meets up with the two and begins to secretly take photos of the princess doing different things she’s never gotten to do. These are things such as smoking her first cigarette, dancing with a barber, and hitting someone over the head with a guitar in a fight. Once the newspaper writer found out he was in love with the princess he knew that he could not write the story worth a lot of money. The photographer soon came with the photos and was confused by the writer’s reasons. He said she was “fair game”. The writer said you can take them and make money with them if you want to, but I don’t want anything to do with it. In today’s world it is true that she is fair game. There are many people willing to pay a lot of money for photos of celebrities doing things that are unheard of. The photographer could have black mailed the princess for more money to not show them and I’m sure that this happens today also. I think that because the photographer was the writer’s friend that he made the right choice to not sell the photos and ruin the princess’ name. I’m not sure that with the money that could be made that I or other people would be able to do the same. I guess the saying is true that you don’t know until it happens to you.

Week 7 Photo Challenge: Self Portrait Through Someone's Eye

This week’s photo challenge was to do a self portrait in someone’s eye.  I knew right away that I wanted to use my husband, Michael for this challenge. I thought it would be neat to show him as he sees me. By doing research I saw that most people chose to do an extreme close up of someone’s eye, so I knew right away that I wanted mine to stand out and be different. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would accomplish it, but I was determined to try by experimenting. 

I knew that it needed to be on a day where the sun was shining through my bedroom window because it makes the best light any photographer could ask for. I photographed it around 4 PM. In order to capture myself in his eye I needed to be somewhat silhouetted, so I placed myself in front of the window until I saw myself in his eye. At first I was not seeing myself very well, so I tried to hold my camera vertical instead of horizontal. I immediately saw my arm and knew that this was where I needed to be. For the shot I tried to get in close, but I did not like it too much because I wanted to have a different photo than most people. I then backed up my lens just enough to see an expression on my husband’s face while still being able to see myself in his eye.  I was able to capture this image and I just loved how natural it looked. This is how I get to see Michael through my eyes. He didn’t know how close or far away I was and I was still able to get this subtle reaction from him. I knew right away that this was the shot. I chose to desaturate the photo some in Photoshop to help your eye go to his eye more.

Week 7 EOC: Progress Towards My Professional Contacts

Part of being a business owner is building up your professional contact list. These people will help you advance or help you with your career along the way. These may be someone you meet at an event, or just anywhere in your day to day life. When you meet these people you need to ALWAYS ask for a business card. Some of the absolute professional contacts you need for starting a business are a banker, an accountant, an insurance agent, and a lawyer. I’m going to talk to you about my experience in gaining these four important contacts business cards. For each I did an initial research on where to start. I began with my location and then reviewed what the different company sites had to offer me. The ones that looked more professional and had many qualified people to help me were the ones that I was more drawn to.

I went out on a day that I had free to find all of these. I made sure that I was dressed in business attire so that people would respect me more. For the banker I went to Chase Bank because they are a well known, respected bank and you can find them in more places than one. When I went in I talked to a nice gentleman that greeting me at the door. I told him that I was a student who needed a business card from a business banker in order to help build my business plan. He was very helpful and gave me one. For the accountant, I found an office that had many CPA’s that deal daily with businesses.  I asked for a card and they were very kind to show me where they were located. For the lawyer, the company I researched was no longer there, so this was poor research on my part, but there were other lawyers within the business park I was in. I asked if they had an IP lawyer and they gave me the card to someone who could closely help me with that.  Finally, with the insurance agent I have different story. I was able to meet her through a well respected photographer, Sharon Sampsel. She was able to give a brief description on how she would be able to help me as a photographer.  This is an example of it’s all about who you know.

Knowing the kind of contacts you need is a good start to being a great business owner.

Week 6 Photo Challenge: Paparazzi

 

This week’s photo challenge was to be paparazzi. I was not too sure about doing this because I hate everything that paparazzo’s are about. I feel that they are stalkers and never have that great quality photo that a professional photographer strives for. However they are making more money than I am, so I guess they are doing something right. 

I wanted to do my photograph in a way that made Ron Galella famous. He photographs with a black and white style that makes all of his photos seem like they were not taken by a paparazzi. They have a sense of feeling that makes it seem like the celebrity allowed him to take their photo. 

I was not sure what type of photo I was going to do. I knew that it would depend on who was going to model for me. I asked around and had a good friend and fellow photographer, Rachel Smith, agree to model for me. I happened to know that she has a little dog and I thought right away about the celebrities who walk and carry their dogs around. They usually go out very casually and are “themselves”. With this in mind I had Rachel in no make-up and dressed her in a pair of white shorts and a casual shirt. I also had her wear sunglasses as it was really sunny out. 

We went out at about 2:30 in the afternoon around her neighborhood and I did some shots with my 18-55 lens with her walking and carrying the dog. I got a few good shots from it, but the shot I chose was one that I did with the 70-300 lens.  I wanted to capture realness with the background, but also wanted it to be completed blurred out but still letting you know that it is a street. This shot has her holding her hand up as if she is saying “no pictures”. I think her tattoo adds a bit to the photo and while her head is turned away you get the sense that she is refusing to have her photo taken.

EOC Week 6: Ron Galella and the First Amendment

In the movie "Smash His Camera" we learned about the life of Paparazzo Ron Galella. He has been known as the most controversial celebrity photographer in the world. Galella started photography while in the Air Force during the Korean War. He later attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California, and graduated with a degree in Photojournalism in 1958. After seeing the movie I really had mixed feelings about Galella. I have never liked how Paparazzo’s worked with their cameras. I know that celebrities are always constantly in the public eye, but it seems like Paparazzo’s  today get way out of hand with their craft. I feel that if I were a celebrity I would feel like my life is threatened with all of those people constantly following me in mobs. Galella was and still is a sneaky Paparazzo. He biggest muse was Jacqueline Kennedy-Onasis. Although I hate the paparazzo lifestyle, I really enjoyed looking at many of Galella’s photographs of her and many other celebrities. They are all done in such an artistic way that they don’t look like photos you see in all the tabloids today. Galella photographed Jackie so much that she took him to court for “harassing” her. Essentially they called it a free speech trial. She was only able to get a restraining order against Galella for him to not come anywhere within 150 feet of her. The first amendment kicked in for Galella saying that this was his way of making money and that he had the right to do it. I am glad that he was able to win this because as a photographer myself wanting to make money by taking photographs would not want to be sued for something I enjoy doing and that in no way harms people.

Week 5 Photo Challenge: Painting With Light

This week’s photo challenge was to “paint” with light. I thought really hard about how to approach this assignment. I didn’t want it to look like a child photographed it. My first initial thought was to be in the dark and use glow sticks. Many people have done this assignment and have written words, so I tried to stay away from that. I did some research to see what other people have done and it still was hard to get a fresh idea. So I just decided to experiment and see what I would come up with. I asked my friend if she could bring over her three kids. They are seven, five, and one. I bought three glow sticks, so that each child would have one. I started with the oldest girl because I knew she would have more patience with letting me get the settings I needed. I then did the youngest girl, but she could not sit still long enough for me to capture a few shots. This was alright though. I love how children can be so spontaneous and just say I’m finished now. I then went back to photographing the oldest child and the above is my result. I photographed them in the dark on my living room floor. The shutter speed was at about five seconds. I asked her to try different things with the glow sticks. I knew right away that this photo was going to be a great one. The expression on her face was priceless along with the green mystic glow across her face. Also, the surrounding areas that are black remind me of a messed up negative that gives you an interesting result. It makes you wonder what else is surrounding her. Where is she at? This was a fun challenge to do and I would love to more in the future.

Week 5 EOC: Midterm

My experience in taking Marketing and Promotions has been so far a great learning experience.  I never saw myself blogging or tweeting.  I have a greater respect for people who do those now because I have learned that it has helped them advance in their business.  I also know that I am now capable of meeting a photo challenge I have been given a week in advance, so I will have no excuses in the “real world”.  I have been able to enhance my knowledge on which I am competing against in my photography and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.  By doing this I know what I need to do to not have the same weaknesses and try to better in my strengths.  I have learned so much about running my own business and what precautions and procedures should be taken to make it all flow the right.  I know that I need to go to a banker when needing help to start a business and to also bring a business plan along to show that I am a professional.  I also know now that I will need an accountant to make sure that I am on track with my finances and that I will not have to owe money to the IRS.  I now know that I also need an IP (intellectual property) lawyer if there ever comes a time to need one. I think that I know and understand everything that has been taught in this class and believe that I am doing better than I ever thought I would when it comes to business aspects.  I have been able to turn everything in on time every week with the exception of my Twitter account.  I try to remind myself daily to do this, but this has definitely been a bigger challenge for me. 

Week 4 Photo Challenge: Weddings

The photo challenge for this week was to photograph something that says "wedding". It can be very hard to just have a wedding on a whim's notice, so I started thinking about alternatives of how to do this. I began researching to see what wedding photographers are doing. Right away I noticed that they do many detail shots. I wasn’t too sure still how I could approach this, so it took some thinking. At first I thought to photograph my wedding dress just hanging up. I did that and I just did not like the way it turned out. My next thought was to try to do a “ring” shot. This is shot where both the bride and grooms rings are shown next to a detail from a piece of decoration or something else at the wedding. I didn’t want to do mine and Michael’s because they are very simple with not a lot of detail and could use a bit of shining up. I was able to ask a friend who is getting married soon and already has hers and his ring. She gladly volunteered them. Next I needed to figure out where to place them. I decided to place them on a window sill my bedroom at about 5pm when the light is nice in there. I also placed behind the rings several different items just to see what they would look like and a vase with blue smooth rocks was my final choice.  I did have a few issues with my focus at first because I was shooting with my 18-55 lens which does not focus super close subjects. It didn’t take me too long to figure out a nice length to shoot at and this is the result. In Photoshop I did add some clarity and also a vignette to make the photo “pop” more. 

Objects are always a little bit harder to photograph than people for me, so this was a great learning experience.

BOC Week 5: Competitive Analysis

I made an effort to do research on four photography websites. I chose to do some high end and some low end. I wanted to give a summary of each site while also listing some of their strengths and weaknesses.

The first website I came across was http://www.cooganphoto.com/.
At first I wasn’t too sure about it because of the layout, but right away I could tell that the photos were well done. I then began to realize that the photographer Dan Coogan deals mostly with photographing businesses. He photographs corporate, editorial, fashion, advertising, and industrial location photography. He is a member of ASMP(American Society of Media Photographers)National and ASMP Arizona. All photographers should be a member of some photography group. This is what helps you network and be recognized in order to gain more clients. A great strength that I found is that he has a LONG list of clients who are well known to everyone. Another strength of the website was that it was very easy to navigate through. The only weakness I was able to really see was that there really wasn’t an about me section on the website. I feel that this can really let you know who you will be working with.

The next website I found to do research on was http://cinderellaphoto.com/.
I was able to find this site on the side page of Google while searching photographers. It is typical of many websites I ran across with just having photos all the way down the site. On the side they also have an easy setup to go throughout the site to browse other photos. It is a husband and wife team that specializes in Romantic Photography. They photograph weddings, engagements, and also do some photo booth photography. Their strength for me is the photos themselves. The after product is very clear and dream like. I would want them to do my photos. On their website they also have their wedding prices listed and they seem to fall within what most wedding photographers charge. The one weakness I considered them to have was giving their clients all the copyrights. This means they have no rights to the photos anymore. They are both big on this move. On their about me page they have a video where they clearly state why they do this.

The next photography I chose was http://valencaphotography.com/.
At first glance I noticed the logo and thought it could use better typography. Also, the photos to me did not stand out in any way. I then noticed that they are a member of the WPJA(Wedding Photojournalist Association), so I decided to look further. It says on the home page that they are based in Charleston, South Carolina, but as soon as I opened up the visit my website link it opened up a page that was full of photos taken in Las Vegas. So I then decided to check out their blog. I saw so many beautiful photos which is a great strength to have, but they were not even near what was on the website and that was a big shock to me! So I continued looking through the blog and found that there was a page that said for more information on wedding and portrait photography in Las Vegas and surrounding areas to visit the website. These to me are big and confusing weaknesses.

Finally, I decided to try to find a low end photography site by going farther down the Google list than most people go. I found one at http://www.imaginephoto.us.
Right away I was bored and wanted to leave. There were many weaknesses on this site. The photos looked mostly like point and shoot shots and on top of that whoever did the website made most of the photos distorted. This is a sign of not having the right web designer. You definitely pay for what you get. They photograph weddings, venues, landscapes, events, animals, and portraits. On their wedding packages they list all their prices which are way under what the average wedding photographer charges. They also give all copyrights to the client. The only strength I found was the fact that they put up testimonials from previous clients.

As I searched through all these sites, I definitely have a better understanding of what to do and not to do for my own site.

Week 4 EOC: Scary Legal Issues

There are many scary legal issues that go along with being a photographer who run's their own business. There are a few that I want to share with you. The first is having insurance. You should have health, life, and disability insurance, but most importantly I believe is you should have business insurance. "You won't be able to complete assignments that take place in many locations...You'll have problems obtaining loans, and the risk of you losing your entire business because of a lawsuit or a catastrophic loss of equipment, other assets, or data is just too great." (Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington Pg 120) The last thing any photographer wants is a lawsuit to deal with because they did not have insurance.

The next legal scary issue is something that should be avoided and can be done easily. You don’t want to be stuck owing the IRS. The best way to avoid this is by having an accountant. “If you are operating a business, you need an accountant.” (Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington Pg 155) Accountants can save your life by helping you make sure you are making money and not losing or having to owe money. Make sure you keep all your receipts that have anything to do with your business. Make sure you are using your business materials for only business purposes. If you are taking advantage of using these materials for other purposes, this is a sure way you will end up owing the IRS.

So do not take having a business lightly. There are many scary issues you can get yourself into if you are not careful. These can also be very hard to get out of. Be wise and know all aspects of having a business before starting one.