Michael [mahy-kuhl] – noun
1. A male given name. 2. A witty, charming professional wedding photographer who enjoys movies, exercise, romantic walks on the beach and large pepperoni pizzas.
Maven [may-ven] – noun
1. A connoisseur or trusted expert in a particular field who seeks to pass his knowledge onto others. 2. An intense gatherer of useful information. 3. An individual who demonstrates passion for learning and teaching a specific topic, particularly through a well connected social network.
Thank you for coming to my blog! I update it regularly, so if you ever want to know what I am up to, please come by and take a peek. Feel free to leave your comments below.
Canon Rebel T2i Crash Course Training DVDs Now Shipping!
Just got word this morning that the Canon Rebel T2i Crash Course Training DVDs have arrived and are preparing to ship. Pre-Order customers are given priority and will be the first out the door (most should be out today or at latest on Monday). If you live in the US, you should be getting them on time. Thank you for you support!
Its a little cheesy but I like the message. (One thing that is definitely true about it is how you can effect the types of smiles you get from your subjects by how you talk with them. The "Have you ever modeled?" is usually money! :)
This is very cool- Ive been wondering it there was a way to do this and am glad to see someone has. I personally would go with a Canon T2i, simply because its lighter (and cheaper- it WILL eventually crash)- but dang! Great great video! Thank you to the forum readers who tipped me off to it!
Bought a pair of these for my Haiti trip, and while I didn't end up bringing them, Ive been wearing them since I got back and I have to say, they are ridiculously comfortable. I have the brown ones above, but if you have never heard of them, you should visit their website because they have styles and sizes for everyone, including dress shoes, hiking boots, water proof diving boots, kids, womens, etc. Ive seen them popping up in sporting goods stores now too, try them on if you get a chance!
Ive been going through some of my Haiti pictures and found many I haven't posted. Eventually I am going to have to sit down and really document everything we did, I kept a journal of every day and have some good notes. Here are some of the images I thought you might find interesting. ALL of them were taken with the Canon 7D on the weirdly wonderful Tamron 18-275 lens.
This is a picture of the stink canal (aka a public city dump) - living within a very short stones throw for 3 weeks was miserable because it always stank.
A homeless boy we met on our first day scouting. He wanted water.
And we think our day jobs are tough! :) Thats another thing I noticed about the Haitians- man, they work hard and I dont recall seeing hardly anyone overweight.
The US embassy was swarmed by hundreds (if not thousands) of Haitians everyday. Most of them had fake US Passports and they were trying to get on evac flights out. The Marines wouldnt let Mathieu through unless I told them he was with me and was a legit US Citizen.
We later let them use our sat phones to call home and say hi to their families.
This was the morning Brian and Rick went back to the US. These Haitian men all wanted work from me and Mathieu, I had to choose who could stay on and had to turn the rest away. Not easy.
This little girl is doing her homework by flashlight. Keep in mind this was taken about 10 days after the quake destroyed her home. Determined!
This is a local street kid- He learned Mathieu and my name and would beg us for food every single day. Mathieu would sneak out leftovers to him after dark.
On a mission in City Solei- One of the most dangerous cities in the world. This is near the main police station. Im not trying to be racist or anything, but do you see many white people in this crowd? Especially in the first 2 weeks, I almost never saw another white person outside of secure facilities. This was a big issue for many aid workers and what I feel was the reason food wasn't moving-, the perception of getting killed/beaten/mugged/starting a riot vs. the actual danger of Haitian's starving. If an aid truck would have pulled up to this crowd and started handing out food it would have exploded into a riot, so aid workers had to pick their time and place to distribute, and make sure they had security (usually the 82nd or UN)
As time went on, and especially once we left it seemed as if aid was flowing and aid workers were ubiquitous.
Another great shoot today- you will recognize these two if you saw the Portrait Crash Course on your training DVD. Cindi now has a new son, so I thought I would do an updated verison of "up close and personal".
"No" makes it easier to build trust. Let me explain:
I have a photography friend who just cannot say no. She says "yes" to just about everything. One thing I have noticed about her is when she says "oh ya for sure" that means no, but to most people, that sounds like "yes". Her problem is, for whatever reason, she thinks its mean to say "No" and leave a person feeling rejected, so she reluctantly accepts, and then leaves the person hanging. I believe leaving someone hanging is much worse than saying no in the first place. "No" eliminates expectations. In fact, if you are saying no to a friend or client, they will also respect you more for having the courage to straight up tell them and communicate openly with them, even if it is something they didnt want to hear.
As a photographer, spouse, friend, business owner, etc- it is incredibly important that those with whom you associate respect your "word". Some countries dont even sign contracts, they believe a man's word and maybe a handshake are all you need to make and keep an agreement. Your "word" should be your "bond"- if you tell someone you are going to do something or be at a certain place at a certain time, it should be paramount that you keep your word. "Why?" some of you may ask- one of the main reasons is because when you keep you word, it becomes more powerful and increases trust, which is HUGE. Trust is not an easy thing to build with someone. Trust is efficient- it makes all of our social and economic transactions happen faster. If your customers trust you completely, it will be easier for you to get repeat business
Another thing is, if they are unable to keep their word in little, simple things, how in the world can they keep their word for the large, difficult ones? I take little notes on who keeps their word and who doesn't, if someone lets me down time and again, I naturally think "ok...this person cannot be trusted" and my relationship with them fizzles and disappears, simply because I am not interested in a "one-way" street of trust. (This is where I keep my end of the bargain and they do not).
For example: If you play games with your customers, and they have the impression services or products will be provided when they in fact wont be, they will be upset with you when you try to "upsell" those same products and services and you wont have repeat business. Once you have landed a customer, it is of paramount importance that you keep that customer happy. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to find and land customers, and it is much more profitable to work with repeat business than to spend your time constantly hunting for them.
Sometimes customers will ask for products or services you cannot or do not want to provide, this is where "no" comes in. I would also like to point out, that you do not have to say the word "no", but there must absolutely be a clear understanding that "no" is what is meant, phrases such as "Im sorry, I wont be able to do that" or "We can add that for an additional fee" or "Im so sorry my schedule is already booked".
Sometimes customers will show enough red flags that you shouldn't do business with them in the first place, micro-managers (they determine every shot) or hagglers (they want negotiate every cost of the package) are two that come to mind.
This is one of the hardest things for beginning business photographers to do, is turning away "bad" business, because all they see are $$ signs and not the trouble it will take to keep this particular customer happy. Every photographer has different red flag customers, but not every photographer will politely turn their business away. I would also say that you do not have to give them a specific reason, which if you do, can open another can of worms. Always be polite with customers and potential customers, but you do not have to say yes to everything they request.
If you aren't already doing this, I would definitely suggest at least trying it.
Some nice cinematography here and there - otherwise - AWFUL!! I spent most of the movie playing games on my iPhone. I cannot in good conscious even recommend it as a rental.
And the biggy: Multiple Page Contracts! (Up to 2-4) (This was NOT easy) - I have personally tested it to do many, many more pages, it just slows the process down so we are recommending less than 5 pages.
- Also addressed a few minor bugs that most of you didn't encounter.
Thank you for making Photographers Contract Maker the Best Selling Contract and Release Making iPhone App!
Got this tip from a faithful blog reader. My understanding is that these bags are not just for female photographers, they have a male line coming soon. They appear somewhat similar to JC's Shoot Sac (which I typically recommend to female shooters looking for a side lens bag) though the material, design and look is completely different. I also think the additional pockets are an important addition, I always have more stuff I'm carrying than just lenses.
While I personally do not use or prefer side carry bags, Ive always been a big believer of carrying my gear in the least conspicuous looking bag possible, otherwise you are advertising: "Hey, I have $10-20 K of gear in here- come rob me." - These definitely do not look like camera bags to me.
Secondly, she has done a great job on her website, very professional looking and its a great lesson on presentation / showmanship. "Cinematic Bride" is probably on of the top 5 best wedding videographers in the country- if you do wedding videography you need to check out his work- it's jaw dropping.
For a limited time, the promo code "FUNFAB20" will save you $20 on any bag.
As always, if you have any information on new gear, gadgets, apps, etc, send me a link and Ill check it out. If I like it- you can count on me making a post on it! :)
