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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.
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The Mote and The Beam |
I stay away from politics and religion on the ol' blog and this is something I wanted to share as it came up in a discussion with a friend recently. It isn't only religious, which many of you will see as religious, but for all of us it has to do with basic people people skills.
The reference is a well known one-
Matt. 7: 3-5:
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
The most common interpretation of these verses is that we shouldn't look for faults in others when we have bigger faults of our own, or at least something to that effect. I believe that is not what these verses mean. To me it is much more significant, and I admit, there is probably more I am still missing.
The idea of finding fault in others is:
1. The cause of the beam.
2. And it is so serious a mistake, that it, in and of itself, is worse (and more blinding) than whatever it is that other individual has done.
3. By not finding fault in others/judging/condemning, we put ourselves in a position to help them, both by having clearer judgment and by just being a friend they know they can turn to.
Easier said than done I know. I wanted to make this entry to emphasize how damaging criticism, judgment and blame is. I think that we are only hurting ourselves when we look at others and think or talk about their mistakes, flaws and short comings. I have seen this, even in the name of religion, that self righteous judgment can be extremely destructive and push away those that otherwise need our help or friendship. |
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Krissy |
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Last Call for Photoshop Crash Course DVD Topics |
I believe I am 95% completed with the Photoshop Crash Course DVD recording. The rest is just editing and fixing any mistakes. If there are any topics you might want to know, now would be the time to ask. Its over 7 hours long at this point and I have room for about 20 minutes more (barring any big editing). Chances are whatever you mention, I have covered, but please ask anyway, just to make sure!
What would you like the Photoshop Crash Course DVD to cover? |
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Eagle Eye |
A cross between Enemy of the State and 2001 A Space Odessy
1st half, a little too slow for me.
2nd Half- Pretty good!
I enjoyed it- if you enjoy action movies, you will like it! Yep, this is a thumbs UP! |
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Someone who.... |
Lets Play a Game and contribute to society at the same time...I have made a new category called "Slang". Anytime you see me post anything under "Slang" its me saying, "Hey, Ive noticed this phenomena and we need to come up for a word for it...."
The Situation:
You open the refrigerator and notice there is about 1mm of OJ left in the juice pitcher. It isnt completely empty, but there isnt enough OJ for a half glass. Now we all know how this happens, the last person who took some OJ took just enough so it wasn't completely empty (because if it was they might have to make more, wash or otherwise clean the pitcher, or heaven forbid be blamed for finishing to OJ off), so what do they do? They leave just enough in there for it to not be considered empty....
This phenomena is not isolated to OJ alone: I have also noticed it in gasoline, particularly when multiple people use the same car. (They will drive a full tank of gas down to 1/10th of a tank).
My purpose in doing this it to create a word for both:
1. A title of someone who might do this.
2. A verb, describing the action of doing this.
These two slang terms should be similar sounding. All suggestions will be taken seriously and after we have a few good ones to choose from, Ill check the slang dictionary, just to make sure they arent taken, and then we will have a little vote. Whichever one wins, we will just start using whenever it happens, maybe...just maybe, it will catch on and we will have invented a new slang word.
"Hey who (insert new slang term here)ed the OJ?"
(PS- "Short Stop" is already taken, it happens when you ask someone to pass an item of food at dinner and in the process of handing you this food item, they take some for themselves). (PPS- suggestions for other scenarios are also appreciated).
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Reverie: Vincent Laforet's Canon 5D Mark II Video |
This is a video made by a Vincent Laforet, one of Canon's Explorers of Light (this means he is very VERY good at what he does). The video is jaw droppingly awesome. Remember this was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II (its a still camera with HD video built in). I am stunned by the quality....The image below was taken from the video shot from a Helicopter....from what I can tell, its real. No Photoshop (or After Effects) trickery. He had the camera for 3 days...it was a last minute thing.
I do not believe any of us can comprehend how this will change video making and the advances that will come from it. Remember, this is a $2600 camera, that you will be able to use ANY Canon EOS lens on. According to Vincent, all the clips you are about to see in Reverie are straight out of the camera. WOW!!
Amazing job Vincent!! |
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Mpix |
I had heard about Mpix before, but I finally met up with them at Photoshop world and was able to get a close look at their prints. For some reason, in they sorta have this reputation of a mid-tier print lab, not something top level professionals would use, but after looking at their products I dont know why this is the case. Their prints, selection and pricing were OUTSTANDING. I ordered some 8 x 10's for some friends from Mpix recently, and they were in the mail in less than 24 hours. Something else I really liked was their online ordering system was very easy to use. Many labs have proprietary software that you have to download to your computer, and turn on every time you want to make a print, not to mention, most are highly confusing.
If you are a beginning photographer, or even a stay at home mom, or are just looking for a new lab to try out (aka- dont want to print at your local store, you know where) give Mpix a try. They have been really great!
Click Here for Mpix: Mpix
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Envelope Budgeting |
I was tipped off to this website by a friend Dave Mink. You have probably heard of this strategy for budgeting before, but this company, Finicity will teach you how to do this type of money management. Its hard to imagine this, but if I understand the statistics correctly, the average income of the typical US family is about $37,000 per year. The average Credit Card Debt per family is over $5,000 per year, and this is misleading because considering mortgages, the average debt of the US family is more likely between $45,000-$125,000.
There are a few classes I wish they would teach in our public school systems and money discipline is one of them.
I remember many a time in college when I was just completely broke, that my money discipline was so much stronger, just because I had nothing and had to watch every single penny- obviously. Yet during those times, I would think, I cant wait to make some money so I can buy this or that.
But…what happens when we start making some good money? It’s a change in our mental outlook on finances….typically not a good change either. It seems that the more money we make, the more we think we have more than we are making, and the result is we spend more than our raise. It usually comes in the feeling of “You’ve been working hard, you have this nice raise…splurge a little..” and that splurging far exceeds whatever it is we are now making, so in the sense, sometimes getting a raise can hurt us and put us in more debt.
Traditional Envelope Budgeting is the practice of putting actual cash into different envelopes and making purchases only from those envelopes. Apparently, it is extremely effective in teaching money discipline and that behavioral change required to get out of debt. The beauty of the Fincity envelope budgeting software is that the envelopes are virtual and you can track all of your expenses online. It’s a pretty sweet household budgeting software . Once you are aware of where your money is going each month, it becomes so much easier to understand how and where you can save that money. I remember reading in the Book “The Millionaire Next Door”, that nearly all millionaires can tell you how much they spent every month on clothing because they are keenly aware of where their money goes (and most budget for it).
Fascinating stuff….
If you are interested in learning more about developing your own envelope budgeting system check out Finicity. |
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What Michael Andrew Struggles With... |
Last week Scott asked what it is I struggle with most as a photographer. Im going to answer this in two parts, because of what I am trying to accomplish as a photographer is very different than what I struggle with photography wise.
The hardest thing of what I do, meaning this blog, video/content production (DVDs/Lessons), the forums, and other projects that I am working on is that I really, REALLY, struggle to find enough time in the day to get everything done I need to. While I work for myself, sometimes this is not as luxurious as it sounds because most days, I wake up, put out any fires, (too long to explain) and then spend the rest of the day in a small room editing my latest video. I will take a short break in the evenings to go workout, grab a bite to eat, and then I am usually back in the editing room until 1- 3am. Part of my problem is that I set extremely high levels of standard for myself, and this means I will re-edit or re-shoot until I am satisfied. I cannot say how many times I will work several days on a video, edit it, watch it a few times and think: I can do this better, throw that first video out and redo it. The lesson on How A Pixel Get's its Color is a good example. Its a short 5 minute video, but it took 3 versions and 7 days to make. I will say this though, once it is done, I feel deeply satisfied.
I also find it very challenging sometimes to find worthwhile things to post about on this blog every single day. Dont get me wrong, I love blogging. But every once in a while, I really dont have anything interesting to share, so it takes some time to research an idea for a post.
What I struggle with in terms of pure photography is simple: Finding new ways to grow and stay fresh. This takes a conscious effort to seek anything and everything I dont understand about photography and can be very challenging. Its easy to feel like you know a thing or two about something and stop growing. I noticed this on another photographers website once (considered one of the top 10 in the world), while they were very good, all of their images looked exactly the same, and it bored me.
Photographically, I want to diversify as much as possible, learn everything I can, then choose the best parts of what I learn and find an interesting way to combine them.
Variation is required for growth. |
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Vagabond Portable Power Pack for Alien Bees |
If you are looking to create truly unique outdoor shots, sooner or later there will be a need for a large light source, with no where to plug a studio light. At just under $300, this is a very economical solution, we used this the other night on the top of a mountain overlooking Provo. It was the first time I had a chance to play with one and for the most part it provided all the power and more for the hour of the shoot. (And we had the model light on the whole time between flashes).
Here is my take on this: If you do a lot of outdoor shooting and have a very specific need for large light sources (lightboxes, or shooting with the sun as a back light), get it. There is no other way to get amazing studio light exposures shooting into the sun, in pitch darkness. This is really for powering the studio lights in the middle of you know where. (Other power packs run around $1500-$2500).
If you are creative enough, and are good with a few off camera flashes, you can probably make due without.
Vagabond Portable Power Pack
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