Ramada

It’s been a few days since my last blog so I thought I’d catch up.  On Thursday I did another shoot for Hotel Tonight.  It was the Ramada at the Philly airport.  They were in the middle of remodeling so I couldn’t shoot everything but the folks at Hotel Tonight were hot to trot on getting them on-line.  So that means I’m going back in about a month and shoot the areas that we were unable to get.  The folks there were really nice and it might have lead to another job.  They need photography for their own website and brochure after the remodel is complete.  If everything goes right I’ll be getting the gig.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I want to say thanks specifically to Donald Jester over there.  A great guy and fun on top of that.  Though they really seem to keep him jumping with all of this remodeling going on.

Not Half Bad

I just finished reading today’s blog from Photoshop Guru and photographer extraordinaire Mr. Scott Kelby.  He had a guest blogger, RC Concepcion, who touched on a subject that I can totally relate to.  That is how hyper-critical we can get of our own work.  In his blog RC talks about the fact that he doesn’t have any of his images displayed in his house.  This being the result of thinking that, in spite of having Terabytes of images, none of his work was worthy of being hung on a wall.  How, as he put it, when seeing his images displayed he’d get a hollow feeling in the pit of stomach.  Noticing every flaw.  Every aspect that just wasn’t perfect.  I find myself falling into that same dilemma.  For some reason when I look at my work I can only see the details that I feel distract from the image.  I can look at anybody else’s work and look past the tiny flaws that would make me think my images weren’t worthy.   It wasn’t until he was approached by Mpix lab about a contest that they wanted run in conjunction with Kelby Training that he started to go back through his images.  Only upon the re-examination of the images did he realize that a lot of his work was “Not half bad”.  Now for me RC’s work is top notch and someday I hope to be as good as he is.  I bring this up as I still have not selected images to put up in Kim’s office building.  This after being approached by the owners to display my work any where in the building.  Size and subject matter at my discretion.  I know I’m LAME!  So my next goal is to select the 4 images I want to display and get them printed and framed and most importantly hung.  So time to re-examine my work and find those 4 shots that I feel represent my best work.  While I don’t have everything on my website, feel free to peruse and make comments and suggestions.  I always like to hear what other people think.  www.fullframefotography.com.  So take the time to go back and look at your own work without those hyper-critical goggles on and don’t forget to be great.

Albermarle

A blog or two ago I mentioned that I had shot the most expensive property I’ve ever shot.  This was a fantastic property to say the least.  17 acres, 4 buildings including a twin guest house, a separate barn/garage and a clock tower and office building.  While shooting I found out that this house wasn’t even the original home for the property.  It was the stables for the original 250 acre Adrossan farm.  It was gorgeous.  Meticulously landscaped and cared for.  Something else I found out while I was there was that the house had been shot several years ago for Architectural Digest.  No pressure.  Right?  Here’s a little comparison for you.  The AD shoot took three days and as the owner put it “An army of people.”  I can only imagine how many people were there.  Photographer, assistant(s), set dresser(s), producer, and probably a couple of people just to move furniture around.  I’m also imaging that there was a truck load of gear as well.  Not to mention the editor and post person and post supervisor for after the shoot.  My shoot for the realtor…….just 4 and a half hours (plus an additional hour for the night shots) by myself with the realtor.  I used one Speedlight and a Gary Fong Lightsphere.  No pressure. Riiiiiiiight.  Well as someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words………so here’s a few thousand for you to digest.

JDRF Heroes

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

Last Friday night Kim and I had the opportunity to attend and photograph another event for the JDRF of Southern NJ.  It was held at the home of the Camden Riversharks, Campbells Field in Camden, NJ.  It was another great event even though it was in the upper 90’s when the game started.  I can not begin to express how great this cause is and how great the people who are involved with the JDRF are.  From the parents to the volunteers there was a smile on everyone’s face!  What we did was set up a little, quick mini portrait area.  I used a Calumet, 42″ 5 in 1 reflector in it’s basic translucent white configuration and had Kim hold it behind subject.  We ended up shooting 30 or so portraits.  We did pictures of the kids and some adults.  All of whom have Type 1 Diabetes.  There was nothing really fancy.  Just down and dirty.  Quick, casual portraits.  Here’s a couple of examples of what we did.  You can see the rest of them on my website.  Here’s the link to the gallery; http://fullframefotography.com/p785988030

DIabetes effects so many people in this country (Your’s truly included) and to see these kids deal with the very specific regiment they must follow including multiple insulin injects daily was absolutely inspiring.  Not one complained, cried or whined about their injections after eating.  Just simply awesome.  I cannot forget the volunteers.  They didn’t complain or cry or whine either. (Well maybe a little bit about the heat. But it was 97 degrees for most of the event) They do such a great job of organizing and putting it all together.  All for the kids.  I am truly in awe and feel very privileged to be associated with this great group of people.

Enjoy your 4th.  Be safe.  And be awesome!