Working with the Possibility Guru

So, over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to work with Nerissa Street.  She has been helping me build one facet of my marketing platform.  When you are running your own business, you have to know what you do well and what you hate doing.  A photographer that I follow, Sue Bryce, says that if you don't like doing it, pay someone else to do it so that you can put all of your energy into what you enjoy.  Nerissa does a great job of assessing goals and direction and tailoring a plan that gets you up and moving.  I am really excited about the initiative that she has helped me put together (yep, I'm keeping it under wraps for now). 

Nerissa believes that being a successful artist has nothing to do with a lucky break (take the time to watch her speak at TED in Miami).  Your success has everything to do with knowing that you have something to bring to the table and your clients are waiting on you.  Passion, conviction and courage are the tools needed to take you beyond the lucky break.

Paparazzi

So as a part of Detour Entertainment LLC, I had the opportunity to document the 2014 Sunscreen Film Festival.  Most people watch movies and enjoy them.  I don't know if most of us understand or appreciate the work that goes into creating our entertainment.  Even a small film can take months to complete and have a team of 20 - 50 people easily.

Secondarily, working with Detour Entertainment, I am learning that there is opportunity for me to use my craft in another arena.  I never knew that still photography was such a big part of film.  Growing is fun :).

Martin Kove (played Kreese in The Karate Kid)

John Cena & Nikki Bella

Nickolas Wolf interviewing Andy Peterson and Masood Ahmed about their film 'Plotted Plants.'

Ashlea Rose, Chris Greene and Vanessa Aranegui of Detour Entertainment

Nickolas Wolf interviewing Chris Greene about his film 'Unbridled Chaos.'

Harder Better Faster

Did a session last week with a model that I'd worked with in October of 2013.  She paid me the biggest compliment.  According to her, my current work was miles apart from what I had done with her before.  And its true, I can go back and look at my photos with her from before and see that I have a better grasp of lighting and posing.  There was no magic potion, just work over time. 

Too many people want to be great without doing the work that is required.  Time + Hard work = Greatness, there is your formula.

To see more of my work, go to: www.asharpphoto.biz

And, yes, I was listening to Daft Punk while writing this post. :)

What is greater than pain?

Fear of pain.  I used to be scared of bees, like deathly afraid.  This lasted for years until I was cured suddenly.  I was doing roofing work ... and there were bees.  I couldn't run so I just had to deal with it.  I learned that if you are cool, the bees are cool.  That's why I was able to stand within inches of the bees as they gathered pollen from these flowers and get this shot.

I now realize that the fear of being stung by a bee was more traumatizing than the bee sting itself.  You get stung and it hurts for maybe a few minutes or so. But the terror you feel when you see a bee is much more painful in its way.  What are you afraid of?  Are you causing yourself more pain via fear than actual pain that you would get from what you fear?
Once you conquer your fear, you can go places, have experiences, accomplish things that others can not.

Growing Pains

It started about a month or so ago.  I am becoming more disapproving of my work.  Its rough to spend 2 hours photographing someone and get home and look at the images and go 'Blech!!'  It isn't the models or the things that I photograph and people that see the images think that they are fine, but me; I'm not feeling it.

A natural phase in one's quest for mastery is realizing how little you know.  When you start, you learn a lot and experiment and as you look at your progress, you think you know something.  Then all of a sudden you realize that you are ok but there is so much more that you don't know and you see the wide chasm between where you are/what you know and where you want to be.

This point is crucial and frustrating.  It would be easy to quit now and say that you will never be great.  This place of disappointment, frustration, annoyance is what will drive you to something wonderful if you let it.  So, I am hunting for my exit out of this windowless and doorless room; this cocoon and I hope you do the same

Through the window

Many photographers love using window light to illuminate their subjects.  Its pretty and has an almost ethereal quality.  Another way to get great photos using a window is to either shoot the subject through a window or to have a window in the background (like the photo in this post).  Even if you don't call yourself a photographer, simple tricks like this can get you some great images.

The Right Place at the Right Time

I was recently complimented on these two photos.  I said thank you, but then I told my friend that I was not as great a photographer as these photos imply at the time I took the photo.  Heck, I don't know if I'm that good now.  What I did know at the time was that sunset was a great time to shoot.  You get warm, golden light and if you can balance that with your flash, a beautiful subject as well as great communication with the lens, you get a great shot.

No question, you should strive to know everything there is to know about your craft.  But sometimes, its best to know one really important thing.

Go to www.asharpphoto.biz to see more.