Seeing is ... photography

With most disciplines, it is easy to see the work that the practitioner put in to reach mastery.  If you go to the doctor, you know they graduated from high school, went to med school and had to pass a test to get where they are.  Even a dancer; we all understand that there is a measure of natural talent and years of hard work and practice.  Photography seems different because if you have the money, you can buy all of the equipment and then POOF!!!! you're a photographer.  But being a photographer is much more than the gear.  Without artistic vision, it is impossible to tell a story, to paint a picture, to express a thought or emotion.  You need to be able to see the world around you and translate what you see to others.  Or you need to be able to take the images in your head and bring them into the visible world.  Photography doesn't start with Canon or Nikon, Olympus or Pentax but it does start with a camera. 

The camera is you...

www.asharpphoto.biz

This has absolutely nothing to do with photography

So, I just moved near some friends of mine and they have a landscaping business.  Its hot and my lawn is large so ... I'm not gonna cut it.  I secured their services and they are great!!  When they came to cut my grass, I meant to go out and say hi and they were gone before I even knew what was going on.  So, they aren't just good at what they do, they are fast.  If you are in the Central Florida area, contact Aloha Lawncare Specialists to take care of your lawn.

Show and tell

So I got an email a few weeks back from a representative of RAW Artists.  She told me that she'd seen some of my work on Instagram and she wanted to extend to me the opportunity to show my work in their arts showcase.  Uh... YEAH!!!!!!  How cool is that?!?

So check out my profile on their site here.  Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.  Of course I want you to come and buy all of my prints :), but even if you know you don't want to purchase anything, you should come anyway.  RAW's objective is to make local communities aware of the up and coming talent that lives among them.  Avengers II doesn't come out until Summer 2015 so I know you will be free on 8/21/14. 

A classmate and fellow musician, MoZaic, will be there as well.   Mozaic has a smooth, penetrating, captivating sound.  She's definitely worth the price of admission.

See you there!!!!

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.