Clients become friends.   . . . . friends you can ask for help.   Here’s some photos from my friend Aaron’s headshot session.   When my partner Denise had a job interview approaching with RIM, she wanted an inside scoop on how to prepare (she’s smart that way).    I called on Aaron, who has done his share of interviews, looking for the right people for his team at RIM.   . . . .  could Denise ask some questions?  . . . get some interview tips and advice?

He gladly offered tips and advice  . . . . and then some.   A few days after their 1st conversation, Aaron was on the phone again, this time running a mock phone interview for her.    Real help.  Practical advice.  Good information.   .  .  .  .  and a good chunk of his time, freely given, at the drop of a hat.
That didn’t lead to the RIM position.   . . . . but it prepared her well for that RIM interview  . . . .  which prepared her well for another interview . . . .  more on that below!

When Denise’s position as a hardware engineer (designing circuit boards for industrial automation networks) ended several months ago, we were worried.   Our friends, Julie and Bruce were there, the moment they heard about it.   Offering help and advice.   Access to a professional network.  Helping her focus on positive, practical, effective steps.   Instead of fear.    I saw that same level of thoughtful initiative, when I 1st opened my portrait studio and Julie said, “we want to be your first clients.”    Here’s my favourite from that 1st session as a pro:

There is something special about helping someone with these important parts of our lives.   Our livelihood,   our health,  our family.   I’m not naming everyone who has helped here.    ….. just saying,  cheers to you, my friends, your help and support means a great deal to me.

. . . . and where all this is leading . . . .   my engineer will be designing again – software and circuits – this time with locomotives and the train industry.  Congratulations Denise!!   It sounds like a great position and a really cool company with a great attitude.
Here she is without an engineer’s cap (where will I find one of those?):

]]> http://studiojphotography.ca/portraits/clients-and-friends/feed/ 1 http://studiojphotography.ca/families/weekend-in-toronto/ http://studiojphotography.ca/families/weekend-in-toronto/#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:13:25 +0000 Jay http://studiojphotography.ca/?p=190 Denise, Kayla and I spent 2 days scoping out cool grafitti, browsing Chinatown, hanging out and people watching.  Aside from being my partner and daughter, Denise and Kayla are always willing to help me try out new ideas.  They usually both contribute many of their own ideas too and I’ve learned how well their ideas play out.

Note:  While I normally banish stripes and high contrast patterns from portrait sessions, I do make occasional exceptions.  When the aim of the images is riotous colours and shapes, a bright, striped dress fits right in.

Debbie in the studio:

Over the past year, I’ve gone through periods of terrible, boring, uninspired work (work that could land me a job shooting for a department store portrait studio). I’ve also had periods when I was continually surprising myself with the quality and creativity in my work.

What made the difference?

FEAR. Fear of failure, of under-performing, of embarrassment. That fear pre-occupies your mind. Makes it unavailable for close concentration and focused attention on a problem.

The same lesson is repeated in my Toast Masters public speaking group; a principal they keep in their manuals and guides. Your speech will be so much better if you focus on your involvement in the subject matter, rather than turning inwards, pre-occupied by your anxieties.

I know, and you all know, that there are many other ingredients to creativity: work from your passion, steep yourself in it, seek creative ideas during your most energetic time of day, … but I’m talking about the most powerful one; one which I have had vividly demonstrated to me in my own life. Pre-occupation sounds too mild to describe it, because the inspiration and flow of creative ideas that comes with putting fear and self-doubt (even temporarily) behind you is very very powerful!
BELIEVE in your ability to approach creative endeavours resourcefully and you will be creative. You will delight and surprise yourself.

I have learned that the best route to creativity, the most essential element, is an unwavering confidence that you will find solutions to creative problems.

OK, it’s fine for me to say, you just need confidence in your work, in your abilities.

How do you get there?

Preparation and practice. ….and follow that up with evaluation or critique by your peers.
You have to produce a large body of work before you don’t suck anymore. You may start out with great, discerning taste and a beautiful, inspired vision in your head – but without the expertise and talent to pull it off as well as you had imagined it. It can be painful to look at your own early efforts. You have to get those mistakes made now and put them behind you.

Preparation, practice, evaluation. If you think about it, I’m sure you’ll find many areas in your life where the same simple principles will work for you too.

We talk about coaching and motivation, about making things fun. She describes redirecting a gymnast to a new activity before the frustration of repeated failed attempts makes it too difficult to focus. I get the scoop on the gymnasts in her groups. She sees each person with their own desires and needs and changes her approach to suit them. I hear about her ideas on bringing along a shy person.

I’m getting goose bumps by now. How did you learn so much about being a great coach? I ask. There’s people who have coached for years that still don’t understand the positive influence they could be, if they could just take on your attitude and approach.

That’s how I learned from Laura and Marlene, she tells me. The coaches she changed gymnastics clubs for to follow them to their new club. I already knew they were something special; I’m getting a better idea now why.

What I thought was a good summer job for my daughter Kayla has transformed into a great summer job. The opportunity to try your best and stretch yourself at something worthwhile; the teaching, the leadership, the practice at helping individuals and groups, ….

Try learning that, operating the deep fryer all summer.

Kayla, I stopped genuinely worrying about what kind of monkey you would become when you got together with some grade school friends 5 years ago and organized a bucket brigade. Hundreds of emergency care kits went to Iraqi refugee families through the Mennonite Central Committee.

It’s silly that I didn’t know your good heart before then. I haven’t stopped noticing ever since.

I’ve been happy with you and proud of you for a long time now. On this occasion, I’m happy for you.

The new coach:

Laurie also finishes my custom studio cabinets with paintings and finishes that become objects of art themselves. She has been instrumental in my photography. The comfort and ease I felt working with Laurie on her promotional portraits turned a switch on in me that has changed my interactions and creativity as a photographer ever since. Overnight, I became a much better photographer. More relaxed, comfortable and easy-going with my subjects. More creative. More confident. More playful.

It was her beautiful paintings that 1st stirred my interest in abstract art (something I avoided whenever I could, before then). That is no small change of heart; my mind was closed!

I don’t think it’s in many lists of what a friend does but I’d like to add to my list that a friend helps change you, without consciously trying, to become a better person. Here’s some pictures of my good friend, Laurie Skantzos and some samples from her work:

If you love art, put on your favourite walking shoes and get yourself to Toronto this weekend for the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Nathan Philips Square (Fri July 11th – Sun July 13th, 2008 – rain or shine). This is Canada’s biggest outdoor art event, featuring over 500 artists of all mediums.

Laurie Skantzos will be featured there at booth 132 in the Pink section (it’s a corner booth near the pool).

Artist Locator Map for the show

laurieskantzos.com

I owe some thanks to dizzain.com in New York for taking my design and reproducing it down to every detail as a working wordpress site. This was a unique and difficult design to do with some big technical hurdles. I don’t think there’s many web developers out there with this level of wordpress design expertise. I’m so happy they pulled it off! My apologies to internet explorer users during some of these early days. I kept breaking the site in IE with sloppy code in my posts and then asking Nicole James at Dizzain if they were having problems! She was probably forming a Neanderthal brow ridge from rolling her eyes at my emails! Thanks for patiently pointing out my mistakes Nicole!

We delve into the deep, arcane secrets of location photography:

- seeing and finding light

- scouting locations

- developing an eye for interest and beauty

- operating the camera effortlessly

This can all be learned.  Even developing an eye for interest and beauty can be learned (and having ‘taste’), though that is a longer, harder lesson that might take months or years for some.

If you told your photographer,

Wow, your pictures are beautiful, you must have a nice camera.

… it would be like saying to the cook,

Mmmm, that pad thai was delicious, you must have great pots and pans.

… or to the musician,

That performance was wonderful, you must have a nice piano.

The musician probably does have a nice piano.  The nice piano did play an important part in the wonderful performance.

But what was more important?

- their ‘ear’ for great music

- their dedicated study of music

- the guidance and teaching from instructors

- the inspiration from other musicians

…. and most of all, continual practice and improvement of their craft.

Professional lenses, camera bodies and lights are only a small part of capturing interesting, attractive images.  Practice is very important for photographing people.

With enough practice,

- camera controls become 2nd nature

- correct exposure and sharp focus become 2nd nature

- avoiding composition mistakes becomes habit

- seeing and recognizing beautiful lighting and locations becomes a fast habit.

That frees a large part of your attention for the most important things you can do when capturing people;  observing and interacting with them.

Rene practices like a one-legged man at a kick-butt contest!  He puts in more practice in a week than most photographers manage in a month.  He is always ready with his camera.  When he was shooting professional motorsports, he developed a quickness and a sense of timing that are more useful to wedding photography than you might guess.  Capturing candid moments and real interactions at a wedding requires keen observation and fast reflexes.

You can see samples of Rene’s work at his new website;  rskrodzkiphotography.ca

…… and his blog;  rskrodzkiphotography.ca/blog

Last minute brides who haven’t booked a photographer for their wedding this summer might want to keep an eye on Rene’s blog for a special announcement coming soon.

For people looking to improve their people photography, here’s my 1st tip:

Put the camera down and speak with them.  The comfort level of your subject and how at ease they feel around you will contribute more to good images than all the technical camera mastery you could gain from months of study.

OK, I know, that’s a really short tip.   …..but it’s very important  –> read it 2 or 3 times; that will make it seem longer.

Would my loyal readers (either of you) like me to continue with posting tips on improving your photography?  Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you like that idea.

My friend Sheila came by the studio last week with country artist Jamie Warren. She was here to get reference photos of him for a portrait she’ll be painting. Jamie came ready for the reference photos and for professional portraits by me. I would be the back-up photographer, making sure Sheila got what she wanted (or that I got what she wanted). I would also have the opportunity to shoot Jamie for my portfolio.

So why do I only have some snapshots to show and no interesting portraits?

Jamie was friendly and relaxed. He seemed comfortable enough in his own skin that I don’t think he would need even a short warm up in front of the camera.
He said, I prefer something different from the tired poses and cliches of country singer photos.
4 seconds of doubt . What if I can’t pull that off?
Give my head a shake; hopefully not visibly. The man just told me exactly what I wanted to hear, gift wrapped! So we can go for more natural looking, unposed portraits and I can play around with different angles and looks. People are constantly giving me happy surprises like that. Computers have been doing their best to balance that trend with other surprises.

Sheila and I are both asking him what he would like.
I’ll tell you, I really have no need for more pictures of myself or a painting of me.

After 5 CD’s over many years, he really does have more than enough and his own image is not an abiding personal interest.
That’s a good, healthy attitude, I think. I’m glad I met Jamie Warren….but now I don’t want to shoot him as much. I have come to rely on my portrait subjects’ interest and involvement in making their images with me. No matter how many great ideas I bring to a session, my enthusiasm and inspiration doubles when we start working with their ideas. Getting excited and playing around. Authentic photos that show the real person just happen then.

I turned off my studio flashes and set up the modelling lights for Sheila to get what she wanted on her camera. She remains undaunted! I would grab a quick shot here and there when it wouldn’t interfere. A studio shoot was out because I really do take over when I’m doing those.

We went outside at the end and Sheila already had her reference photos. Jamie still had some time. I could have had a short, dedicated session but I didn’t ask for it.

Why do I only have some snapshots?

Because I tucked tail and didn’t ask for it!

One day, Sheila can tell the story of how many times she prompted, pulled, invited, suggested and directed me to great opportunities to get myself out there and be seen. …. how many times I had to see her model this in person for me before I finally caught on. I will catch on Sheila. I’m glad you’re around to keep showing me.

Why was Jamie here for a painting and some portraits if he didn’t want more pictures of himself?

…. just to help out an emerging artist and a new photographer.

There’s a common thread I see here with successful people who deserve their success: They help others get what they want.

You can have a listen to Jamie Warren’s new CD release, -Right Here, Right Now- on his website: jamiewarren.com

Sheila Diemert’s paintings can be viewed at her website: artbysheila.anythingmore.com
I recommend seeing these large pieces in person. Check the site for public exhibitions and locations.

To introduce myself and explain what I’m doing here, I’m going to borrow from my 1^st Toast Masters speech:

If you came to realize that your greatest aspiration in life would certainly fail, as long as you had to work for a living, what would you do? If your dreams required a good 60 hours a week of dedicated effort and you noticed you weren’t independently wealthy, what would you do?

I answered that question for myself in 2005. My answer was to let those dreams go and choose a new occupation, one where I could do something worthwhile to me. I stumbled upon my 1^st inspiration when I discovered Hollywood matte paintings. A matte painting is a large, photo-realistic digital painting. They combine photographic elements with digital painting. They’re generally used as scenes and backdrops in Hollywood movies. Any environment or place that you could imagine, ….. and these paintings took me there!

I knew I would love to do that for the rest of my life.

BUT, there was a problem with matte painting. Matte painters work alone, …. in a cubicle, ….in front of a computer, …..with no social interaction. …….. a recipe for disaster with me. If you put a shy person (even one who was determined to overcome his shyness) in a place like that, what do you get?

……. more withdrawal, a shut-in, a hermit!

Enter my 2^nd inspiration: I’d learned through years of photography as a hobby that my favourite photos were always of people. All the images I had collected from great photographers that moved me, that thrilled me, that made my breath catch, were of people. Images with strong emotion, expression; they tell something about who a person is.

My career ambition is to become a talented matte painting portrait artist. Portrait photography in any environments I can imagine and produce. It took me 2 years, full-time, to improve my portrait photography to a level where I can consistently produce images I’m proud of. Now I have a way of making a living at something I love, while I spend the next 3 or 4 years learning matte painting. I think it will take that long because my progress as a portrait photographer will still require lots of time and effort. The training and improvement never ends!

I’m not very shy anymore. The wrestling maneuvers to get that monkey off my back left me with a permanent interest in social intelligence, grace and social skills. ….. how we can build rapport and connect with other people (and the people who are genius at this). Sometimes, I’ll post here about that. Other times, it will be whatever else is exciting, interesting and inspiring to me. That will often be images and something about the people in them.

I have made a conscious effort to combine my professional and personal goals, so that what I do makes me happy. Doing something meaningful, creating something beautiful, connection and involvement with good people.

I would like potential clients to learn something about me because I think you need to know your photographer and get along with them well to produce the best portraits together. I can’t find a better way of drawing out your real personality in images than for us to get to know each other. ….. and it’s more fun when we’re not strangers.