“This is your Dad’s ATM card!” my wife exclaimed yesterday as she furiously tore through the business mail that had been sitting on the banister for the last 4 days. “OK” I said “I’ll give him a call later to let em know I got it.” She looked at me like my hair was on fire. “I don’t think you understand, this is your Dad’s ATM CARD!” I stared blankly at her and spoke slower, the way an American speaks to someone who doesn’t speak english with the hope that by slowing it down they will magically understand. “OK, what exactly is the issue?” Now before I continue, a little background information may be required. You see, my wife works for a major banking corporation doing what I equate to as “high-tech banking stuff”. Shes been doing it for a long time and shes very good at what she does. Now back to the story at hand. My wife goes on to tell me (in great detail) exactly why this is such a big deal and how it needs to be investigated immediately. I give her my best deer caught in the headlights look and respond “….OK”. She flies out of the house to catch the bus and I go about making some morning coffee. At 7:41 a.m., a mere 25 minutes later, I get a text message on my phone. “card is 4 jt account w/ ur sister. her address at mailing was ours…”. I stare blankly at the screen still trying to process what she was talking about before going back to drinking my coffee. 6:00 rolls around and she arrives back home to tell me exactly what happened (again in great detail). When my enthusiasm level wasn’t deemed acceptable, she proceeded to call my mother to recant the tale (also, yet again, in great detail). While all of this was happening something dawned on me. My wife is incredibly passionate about what she does. She eats it, breathes it, and lives with it. I can’t imagine being able to do what she does for as long as she has without being passionate about it.
Wether you are a visual artist (which I imagine the majority of the readers of this blog are), or you are a corporate banker or whatever, it takes passion to really leave your mark. Without passion for what you are doing, you really are just going through the motions. Passion is what motivates you to create that next spectacular image or , in my wife’s case, to track down the discrepancy within the system like a bloodhound. The important thing is that you acknowledge that passion as part of what you do and you cultivate it. I guarantee that your creative endeavours will prosper from it!
"My wife is the undaunting Lois Lane to my lowly superman!"
Like taking candy from a zombie
Happy Halloween everybody!!!! Halloween is one of my all time favorite holidays, so I figured it might be fitting to post some Halloween related stuff that I’ve been working on. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Halloween I think of all the associated scary monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, ghosts and goblins, etc. So, what better time than now to talk about a recent project I completed for the band “Gene the Werewolf”! Gene the Werewolf is a fantastic rock act with a flair for the theatrical. They contacted me about doing some artwork for their latest CD, “light me up”. They were interested in playing up the main character of which the band is named after, and they wanted something that would really play off of the fun nature of the band. We kicked around a few ideas before the band settled on the concept of 2 adoring fans clamoring to get close to Gene. With the concept in place, we set a date and got to work. When your dealing with cover art for music you have to consider the format. There has to be enough room for the band logo and name if needed as well as making note of the square format. All of these things have to be taken into consideration prior to shooting. We held a quick meeting the day of the shoot just to make sure everybody was on the same page and then we started shooting. Gene hammed it up for the camera and the girls did a great job! We also created a back cover for the CD which would show Gene in all of his Werewolf glory! It was a really fun shoot and I wish the guys good luck with the CD!
So I’ve had the great fortune of securing some work in South Carolina and Florida for this week and apparently the fates were with me and granted me just enough time between jobs for a quick stop off at the beach. 95 degrees, check. Beautiful skies, check. My own private Idaho, check!
Things are getting curiouser and curiouser!!!
I’m a big proponent of the idea of “paying it forward”. It’s something that really falls in line with my personal philosophy and I figure I can use all the good karma I can get! Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to return the favor to one of my mentors, ASMP president Richard Kelly. Richard got in touch with me a month or two ago to see if I would be willing to photograph him for the latest ASMP Bulletin, in which he writes a column (“President’s Letter”). Richard and I go back a couple of years when I interned for him at WQED Multimedia/Pittsburgh magazine. He showed me the ropes of the professional photo world, but more importantly, he taught me the more intangible aspects of the business, like that all important connection/relationship with your subject. Richard is a true master at making people feel comfortable in front of the lens- I really haven’t seen too many people better than him at it. He was (and still is) a wonderful mentor to me, so I jumped at the chance to help him out in any manner that I could.
And this leads me to my point. paying it forward does as much good for the giver as it does the receiver. With Richard, I have gotten enormous satisfaction by being able to give something back to him considering all that he has done for me. Our relationship of photographer/assistant or mentor/student has molded the way I deal with my own team of people. Recently I’ve had the satisfaction of seeing my main assistant take the next step forward in her career (she’s taken a fashion photography internship/job in New York City). I am both happy and sad to see her go, but more to the point it’s satisfying to know I at least played some small role in her progression. My big hope is that she gets the opportunity to have the same mentor/student relationship that we have, just with the roles reversed. The true measure of success would be for her to pass on those intangible qualities that I learned from Richard, onto her own students/assistants. That’s what it’s all about really (for me at least), more than the jobs coming in, more than the recognition, it’s about paying it forward.
Just a quick note to let you all know that the new issue of Jenesis Magazine is out featuring yours truly along with several other very talented photographers. Check it here!
As many people may or may not know, I am a huge talk radio podcast junkie. I listen to tons of them; comedic, serious, genre specific- really doesn’t matter. So today I am listening to the latest and greatest from the Adam Carrolla Podcast (quite entertaining I might add) and they started talking about how people complain about how they get paid for essentially sitting around and doing nothing. Adam took umbrage with this (there’s my 50 cent word for the day mom!) and gave the following reply which I thought was pure genius.
“this is a delayed payday for all the years that I went out and swung a hammer, and then at night went to the groundling classes and paid for that(myself). Went to the acme theater where it cost me 3o bucks a month to be in Acme, …I didn’t have car insurance because I couldn’t afford it. All the freebies, all the late nights sitting around a diner, writing sketches for shows that no one would attend, that wouldn’t get me paid, that amounted to nothing. I am being paid back for that.”
So, the next time somebody asks you why you get paid so much for sitting around doing nothing, send them on over to uncle Adam’s podcast. I’m sure they would find it enlightening!
I love my ipod
The wife and I decided on an impromptu short vacation to Harrisburg (Hershey Park specifically) and I figured what better time than sitting in a car for three hours is there to get caught up on my myriad of podcasts that I subscribe to. So, I figured I might as well share with you some of the photography related podcasts that are out there that I follow pretty religiously.
1. Lightsource Photography Podcast- Fantastic podcast run by photographers Bill Crawford, publisher of StudioLighting.net and
Ed Hidden, exclusive photographer for IStockPhoto.com. These guys do great interviews with photographers from a variety of photographic disciplines. There current podcast is a fantastic interview with Dave Hill!
2. New Media Photographer Podcast- Photographer Rosh Sillars is the guru when it comes to integrating social media into photographers’ marketing ideas. His podcasts are insightful and full of interesting ideas when it comes to things like twitter, facebook, linked in, etc.
3. Creative Lube- Creative Consultant Leslie Burns Dell’Acqua has a great podcast about how you can make your photography business bigger, badder and better in this trying economy. I think she recently turned this show into a paid subscription but I think it’s still worth it.
4. Photoshop User TV- podcast run by Scott Kelby, who knows all things photoshop…literally. The nice thing about this one is that its video based, so you get to see all of the tips and tricks and their effects in real time.
5. Lenswork- interesting podcast on the creative process and how it pertains to photography. Short, sweet, and to the point!
6. The Candid Frame- Much like the lightsource guys, this podcast is great at interviewing photographers and getting to the meat of why they do what the do.
That’s all for now kids, I’m off to ride me some rollercoasters!
How phenomenal is this, I sure hope this goes on tour like they are saying!!!
March 5th, 2010- I don’t know if I can wait that long. I guess I better really get moving on my own Alice project!!! Also, for those in the know, I’m planning on keeping the remainder of the shots for this particular project under wraps until everything is complete. Then we shall have a mad, mad party to celebrate!
