A series of interior shots of a kitchen renovation for a story on home renovations for Rochester Magazine, a niche product of the Democrat and Chronicle Media Group (a Gannett property).
… by Charles Swindoll
“The Longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”
Last week I went out on assignment to photograph a young musician for the Democrat and Chronicle Media Group’s weekly entertainment magazine, the Insider. For editorial shoots, I try to have an idea in my mind of the shot before hand, despite the fact that in most cases, I have limited knowledge about the subject. Sometimes however, the idea isn’t born until I am in the moment of the shoot. I met Kurt Indovina, a musician who plays multiple instruments in a one-man band, in the back parking lot of his apartment building in the city. Deciding on in his apartment, the home to his instruments, for the location, I followed him through the back alley, between his building and the adjacent building. As he walked ahead of me, I looked up to see his figure amongst the walls of textured bricks, giving me the idea for an edgier image. And alas, the idea was born.
I was fortunate enough to have attended a photographers’ business conference a little over a month ago in Chicago and the amount of great information was overwhelming. It’s taken me this long to really digest the pearls of wisdom and good business knowledge that permeated the 3 days. One of the ideas that had been discussed and practiced amongst the group was what you say about yourself professionally when you meet someone at a business and/or social function or yes, even in an elevator. The elevator metaphor simply means that if you’ve ever been in an elevator with another person or several people, have you ever noticed that no one says anything? Everyone looks downs at their feet or stares up at the floor indicator. No one wants to break that awkward silence, simply because they don’t know what to say. It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to most people to go up to someone they don’t know and strike up a thoughtful, get-to-know-ya conversation. It takes work. It takes practice. But for anyone in a service business, it’s an absolute necessity that you learn to make a great first impression upon meeting someone that may or may not be a potential client, and learn to sell yourself. Since we know that you have the goods to back it up, why not express that kind of confidence. The more confidence you can exude, (without being overly, in your face confident), the more people will be inclined to choose your company to work with on their next project. BTW, my elevator speech was ” Hi I’m Kate Melton, a professional photographer who photographs real people in real places for commercial and editorial clients. Here is my card. Do you have a card with you? I can send you some samples of my work in an email with a link to my website and follow up with you this week. Great to meet you!”
What’s your elevator speech?
Kate Melton @ Find A Photographer
It may not be a well known fact that a person calling themselves a photographer does not need a license, a degree, a certification or anything that would distinguish that photographer as being “professional” from simply being an amateur, hobbiest or enthusiast. Theoretically speaking, anyone with a camera can go out and shoot pictures, sell them, and call themselves a professional without any recourse. With that being said, how do art buyers, art directors, editors, creative directors and the like, truly know and trust that when they hire a photographer, that the photographer is going to uphold ethical business practices and provide the level of service & results that they expect from a professional? The American Society of Media Photographers, or ASMP, as it is commonly referred to, is one of the myriad industry organizations, providing professional photographers with that credo. To quote the ASMP national website, ” The American Society of Media Photographers is the premier trade association for the world’s most respected photographers. ASMP is the leader in promoting photographers’ rights, providing education in better business practices, producing business publications for photographers, and helping to connect purchasers with professional photographers. ASMP, founded in 1944, has nearly 7,000 members and 39 chapters.” In addition, the ASMP has a Find A Photographer (FAP) portal for buyers and editors. “Find a Photographer is a search engine to help you connect with the most respected photographers in the industry, ASMP members.”
©2011 Kate Melton
What an adventure to shoot a rock climber! An indoor rock climber, that is. My assignment was to photograph Tom Skerrett, a climbing instructor at RockVentures, an indoor climbing facility in Rochester, NY. I had it in my mind the night before the shoot how I wanted to set up the portrait. I envisioned Tom’s positioning on the rock wall and how I wanted to light the shot. I saw the shot being low key and intense with dramatic lighting (short light with deep shadows- one main light and a back rim light to separate Tom from the dark background). Since I had never before been to RockVentures and budget constraints didn’t afford me the luxury of scouting the location prior to the shoot, I had to translate my pre-conceived shot into reality once on location. I set my angle to shoot downward on him as he was scaling the rock wall. So, I had to get above him to make that happen. I brought with me to the shoot a 7-ft step ladder, but, discovered that it wasn’t going to be tall enough. Fortunately, there was a winding staircase that led up to a platform above one of the walls. Ah ha! Perfect. Problem solved! I set up the main light with a medium softbox on the sturdiest and tallest light stand in my bag, which I maxed out at roughly 15 feet. And the other light, using a large softbox, was set up behind him at angle, to provide a soft rim light. Once ready, I asked Tom to start climbing. If you’ve never climbed before, (like me), you may not truly get that it is a very physically exerting sport. You need a lot of hand, arm and leg strength. And, endurance! I instructed Tom to start climbing up as a I shot a series and then had him pause and hold the pose for a series. As he’s breathing heavy “Yah, Tom, can you move your head back a little bit, so I can see your face a bit more) Ok, let’s do it again! And, again. And, again. Seeing him totally exhausted, a twinge of guilt hit me. Okay, that’s a wrap!
The dictionary defines perception as, “immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities,” and reality as “something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.” A wise woman told me once, not too long ago, that “there is perception and then there is reality, ” meaning that often times, experiences in our daily lives prove that while something on the surface appears to be a certain way, positive or negative, in reality, it is not what it is “perceived” to be. A recent personal experience proved that to be true for me. As a visual artist, I started thinking about what perception would ” look” like versus the reality of that perception. Hence, my new personal project has been born- Perception and Reality: taking off the “rose- colored glasses”.
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