My PhotoShelter -

Photoshelter is one of the best photographer solutions available and has for over a year has honored me by having my site as one of their showcase examples for future users. That's high praise indeed with over 50,000 users.

Photoshelter.com

Working out with 202Fitness - Arlington and Falls Church Personal Training

This is a test of test

iPhone Backup .99c for Photographers

This is a just a little helping hand to any fellow photographer or iPhone user.

I recently found on eBay a very handy and cheap backup battery for the iPhone. Too many times whilst on assignment the phone is on it's last gasp. Enter the .99c backup a ($9 shipping from China)

Here's the test timeline from 10% to almost fully charged. The battery is good for one full charge of your phone if left alone. (I did use it a little for a few voice calls)

Just plug it in to your cradle or stack them together to charge the backup or the iPhone.

Search eBay: 1900mAh Power Station Battery Charger For iphone 3G 3GS

ThinkTank - VisibleDust - This Washington DC Photographer taking advantage of foresight

The NYC Photo Plus Expo lead to a few purchases mostly to enhance the "workflow" of our everyday lives here at the studio, be it my assistant or just me.

100% of the time we out in the field so making it look as seamless as possible is really important. I had fully expected just to wander the Expo and attend various seminars with no intention of purchasing gear. However, a few items jumped out at me and an idea started to formulate. - A different "decisive moment" for the digital age -.


There are several moments during my work day that have been really important to me and one in particular has come to light as the absolute defining moment.
Here's a few examples of this Virginia photographer's idea of what is important:- appearance of my crew, the gear's appearance, quality of gear, punctuality, communication skills, personality, competency and execution.

The defining moment - as I wandered the vendor stalls is the instant the image pops up on the screen for the client's approval.
(100% of the time I'm tethered to a computer).

At that moment - nothing else matters, the lighting can be changed, the set or model finessed, but quality is the watch-word so this is the "decisive moment".

Too often a photographer's sensor can be mucky or the computer screen being used has mismatched color. Now, I've never been this sort of sloppy technician but things have snuck up on me during busy periods.

There is nothing worse than excusing sensor dust on a client's product or likeness. All day long - "I'll fix that in PhotoShop!" Once your at on the assignment it's too late to clean and calibrate. Something I have work to avoid but ti was adding so much time as the last task of the night.

NYC got me thinking about that moment and finessing out these aggravations. Money must be able to make this easier on me.

VisibleDust based in Canada got the jump many years ago on the digital camera self-cleaning accessory market. I've been a user or many years with their high end Sensor Clean and rather ordinary early model brushes which ran several hundred dollars.
Now they have in the product lineup the Sensor Loupe, Sensor Swabs and the Arctic Butterfly which I have ignored until now, but in light of my revelation I couldn't resist. ChaChing - more money! Problem no longer.

Before each shoot I now inspect my sensor and clean it if necessary. The Arctic Butterfly works wonders - zip, whirl -and my images are as clean as a whistle.

Next, I color calibrating my monitors before each shoot.

This may seem very laborious but compared to spotty images and a client wondering why they look a little jaundice it is well worth it.

I also of course grabbed PhotoShelterand ThinkTankPhotos' Airport Takeoff. I didn't want a defining moment of stupidity at the airport departure gate so I purchased the ultimate airline "approved" photo kit bag. My back also thanks me since it has wheels and I feel like I'm permanently off for my holidays. Fat Chance!

This Washington DC Photographer has PhotoShelter!! -

My friend John Harrington has been pestering me for years about having a PhotoShelter account but I just didn't get it.

Finally, the combinations of such features as SEO, client delivery, stock portal, client proofing and ease of job completion I made the leap at this year's 2009 NYC PhotoPlus Expo with just 20 minutes to spare.

So far it's amazing to use PhotoShelter and I'm eager to load more as stock which has languished all these years.

Part of the attraction is adding SEO to the brand "Virginia Photographer" and "Washington DC Photographer" so that I too can compete for some of the work available through Google searches.

Secondly it keeps me to one editing tool, the speed machine PhotoMechanic which loads directly to PhotoShelter. Phew!

Anyway it's making an impact and I think it's the future for all photographers. Check out my new front page here

Virginia Photographer, Virginia Photography, Virginia Photographers, washington DC photographer, DC photographer

I'm no Emile Hirsch - Behind the image (Part 1)

I've had a few good goes at shooting celebrities recently (see the gallery on mfpix.com) and I think it might get me into trouble at times. Namely, prospective clients who visiting my site might think I must be terribly expensive. Obviously a concern. Photography is always expensive but not for want of shooting the young, rich and famous. It's the value of the image and what it gives in return that should be stressed.

The client should always expect it to be somewhat costly when asking a professional photographer to enrich and enhance their services or likeness. Hopefully, rather than discouraging a phone call I would hope the photos displayed on the site would convey quality and the talent I bring for their investment.

Just for your interest and to show the story behind the "glamour" what follows are a set of photos of my rather unglamorous photo shoot of Emile Hirsh in a hotel room for the Washington Post. Notice - no rich interiors, no assistant as a stand-in/sidekick. That's ol' me using self timer to test the lighting before my 2.5 minute session.

This was for a review of the movie "MILK" in which Emile Hirsch co-starred with Sean Penn. The resulting image even without all the usual basic frills is pretty darn good if you ask me. (this particular frame was a discard)

Sometimes these things are just have to done really simple with very little pomp or ceremony- especially in Washington DC. Annie has her staff and entourage, Platon - well - he's just amazing and then there was Irving Penn and Avedon the greatest of them all.

More photos from this "set" are on my site at mfpix.com

FaceBook Ads You and Your Friends- Not Recommended

My Friend John Harrington has a very interesting piece of advice and well worth noting and following..

Facebook will, could and will use your photos on their adverts.

The advice is to change your settings to prevent this.

Here's how on John's site - click here

Screen grab from John's site.