Morning Pages

Years ago, I did a study called The Artist’s Way. The book, by Julia Cameron, is marketed as a spiritual journey to unblock your creativity. I was feeling particularly blocked at the time, and even though I kind of raised an eyebrow at the introduction to the book (where she’s talking about how you define God) it struck me as something that might be helpful to me as a visual artist. I was supposed to be working with a group of photographers, but the group itself never really got off the ground, so I decided to move on and take that journey by myself.

One of the best things I got out of this study was doing morning pages: three pages of stream of consciousness, don’tthinkaboutwhatyou’rewritingorworryaboutgrammarspellingpunctuation writing, every morning. It’s kind of a “brain dump,” and for me it is part prayer, part meditation, part creative exercise… all in all, a form of therapy.

Then later, as all of my writing obligations (the blogs, marketing, email, school, etc) started adding to the burn out, I stopped doing my morning pages. I wish I had kept it up. Until I started them again this week, I didn’t know how much I missed them. Or how much I needed them.

So now that my life has hit another season of renewal, with a new house, a new baby on the way, an evolving style, and a fresh look for the business, I feel like it’s time to take another trip with The Artist’s Way. I have one other photographer who is interested in a group study, and we’re looking for a maximum of six more people (whether you’re a photographer, some other kind of artist, or just someone who dreams of being more creative) to go along with us. I’d like to get started next week — as you can see, I’ve already started my morning pages again — so please let me know ASAP if you’d like to join us for a virtual group. Email me at info at shelbylane dot net or find me on facebook, and we’ll talk details.

Thank you Abilene!

I had such a great time getting to know you all.  Thanks to everyone who came out and who came up and said hello.  We had a good crowd and I enjoyed talking with all of you!

Now that I’m back from Abilene, I’m done with workshops and speaking this year.  I’ve talked with a few people about trying to plan for 2009 but we’re so busy at the studio, with holiday sessions and some restructuring, that I have not had time to iron out details.  Thank you to everyone who has inquired about future dates and offered hosting!  Before we get to planning anything for next year, I need a chance to revamp the program a little… I have taught the same things in the same way so many times now that I’d like to take things in a slightly different direction for 2009.  Until we get through the busy season, the photographer’s blog is going to get a little quiet (I know: as if that’s a change, but I’m just sayin’.)

Good Vs Bad Students

Just in time for the new school year, there is a great article today on the PhotoshopInsider blog, by Scott Kelby.  Most of you will know Scott as “the Photoshop guy.”  But in this article, he talks about how to get the most out of a workshop and how to be a good workshop student.  I have had notes to write about this for awhile, but Scott came up with some issues that I wasn’t even considering, so go check it out.

Stuck in Customs

I’m about to head out for another looooooong day at the studio, and I feel like I need some inspiration. I’ve been busy shooting portrait after portrait for the past few weeks and sometimes, I just need a change. So this morning, I snuck a peek at the new posts on Stuck in Customs. I love Trey Ratcliff’s travel/landscape photoblog. As some of you know, I don’t like the Lucis filter much. When I see it used on portraits, it is so often run with a heavy hand and it tends to make angelic baby faces look dirty and harsh. But I love it on this type of work. The richness of the color, the intensity of the skies, and the sharp detail make for some amazing images. Be sure to check out Trey’s HDR tutorial if you have some free time today.

Building Your Brand

Hey everybody! It has been a busy few weeks at the studio but I am still here. Instead of posting something of my own today, I’m sending you to another site. I have another long post about “setting yourself apart fromall the millions of other photographers out there” brewing but I just haven’t found the time to type it out yet.

I have talked with many of you lately who feel like you don’t have a strong enough brand to really set you apart in your clients minds. This is a slower time of year for photographers, and all of us portrait folks are gearing up for the super busy holiday season, so this is a great time to take a good, hard look at your business and see what is working and what is not. Not Just Pretty is a good place to start. Professional designer Erin Ferree has written some fantastic articles about branding, marketing, design, and search engine optimization tips, and I think that all of us can find something useful on her blog.

Inspirations: CinematicBride

International wedding videographer Joshua Smith. Yes, I said video. Wedding cinematography, actually. But I think we as photographers can really benefit from looking at videography and filmmaking techniques… not just in the shooting and production style, but in the way they present their work to their clients.

I love watching Joshua’s trailers, and I can see how the combination of movement and images and music and color all combine to create excitement for the bride and groom and their families. How could we incorporate something like that into our own businesses? Could we create teaser-trailers of our own to maintain that excitement between the session and the ordering appointment? Can we incorporate some of the techniques into our own session slideshows, even if we’re using still images, to evoke emotion through the movement of the images, and by matching the mood of the music and the pace to the color and lighting and style of our photographs?

Take a look at CinematicBride. I think there’s something to be learned there.

Style Inspirations

I just finished filling out a little questionnaire/interview thing for another industry site, and one of the questions was,

How did you develop your style, and what were some of your inspirations?

Let’s just talk about some inspirations for today. What kind of images do I look at and love, that I try to incorporate into my own look and style? Well as cheesy as this sounds, I have always loved the way classic illustrators portrayed children. They look angelic and beautiful, but still real. Part of that is the set and situation that they were captured in. Part of it is the lighting and the colors that the artist used. Here are a few of my favorite illustrators, because I think that maybe by seeing the originals, you can understand a little better about what has influenced my style. I love the soft, directional quality of the light. I love the way these illustrators often use a strong rim light on the hair. And I love that they’re idealized looks at the beauty and innocence of childhood, while still letting the personality of the models shine through.

Eloise Wilkin, “Little Golden Book” Illustrator

Jessie Wilcox Smith, Good Housekeeping Illustrator

Bessie Pease Gutman, Golden Age Illustrator

I also really love the way the Golden Age landscape illustrators, like Maxfield Parrish, used light and color. When I do location work, I’m always searching for this kind of “look” — golden sunrise or sunset light and lots of saturation.

Do I find inspiration in the work of other photographers? Sure. Every day. But for my OWN style, I try to look outside of the portrait world, because it is just too easy for your work to start looking too much like a clone of someone else’s. I talk about this a little in the Differentiate or Die post from earlier this year. So this week’s challenge: think about some images you love, that move you, outside of the realm of portrait photography. What is it that draws you to the image? And is that something you can incorporate into your own work?

Inspirations: Gale Rainwater Photography

If you’ve ever seen me speak on photography, you’ve heard me say that sometimes my best inspirations come from outside the portrait photography world. When I find myself in a rut, feeling like I’m looking at and doing the same type of work over and over again, I tend to browse through collections of illustrations, movies, commercials, and other branches of photography. Sometimes, I don’t want to look at anything else about business, or posing, or marketing. I just want to look at something beautiful.

This week I have been fascinated by Gale Rainwater’s work. This collection of nature photography makes me wish I was out on an adventure, instead of sitting here at my desk staring at the computer screen. But Rainwater’s work is so vivid, and so breathtaking, it almost makes up for not being there in person.