My Mom - Sneak Peek

Over the weekend we did a small photoshoot with my mom. She truly is a beautiful woman who has accomplished so much in her life. When she smiles her eyes sparkle. I love photographing someone who is so comfortable in front of the camera. A few more to come later this week.

MySpace.com/MATTUJ

Matt Johnson the Pop/Reggae/R+B Recording Artist/ Singer Songwriter ( with 2 music videos out )

Took advantage of the PORTRAIT SPECIAL at Fine Art Fotos Staten Island Studio.  We shot him the day before Thanksgiving and Danny Perugini came in on Black Friday.  It's always alittle scary to have appointments the day after Thanksgiving because of the extra work I might have to do in Photoshop with Liquify, but not this time LOL!

www.HVPPSNY.org Talent Exchange Program

Thanks to HVPPSNY for hosting the TEP event with Lindsay Adler and Neil Van Niekerk. I was looking forward to seeing them and even though they have both been speaking at many events recently (including PhotoPlus) I kept missing them.

I am excited to say that the workshop more than lived up to my expectations. I am out of chapter and belong to PPGNY AND PPANJ but gladly go to seminars I deem worthy. Fashion photography is not something I specialize in but what Lindsay demonstrated can easily be done with brides. With style and grace and her command of lighting, she inspired all all us to think out of the box. The very next day I started using my beauty dish and barn doors again and created some amazing images!

We all want to be better photographers and make more money, nothing takes the place of being in a class but I would like to go over some of the finer points our presenters made. By becoming the expert you can build your reputation. By sharing and giving knowledge you can become a leader in the industry. her ideas on blogging were helpful, many people don't know what to blog about, the answer is simple; recent work, reviews and reflections, people love outtakes ie. behind the scenes stories. Updates, cover an event, even interview others. By using analytics you can see who is following you and which of your blog posts are the most popular. Put yourself out there, build your on-line business presence by including testimonials. Don't forget Youtube and Vimeo, embed them in your blog. Youtube partnerships can make you $$ and they have a high pass-along rate which makes you famous! Visit her website at www.LindsayAdlerPhotography.com

I didn't know what to expect from Neil Van Niekerk. I missed him at PPGNY but Owen Kassimir (www.OwenImaging.com) told me he was real good and he would see him again. That's enough to make me want to check him out.  He covered on-camera flash techniques for wedding and portrait photography. Nobody like on camera flash, right? Well think again. I have been doing bounce flash tricks for a while now. I am not talking a straight-up-to-the- ceiling bouncing (that is not the greatest because of the raccoon eyes etc.) I always try to bounce off the walls or what ever happens to be on one side of me (usually the video guy, LOL) Neil takes it much, much further. From him I learned why I doing things and how to do them better! He doesn't want any direct light from his on camera flash to be hitting his subject WHAT-SO-EVER! He has a small black flag attached to his flash to divert any light from going forward. The result is amazing! Others sell diffusers or bounce card devises to soften the light but when you see what can be done by bouncing off a wall or reflector you will throw all that stuff away. (or sell it to a beginner, LOL) He opened my eyes and I was already going in that direction! Please visit him at www.Neilvn/tangents.