Locals

February 08, 2016

This year has been incredibly busy, and one of the reasons for that is a project that has become a bit larger than I originally anticipated. I call it the Locals Project. It started out as a simple idea, showcase people in my community who are doing great things in and for Colorado Springs. It has turned into something I didn't imagine, an unveiling of an underground population of incredible people.

Now, if you don't know about Colorado Springs it is an interesting kind of town, in fact even calling it a town (which most people do) is weird; we have almost 500,000 people in our "town". You'll see bumper stickers that say things like "Keep Colorado Springs lame" floating around, and we are known as one of the worst dressed cities in the country. All that being said, there is a stirring in the belly of our city that is driven by incredibly talented people and is just now coming to light.

The Locals Project started out with a couple of people over a month ago and it is still growing, mostly because with every person I meet and with every story I hear, there is another one that goes along with it. I am excited about the community that we are building and I hope that this project can help to propel us in a new direction, one that doesn't keep us "lame", one that makes us awesome!

Below are a few of the images from the locals project...stay tuned on Facebook for more!

BE BOLD

January 06, 2016

Welcome to my completely revamped web page! It has been a long journey with countless hours not only in the studio, but also sitting at the computer. It finally came together and I am glad you made it, heck, I'm glad I made it! You'll find a ton of new work, especially in the portrait section, and now we have a place for all those BTS videos we have been posting.

2016 is sure to be an exciting year, we have already started production on 3 shoots for this next month and we have some really fun personal projects planned. I'll be blogging more regularly and posting more bts content, but if you want more, head over to my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages. Also, stay tuned for the unveiling of our ad campaign for Dragon Alliance in the next week or so!

My theme for 2016 is BE BOLD, I hope that it can encourage you to step outside your comfort zone this year and create images you never thought were possible!

Until next time...be awesome! (and BOLD!)

Slow time

December 15, 2015 in Photography, Tutorial, Video

Well, it's almost Christmas, and that usually means things are slowing down in commercial photography for at least a little bit. I wanted to take a second to talk about some things that can help during the slow times and how to stay busy.

Most photographers go through ebbs and flows of work, and I would say it's more about how you handle the ebbs then the flow. Not only that, but it's important to remember that after a really busy period you will probably have at least a few days without work. Here are some thoughts on how to handle it and some things to remember.

1. It's not a vacation. Yes you should take vacation sometimes, but it should be something you schedule not something that happens to you. My first thought is to treat photography just like any other job, you go every day no matter what. Most bosses would agree that there is ALWAYS something to do if you look, and you are your own boss, so you can figure it out.

2. Start making contacts. PICK UP THE PHONE. When was the last time you called someone and set up a meeting? Our industry is a very large one, full of really cool people that can help you in your journey. Do some research, find some new people to meet, and get out there! A few good places to look would be Linked In and Agency Access. I am sure there are more, but that's what I use the most.

3. Take a creative day. This is very different from a vacation. My last creative day consisted of me sitting in a coffee shop looking at websites and re-writing my business plan and direction. I'll also walk around department stores and look at images to get inspiration or go walk around the city. Do what inspires you, and do something different than you do every day, this is a day to break the mold and step outside.

4. Personal Projects. I have so many personal project ideas that I can't actually keep up, which is great because that means we are really busy! But as soon as I see a lull in the schedule I book a personal project, this will help keep you sharp and growing as a photographer. Over the holidays my team and I are shooting over 10 personal projects and I am completely revamping the web page. We work on new lighting, find new subjects and make new contacts, all at the same time! If you are lacking inspiration then look at what other photographers are doing and try to copy it, I guarantee it won't look the same and you will learn something in the process.

5. LEARN! Photography is always evolving, and you should be too. There are incredible, not to mention free, resources out there now that can help you grow exponentially. Even just watching short videos that show behind the scenes lighting can be so helpful.

To finish this blog I am going to post some videos that I have found really helpful so you can watch them and maybe be inspired by them as well. As a side note, if you enjoy stuff like this I tend to post the videos I find on Twitter, so follow me there if you're interested :)

This is just a few to get your juices flowing...go out and find more, would love to see them! Until next time...be awesome!

Ballet meets Dia de los Muertos

December 01, 2015 in Art Direction, Phothoshop, Photography, Photoshop, Portrait, Dance, Ballet

My team and I just finished an incredible shoot last week and I wanted to share the results with you. We were able to shoot at a beautiful location in Colorado Springs (abandoned locations are by far my favorite type of backdrop). If you add in 3 amazing dancers, 2 very talented MUA's (Tasha Ditchman and Molly Hardee) on site working all day, assistants and lots of lighting, you get some pretty awesome stuff.

Below you'll find the BTS video (Filmed and Edited by Andrew Forrer) to give you an idea how much work goes into a shoot like this, and some of the images that we ended with.

Thanks to my incredible team and I hope this inspires you to dream big...now, go be awesome!

See the light.

November 24, 2015 in Art Direction, Photography, Photoshop, Portrait, Tutorial

I have had a number of people ask me if I would be putting tutorials up on my page, and that is definitely in the works for 2016, but I think there is a fundamental problem with a lot of people trying to break into composite photography, and that's lighting. Sometimes I think our digital crazed culture has become so reliant on the term "fix it in post" that we forget the little things that make photography special.

When you look at some of the great photographers before us, like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams, you realize that they saw light, it didn't just happen to them and it most certainly wasn't luck. You might be asking, what do two guys who shot mostly black and white film have to do with a digital composite photographer in 2015?! To that I would say, everything! I have had multiple people come to me and ask how I make my composite images look so real, and yes, I use Photoshop a lot, but Photoshop can only do so much. I think most of what makes composite images look real is lighting. More specifically being able to identify lighting and re-create it.

So, what can you do? How can you start to learn about lighting? Well the first thing you can do is go outside! Look at shadows, haze, highlights, soft light, hard light, night lights, natural light, artificial light, fog, etc. and study them. The more you know about what light looks like the better. That's the fun part, I am still obsessed with shadows and I take pictures of them all the time...it's a little weird. I can't stop it though, I think light is incredible and beautiful, I think at the heart of what we do is the fact that photographers love light.

What do you do after that? You learn how to make it. First, learn how to make light and shadows in a studio. This part can be harder if you don't have access to lights, but it most certainly can be done on a budget. This is a critical step if you want to be a composite photographer because your ability to take an object and put it seamlessly into a background is what will set you apart from the competition. There are a ton of tutorials that you can look at online, like kelbyone.com, that will teach you lighting, but make sure you don't just watch videos, go do it!

Finally, you need to learn how to make lighting and shadows in Photoshop. I think this is where things get a little backwards for a lot of people. I can't tell you how many people have said the know a ton about Photoshop and still can't make their images look right. Honestly, if they really do know a ton about Photoshop (I have my suspicions), it's probably the lighting. I think if you just try to learn Photoshop without learning lighting you are doing yourself a disservice, and it makes things very frustrating in the beginning. When you're ready though, there are a ton of websites and resources to help you learn about lighting in Photoshop (Phlearn, Lynda, Kelbyone, Youtube, etc).

I might be crazy, but I think you need to know this stuff to be a professional photographer, not just have a nice camera. I mean, having a nice camera is great and all, but I would rather hire a photographer with a cheaper camera who knows what they're doing then one with a super expensive camera who doesn't have a clue.

I just recently went in the studio and did test lighting for a shoot that I am getting ready for and to learn more about lighting, because you never know it all! Below are some of the shots that I took from new lighting set ups I am working on, and a little bts video of me running around taking pictures of myself! Until next time, be awesome!

One Year of lessons.

October 13, 2015

While I have been in photography and retouching for over 6 years, this September marked 1 year of being a full time freelancer. I think most people would translate that as "You haven't had a job in one year?!" but that most certainly isn't the case. In fact, I would say this has been one of the hardest working years of my life...and never more worth it. Here are some things that I learned, hopefully they can help you in your journey!

1. WORK WORK WORK - If you are going to be a full time photographer you need to be putting out new work ALL THE TIME. I cannot stress enough, and I am certainly not the first to say this, that you need to constantly be evolving and growing in your craft, and you can't do that if all the work you create is for clients. Make up a personal project and go do it, if you don't have work, make work. You're a creative, go create. My only caveat is that your personal work should be the work you want to get hired to do. If you want to get hired by Nike to shoot ads, then you better be shooting stuff that looks like that every moment you can.

2. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK - You've heard the saying "It's more about who you know, than what you know"? Well it's true. Granted, you need to be a good photographer when it all comes down to it, but you need to know people to take pictures for! Meet as many people as you can; meet art directors, creative directors, other photographers, videographers, agents, meet PEOPLE! The more people you know and know you the more likely you are to make it!

3. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD PEOPLE - My friend Sean Hagwell had something to say about this on his blog, and I readily agree with him. Who you have on set, who you talk to about images, who you talk about ideas with and let into your life, these people matter. This is not networking, this is community, and you must have a solid community to survive. When times are hard you'll need a hand, and you want to make sure that hand is a steady one. (You can see Sean's blog here: http://seanhagwell.com/16-things-ive-learned/)

4. BE CAREFUL - To follow up with what I just said you also need to be careful who you take advice from. Everyone wants to make money, and a lot of people make money by giving advice to creatives. Now, I have met some people who are worth paying, but I have also met some people who aren't! Make sure you do your homework before you go diving into some scheme to get a ton of money making photography...the only real way is to work really hard, and if they are telling you otherwise I would be skeptical. One other thought on this, be careful who you get to critique your work. I have noticed that every photographer has a very specific idea of what an image should look like, and a lot of times it is nothing more than an opinion, and usually a negative one. I do show my work to a select few photographers, but I also show it to industry people who aren't photographers...I would recommend looking into that.

5. YOU DON'T KNOW IT ALL - If you think you know everything there is to know about running a photography business, and you think you can do it all alone without any advice or help, then please do it...that's one less competitor we all need to worry about :) On the other hand, if you want one the most satisfying careers around then strap on your learning goggles and have at it. Always be a student, and know that you can learn from anyone, even if it's what NOT to do.

6. IT'S NOT A SPRINT - You know what comes next...it's a marathon. This might sound cliche, but it's true, and I see a lot of people dropping out photography because of this. If you think you might be the next Annie Leibovitz, and I am not saying you aren't, just remember she had a long and hard road before she made it. This is the story with photographer after photographer, they didn't just wake up one day and have incredible success without any hard work. You have to put in the time, earn the respect, and have some stamina. When we embarked on this crazy road and things got rough the first question we asked is "should we sell the house?" it was not "should I quit photography?". We knew it would be hard, and we knew the only way is through it.

7. HAVE FUN! - This industry is incredible, we get to do and see things that most normal people don't even dream of. Almost every time I am on set I get excited, and I am grateful. I know most normal people sit at a desk, and I do that a lot too, but I even have fun when I'm at my desk! We get to make pictures for a living, and we are a select few people who do what we love for a living. Don't forget that.

8. STAY INSPIRED - It's easy to get burned out, especially when you are working all the time. Make sure you have people, places and things that you look to for inspiration. I have movies that I'll watch, coffee shops that I'll sit at, people that I'll talk to, portfolios that I'll look at. Never stop exploring the world around you, there is so much to be seen and inspired by!

There is a lot of really awesome stuff in the works for the coming months and heading into 2016, stay tuned for more on the blog, tutorials, plus lots of new work. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions and of course, BE AWESOME!

Personal Project - The Dolls

September 18, 2015 in Art Direction, Phothoshop, Photo Illustration, Photography, Photoshop, Portrait

A while ago I did a personal project called "The Dolls Have Eyes". I had originally shown these on my old blog but that has been taken down so I wanted to put them up on the new page for you guys to see!

The idea was relatively simple, take pictures of dolls and morph them together with human features. What I wanted to see was if people could tell, if they knew they were looking at a doll with some real feature. It's my exploration of how a lot of what we see in media today isn't real at all, and if it seems to good to be perfect to be true it probably is!

Hope you enjoy it, or you think it's creepy...either one :) Until next time, be awesome!

MUA and Hairstylists

August 27, 2015

If you are a photographer and you don't know what this acronym is then I am going to tell you! MAKE UP ARTIST. Emphasis on artist. If you are, or would like to be, a professional photographer you need to start working with these incredibly talented people. Sometimes their job reminds me of retouching, they do so much for the photo and process, yet they receive very little credit for what they do.

The other half of this team, and some of them do both, is a hairstylist. They are also unsung heroes of our industry. I've noticed that a good hairstylist will not only make your model look better but they will put them at ease. What better way to start a shoot than to make a beautiful model look even more beautiful and be relaxed?!

I have been blessed to work with a handful of very talented artists and I wanted to take the time to encourage you to do the same. If you want to start elevating what you do as a photographer they can certainly help you do that. It will not only save you time in post production, but it will make your images look better straight out of the camera.

I will mention this below as well, but make sure you do a test shoot if you've never worked with someone before. Not only will it be good to see how your personalities work, but you can see how they work with models and with your team. Lastly, you will be able to see very quickly if they know what they're doing when you see the pictures :)

How do you find a good MUA? Here's how I do it:

1. Model Mayhem - Let me start with a disclaimer, Model Mayhem is not my favorite place to meet other artists, and it can be really sketchy. However, if you're careful, and you screen your contacts it can be a great place to meet models, MUA's, and hairstylists.

2. Your Friends! - A lot of MUA's and hairstylists have normal jobs at salons and such...you probably know one if you really think about it. I will say that just because they do hair/make up doesn't mean they are good for photography, but it can definitely be a good place to start.

3. Facebook - This is probably non conventional, but I have a lot of friends who are already in the industry, so I will post on Facebook and see who's out there...always do a test shoot!

4. Agencies - If you have the budget in your shoot for a MUA you can go to an agency, most modeling agencies will have them on the roster. They will sometimes charge you more for finding them...so if you have one you like just stick with that!

Hope this is helpful, and if you think you can do without these people on your team then you probably won't make it far in the industry. Here are some bts of the awesome people I have worked with...now go be awesome!

P.S. So much love to the awesome ladies below: Ash, Kelly, Missy, Tasha, Lena and Ainsley... and the many I don't have photos of! I owe a lot of my success to you, and I appreciate all of you.

Photo Credit: Scott Jung - soulgrapher.com