Trying my hand at making money

Hmm I going to revitalize this blog by actually using it and posting. This is going to by my journey into photography taking seriously. My goal is to provide a record for attempt at actually committing to photography. No longer will it be just for fun, it will be for money. Hopefully I can shed some light on to others and they might find inspiration or learn a few things while reading. The path is not so clear well it comes to photography. There are a million ways to success, however there are a million ways to failure as well. It all depends on luck, skill and determination.

I think my goal is to become an accomplished and respected photographer. I hope to be able to cover my expenses and then turn a profit. I intend to work part time and take assignments as I go. I hope to learn from my mistakes and improve as to provide a better experience the next time.

New FlickR Site

I was inspired by Chase Jarvis to create a flickr site. It will all be images taken from my cellphone, a brand new HTC Evo 4g. Right now I'm debating on whether or not to use android apps for creative filters and stuff. If you want to check it out its at www.flickr.com/coolshotimagery

Resources

Its been a long time since I posted. I was trapped into the whole gear game. I wasn't doing any shooting because I felt I didn't have the gear necessary to what I thought would be killer shots. So much so I have yet to make a 10 minute trip into San Francisco for some awesome night shots. I have already scouted the locations.

Chase Jarvis is right, the best camera is the one with you. I have what I have so I'll use it. Its the only way that I am going to get better as a photographer. In the meantime, I have been shooting a lot of personal shots. Lots of parties and portraits which is good, since my main focus is event and portrait photography.

I have also been checking out great free online resources like DtownTV which is part of Scott Kelby's online learning media. There are also great resources on YouTube. I recommend snapfactory and lime/Bert Stefani.

MonoChoromatic

I been trying to do a showcase using my hats for a long time. Obviously I have a white, gray and black one. I was trying out how to light them. This proved to be a challenge because I had good natural light coming out of the window, however, I had to add fill to highlight some details hidden behind shadows. I ended up using ambient light and an SB900 underneath as fill flash.

Fleetweek 2009

Every year there is a naval and air show hosted right on the waters of the San Francisco bay. They has various ships, propeller stunt planes and the blue angels. Today I came out with a Nikon D90 and 70-300VR lens. This was my first airshow and it was hard to track the faster planes flying above. After about 30 passes I got the hang of the pan and had better focus control over my shots. The D90 and 70-300 proved to be a difficult combo. It would zoom from 1.5 to infinity before it would lock on. This 1/2 second delay would cause me to miss my shot. I learned to pre-focus on something close in distance like a boat out in the bay. That way I would just raise the camera upwards but still have a close focus on the planes going by.

New Tripod

I got a nice tripod from my girlfriend as a birthday gift. I look forward to taking with me on all our trips and taking great landscape shots, especially at night. So what did I get? Well my philosophy is, the best tripod you have is the one on you. So I decided to get a small compact tripod. After lugging around a big aluminum one, getting carbon fiber is a must. So here it is, its a Benro C-068m8 travel angel tripod. I have also paired it with a Markins Q3 ballhead. I am really impressed with its sturdiness and light weight.

Labor Day: End of Summer

So its about that time again. School starting again, days getting shorter, nights getting longer. Labor Day is one of the last days to have a great BBQ with friends and family. I spent mine with doing a great cookout as well as spending time at the local six flags.