Archive for Make Better Photographs – Page 5

A Photographer’s Diary, The Ferrari

This week’s session with one of my Healing with Photography groups was all about the Law of Attraction and how to allow it to work for you and how it does work; what you think about happens.

What helps more is if you act as if you already have what you want, letting your imagination put you in a place of it already having been done. It’s really important as if you believe you already have it your vibration is already in the right place and attracting even more.

So I was sharing with my group how I really want a Ferrari 458, and how important it is that I imagine I already have it. I was telling my group who know that I currently drive a Polo, how when I’m driving I imagine it’s my 458 Ferrari.

I imagine that the leather seats are cuddling me; I imagine hearing the roar of the beautiful engine as I pull away from lights and drive down the road. I imagine that the steering wheel has the paddle gear levers on it and in that moment and I am grateful for my Ferrari. This image brought huge belly laughs around the group and it was a really nice moment and it got the message home. Read More→

A Photographer’s Diary, The E Way

As I’ve started to make approaches to businesses abroad I’ve become aware of just how easy it is to really make the business as global as I’d like it to be without having to leave the country.

My web designer has been teaching students in America online how to do web design for years and until now, it’s something that I’ve not given too much thought to. However there are a couple of organisations that I follow in America who are doing some very important work and I know that my work can help their clients. This will be either by licensing my courses once they are filmed, edited and uploaded, or by doing group calls via Skype or over the telephone. The world is definitely becoming more accessible.

Every time I’m doing something like my monthly mastermind call where we connect via Skype, or when I’ve done the interviews recently for the ‘Finding You’ blog series I have been able to make the connections via Skype. Generally the initial contact has been made via social networking or emails. It’s making me aware of how much smaller the world has become that we can reach people on the other side of the world with ease and low cost. Read More→

Panning For Creativity – Behind My Eyes

Every photographer I’ve met has gone through what is generally referred to as ‘creative block’ – we struggle to see creatively when out with the camera. If you ask ten photographers how they get out of a creative block, you’ll likely get 10 different answers, or close to it, because there is no one correct answer – what works for one person may not for another. Personally, I use a couple of methods to try and snap out of the block and one of them is panning.

In simple terms, panning is following a moving subject with the camera. At higher shutter speeds, this technique can freeze action, a method used by sports photographers covering events, like football games, cycling and auto racing. At lower shutter speeds, panning can give a sense of motion to a frame, which is the method I prefer. This can also be used in sporting events, but when the creative juices need help, I like to use it for street photography, like the image below.

Cooper Mini – f18, 1/40s

Presenting a sense of movement in a photo can really add life to it and that goes very well with street photography. Take the image above. Just standing there watching this Cooper Mini drive by is pretty much a ho hum deal, but blur all of the objects around it and give the wheels some movement and you turn this lady into the one from Pasadena that Jan and Dean used to sing about! Now that’s dating myself! Here’s how I go about taking panning shots. Read More→

A Photographer’s Diary, Autumn Light

I have had a wonderful week of having peace and quiet in the mornings to write some new courses and develop new ideas. However this morning the sun was shining, the shadows were long and the air fresh and clear.

I put my head into my work yet every time I looked up the sun called me. As much as I love the colours that come with autumn, I’m never particularly keen to think about heading into winter, though the light that the autumn season brings I love.

There is something very creative for me and exotic about the autumn light. Maybe it’s the need to have to go right there and then rather than put it off and miss the light, maybe it’s just that I enjoy getting out in the crisper air. Whatever it is the light calls and if I can, I generally follow the call.

Typically as I was driving out to my favourite local village, where sadly the pub closed its doors just a few weeks ago, the sun disappeared behind a cloudy sky. Though this did little to deter me. Travelling down the country roads I saw a metal gate of a field open, I slowed as I went past and then put the car straight into reverse. Read More→

A Photographer’s Diary, Is My Message Clear? I Need Your Help

There is something that has been playing on my mind for the last couple of weeks, is the message of my website clear? If you don’t know, or don’t have a full understanding of what it is that I do, would you be able to clearly ascertain the nature of my work and the benefits to you as a person if you went on one of my courses? I would be very grateful if you would take a look at my website, have a good read through and then use the contact us tab to let me know if you have understood what my company does and how it can help.  www.healingwithphotography.com

This subject has been on my mind for a couple of weeks as I have been making the odd tweak to the website, tightening up the wording to make it punchier whilst hopefully making it more self-explanatory.

Whilst I have been looking at other company’s websites as I’ve been looking for contact details of people who might wish to run my courses, I have been left bemused and frustrated by some of them. If I didn’t already know what some companies do I certainly wouldn’t be any wiser by reading their website. Sometimes there is just too much industry related language for the layman to cut through.

Just as I started to write this article I came across yet another company who is, I think, telling me that they run courses though it’s not at all clear what type of courses they run as there is too much industry related jargon. Read More→

Down Low – Behind My Eyes

One of the best pieces of advise I can give to someone who’s trying to improve their skills as a photographer is to get involved in social networking and start looking at other people’s work. First of all, the social part of it can be very rewarding, meeting and getting to know the really great folks in this industry and being able to get your work out there in front of other people. But the real benefit in looking at other great photographers’ work (and not so great ones, too) is that you can learn what aspects of an image you really like or dislike and apply them to your own product.

When I first started taking pictures, my images would look like nearly every other new photographer. We plant the tripod up fully extended, compose the frame and take the shot. This didn’t change for long time, until I saw an image from my friend Brian Matiash that really had an impact on how I would take pictures in the future.

2012 (c) Brian Matiash – All Right Reserved www.brianmatiash.com

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