If you're looking for Model Releases for stock/all uses, Getty Images has made them available to all photographers in 10 languages. These are the standard releases that I use when shooting any type of stock shoot.

Click on the link below:
http://contributors.gettyimages.com/article.asp?article_id=991

Found this over at ISO50, Scott Hanson’s blog. It’s very fascinating to hear the process that went into making the Obama Logo. More importantly, I think it is a great insight into the branding process at high levels. It goes to show you how important branding is, and what goes into it. In these videos Sol Sender walks us through the creative process that they went through to create the Obama logo. Even as simple an iconic logo can be, we don’t realize how much work goes into creating them.

Check out this 2 part video. The first part is about 8 minutes, and the second part is about 5 minutes.

I'm realizing more and more how much having a great support team is on a shoot. Having a producer that is on top of things, taking care of your client's needs and yours on a shoot is a wonderful thing. Having great a first assistant who knows lighting very well (sometimes better than you) and can manage the other assistants  with a great attitude is a valuable asset. The rest of your crew is just as important, but I want to focus on the part that keeps your ship running tight.

We just wrapped a campaign for a Proctor & Gamble product last week in Miami. My producer Roger Richter was amazing, and on top of everything from the beginnings of prepro, to the wrap of the job. Clients want to know that you have a great producer who can be great problem solvers with budget and can take care of everything to make the job seamless from beginning to end. Smoothing hiccups that arise(they always do) with ease and no drama is a valuable quality of a great producer. This job is all about problem solving to create the desired outcome. Having someone who is detail oriented and buttoned up is extremely important so you can focus on creative. They think ahead of you and make sure your client is well taken care of. A great producer also has relationships in place to be able to negotiate vendors and get your creative needs met under an original budget.

Producers can be a resource to pitching for jobs as they can recommend great locations and approaches from their knowledge base to make the job even better. This is an asset when the potential client may be looking to you for production ideas. They can turn a creative idea into a numbered reality.

In the end, a producer can make or break your job.

On to assistants: Having a tight assistant crew on bigger jobs is definitely important. A knowledgeable first assistant is a must when your lighting begins to become a bit complex. They must be able to make your lighting vision happen, take care of you when your mind is processing creative/managing your client, and be able to manage their crew efficiently(the 2nd and 3rd assistants) BTW, getting on a bigger set as a 2nd or 3rd is a great way to get on a big set without having all the lighting knowledge of a first assistant.

I was lucky to have one of the best lighting techs/first assistants in Miami. Roger hooked us up with Craig Miller, who was awesome. He works a lot for Patrick Demarchlier when he shoots in Miami. The lighting we set up for this campaign was one of the most complex setups that I've ever created. (and has to remain undisclosed at this point) Since most of my lighting is natural, if I get a job that is more complex with artificial lighting, I like to hire assistants that know more than I do.

That said, and the moral of this post is: YOU are as good as the synergy of your team.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a total foodie. Food is such a great part of any culture, and amazing food is the ultimate experience. Rayuela was just that. Previously I blogged about Macondo, which is the sister restaurant to Rayuela owned by our wonderful friend Hector. Hector is from Spain, and has opened both restaurants in the last year and a half, and the news is spreading fast. Both of Hector's restaurants have the right ingredients: Amazing food that people talk about, fantastic ambiance, a strong botiquey brand design, and a great location in the lower east side of Manhatten. Rayuela will reside in my top 2(sitting right next to Monsoon)

The experience was a great one. I went with my good friend and fellow foodie, Mel Barlow, who is good friends with Hector. He sat down with us here and there and gave us his recommendations for the menu. Just looking at the menu made me insane. I wanted to order one of everything!

Here is our chosen consumptions based on Hectors recs:

Cocktails:
Gin
lemon thyme, grapefruit juice, G’Vine Gin, Manzanilla Sherry, dash of orange bitters.
Vodka
sage leaves, Anjou pear, Luxardo Maraschino Liquor, Grey Goose Pear.
Rosada
strawberries, peaches, mango, marinated in 44 North huckleberry vodka, Cava Rose.

Food:
Huachinango con Soya
Red snapper marinated in a ginger soy citrus sauce with a rainbow of julienne peppers, cucumbers and jalapeno, sprinkled with sesame seeds

Mushroom Soup (not on the menu, so I don't know the exact ingredients)

Tuna Rellena
Shrimp, crab, and avocado wrapped in sliced tuna served with cucumbers in a soy vinaigrette

Bass Chileno
Grilled Chilean seabass with manchego yucca mangu and a chorizo-salsa verde salad

Carne a la Parrilla
Grilled beef tenderloin with oven roasted potatoes, mushrooms, diced spanish onions, pork belly and cabrales fondue

Rayuela is a must experience if you're in New York City!

One of my greatest inspirations are great films. I'm sure you've heard the rave about Slumdog Millionaire by this point, and if you haven't then let this be the start. This film for me was hands down one of the most amazing films I've seen. It was amazing in all aspects, but most of all, the cinematography. Every clip from the film was a beautiful photograph. If you've ever photographed in India, you'll know what a crazy place it is to photograph. It reminds me of shooting there. Here are a couple stories from my shoots in India:

http://nickonken.com/Asia/Varanassi/
http://nickonken.com/Asia/SouthIndia/

I'm definitely inspired to push my travel work even further. The soundtrack to Slumdog, was pretty amazing too. A lot of it was by MIA. The story was a wonderful one that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time? I mean, it's not everyday someone can write a great lovestory based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire..

So, if you haven't seen it, go see it.Watch the trailer here.

Here are a few of some of the beautiful stills from the movie:

I was just down in Miami this week shooting an advertising campaign on the edge of a pool. One thing lovely about the 1Ds MKIII is that when you eject a CF card, it likes to launch it as if it were a cannon ball. Seeing that the camera was vertical on a tripod, when I ejected the card, it shot straight out the back faster than I could catch it and it went fumbling into the pool with full of our last series of images.

My assistants quickly rushed it off to the hair department to dry it out with a hair dryer. After some TLC, and some dry heat application we took it over to digital to see if it was ok. Luckily being the solid state memory it was we were able to download the images on the card just fine.

After downloading the card, they taped it up, labeled it "H2O" and told me I should not use it again.

Moral of the story: Don't drop your CF cards in the pool.

If you haven't checked out Vincent Laforet's blog, you should. Not only is his work amazing, he's been doing some fantastic video with the 5DMKII Check out this behind the scenes video footage of them shooting with it on a steadycam.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/12/03/behind-the-scenes-footage-steadicam/

It's not every day that you get to say that your glasses were stolen and broken by a Mexican Circus monkey. True story. We went on a little vacay/travel stock shooting to Sayulita, then ventured to my new friend Jose Villa's grandmothers house for a night for a little authentic Mexican experience. We stopped at a circus on our way out and found some circus monkeys in their cage. As I was shooting the little baby, the ornery uncle Larry reached out, grabbed my glasses, and broke them in two. Then he proceeded to feed them to his other monkey friends. We managed to recover what was left of the half they stole, minus the lens. Here's the reminence…

Here's the Mexico story pics: http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/MexicoSayulitaSanMartin/

On a side note, I should add this to my last post on recources for beginners and anyone who wants to improve. Jose offers wedding workshops in exotic places around the world. If you're serious about getting into wedding photography, I suggest taking one of his workshops. http://josevillaworkshops.com/ Jose's Holga travel work has inspired me to get off my tail and start shooting mine again.

This little Mexico excursion was put together by my amiga, Mel Barlow.

If you're just starting out(or intermediate for that matter), and want to get some tutorials, read some good tech articles, here are a few photography websites that will help you out:

Studiolighting.net
Bill and Ed have a great resource here. There are tons of tutorials, lighting tips, and my favorite, interview podcasts from many pro photographers giving insights into their methods. (They interviewed me there as well. Click HERE to listen to my interview)

Strobist.com
Stobist is great for all that you want to know about lighting, including cheap ways of making your own.

dpreview.com
This is a great resource for finding out the latest and greatest on digital cameras. You can find reviews, and they have a great forum where you can post tech questions you may have about certain pieces of gear if you're researching a product to buy.

SantaFe Workshops
If you want to take a week class, the Santa Fe Workshops have a lot of great coarse. A great way to get immersed.

My Blog: nickonkenShoptalk
If you sift through a lot of my previous posts, and other categories I post random tips and pieces of my methods as I'm sure you might have found. For those who haven't, dig around.