I think in the world business, especially artist based businesses where your name is your brand, it extends to the little touches that people and your clients receive. In this electronic world, websites and email are typically the first impression someone will have on you and your business. Your website should be the first thing in line, but that's another subject. My point in this post is creating an email address with your domain streamlines your brand. It makes you look all that more professional to have an email address that is at your domain.com. Creating an email with yourname@yourdomain.com(ie: nick@nickonken dot com) makes even more of a personal touch, which I think is important in this business. I don't know about you, but I always feel a little less connected when someone emails me back from an email address other than their name. I do have an info@nickonken dot com email address on my website, but my email responses always come from my nick@nickonken dot com address.

That said, I just stumbled upon Google Apps, which lets you host your domain email through gmail. It's awesome. The interface is just like gmail and you have all the perks that gmail does. It's only $50 per year. I was with Lanlogic.net using their exchange server and paying $20-30/month plus another $10/month on my mobile carrier side to use the enterprise server. The emails did get pushed through(to my Blackberry and iPhone) in the exact moment they arrived, but in the end, to me it wasn't worth it to keep it paying so much more. With gmail notifier, the emails come through typically instantly to 30 seconds. You can also sync all your contacts programs like spanning sync. Not to mention you get 25gb of storage for your emails. It also works great with all your mail apps. This is way better than setting up forwards and reply-to addresses if you're using another email account.

I've never used the extent of gmail before, but I'm finding out how awesome even the web interface is. Here's a little screen clip of what the interface looks like. It also allows you to have your own logo integrated.

Check it out here: Google Mail Apps for Business

Here's a little screen clip of the web interface.

I love work vacations. I've never been to Carnaval in Rio before, and I must say it is one insane experience. People partying, singing, and dancing in the streets for 6 days straight. Everyone dresses up in costume, and they have traditional songs they sing every year. It's pretty amazing.

Amongst the crowds, I found it difficult to shoot, because you end up just shooting swarms of people. I snag a few good ones amongst the madness.

Full Story here:
http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/RioDeJanieroCarnaval09/

I'm writing this as I'm on a flight from LA to Rio De Janiero, so it inspired this thought about international travel. As you travel more and more, you get accustomed to certain things you like, and the little details of traveling. Small things that help accommodate your journey in a more pleasant experience. The more and more you travel, at least in my experience, those details start to become of more importance. Here are a few of those details that I've learned to improve to have a more adaptable and enjoyable experience.

1. The first and biggest detail is Jetlag. Some if of this is modified advice from my homey Chase Jarvis. This little bugger can be big nuisance, and will always exist, but I've found some things that help minimize it. The first and foremost is to start thinking and operating on the time zone of your destination. The second thing is to try as best you can to plan the long legs of your flight to be an overnight flight. Over the counter sleeping pills work great to help get you to sleep during that time(I use one called Unisom from Walgreens). If I'm taking an overnight flight I much prefer to have a longer flight(8 hours at least) so I can actually get a full nights sleep. I usually take a sleeping pill with dinner on the plane, or maybe before to have it kick in as soon as possible. What's great is once you're out, you wake up and you're almost at your destination. The toughest, but most important part is when you get to your destination DO NOT sleep until your normal bedtime in that time zone. (say midnight or whatever) If you stay awake until then, it''s pretty easy to adjust to that time zone after the first day. If you take a nap, you are screwed, and it will take you much longer(more days) to adjust. If I manage to stay awake that first day, I'm typically fine by the next day. This mostly applies to destinations that are 5/6 hours or more than your normal time zone. Jetlag is always tough, but this stuff does help especially if you have a job you need to quickly get adjusted to the time zone for.

2. The second is airline status. My preferred airline is United(see why at this former post.) Being loyal to one airline allows you to gain perks that make your travel experience better. One thing I love about having status with United is that whenever I book an economy ticket, I get their Economy Plus seating without extra charge. This small detail of 5 more inches of legroom makes a hugest difference in being comfortable in an economy flight, especially on a long one. Other things like, being able to use miles for upgrades, and priority security lines. All these come from being loyal to one airline. When you make certain statuses with airlines, you get access to their special lounges too. You definitely get used to those little details.

3. ROLLER BAGS! This is the most genius idea in the way of travel bags. Again, you can refer to this older post for more details. My camera roller bag has saved me many of backaches and much energy. I definitely learned this the hard way as my first camera bag was a shoulder bag. Hoofing this through airports will wear you out extremely fast, where a roller bag, you are pulling much less weight.

4. Blackberry, iPhone, or any other similar device. These are a great time maximizer while you're on the road. If you think about how much time you're trying to kill in airports, then being connected with a handheld device can help you maximize time by writing those emails, and making those calls you need to make.

Ok, so back by popular demand is the nickonken desktop. I decided it's too hard to keep up with the monthly desktop, so I'll just make it the Random Desktop. And even more popular demand, this shot from Rio is the new desktop.

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At this point in my life, I don’t really believe in fairies, let alone fairy dust. As funny as this may sound, there is a lot of talk about people who succeed on a fairly fast track. There may be a small amount of luck, but I think that can be more seen as opportunity. Some maybe be more fortunate than others, but in the end, we all have the power to make the decisions to get us to where we want to be. The question is, how badly do we want it? If we really want something, we will make the decisions and sacrifices to get us there. I touched on this in my Transitions, Passions, and Sacrifices post a while back, but the point I really want to make is that in my opinion everything comes through hard work. There is no such thing as getting rich quick and in that respect how do you define rich? Money isn’t everything. It should though, a bi-product of being successful at what you do. Every successful person I’ve talked has spent years of hard work to get where they are. (typically about 10,000 hours).

In the end, creating the right career/lifestyle is a lot like creating a beautiful picture in proper exposure. The way the final image looks is all your vision, as to the lifestyle you desire to live. You have to adjust all the variables to get the desired outcome. Each variable(ISO, shutter speed, Aperture, etc.) all have cause and effects, sacrifices and features. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in certain areas to be able to do what you want in others.

In photography, part of the hard work is developing your eye to see, hence crafting your artistic vision, and that only happens through practice. As you grow, you begin to see things that you neglected to see before. That is only learned by going through the artistic journey.

That said, if you want it then make the decisions to work hard and succeed. I don’t think the fairy will come sprinkling her dust. Success is the result of putting in the time and hard work.

It’s funny how as photographers a lot of times we neglect to pay attention to our own advertising and branding. In the advertising world, we are constantly creating branding imagery for our clients, so why don’t we ever think to create branding imagery for our own photography business. After all, we are in the business of selling our specific vision and style to potential clients. I’ve always been an advocator of shooting your own work all the time for many reasons. (see ABS theory) The best reason is to create branding images that resonate with your personal photographic vision. Images that convey who you are, what you shoot, and how you shoot it that you can put out into the world to tell them how they should be seeing your brand. Branding is constantly conveying a message to the viewers on how you want them to see you. Perception is reality, so its our job to create and control that perception.

How much are you willing to invest? We invest in gear, graphic designers, promos etc. Investing into producing our own photographic vision is just as important. (Sometimes you can convince a client to fund your personal creations. We did that with our Santi project with Nike.) Or, sometimes you get a job that is exactly your creative vision, but usually you don’t get those unless your creative vision is strong, and that happens when you’re showing the work that you want to be shooting… And to do that, you have to be shooting it yourself.

It’s interesting the conversations that I get into revolving around photography. Something I’ve thought about lately that has been reoccurring is the idea of focusing, and I’m not talking about the camera’s focus. I’m talking about focusing on one business to become successful at that. Creating a successful business that one can live a sufficient lifestyle on takes a lot of time. In my post about the 10,000 rule, we talked about how it roughly takes 10,000 hours to start to hit your tipping point in what you are practicing. Now, getting more specific, of those 10,000, where are they being focused?

There are many different genres of photography such as commercial advertising, editorial, fashion, model testing, journalism, weddings/portraits, etc. If you want to have a successful business then you must focus on one of them. If we’re talking 10,000 hours to hit your tipping point, think about how long it will take you if you are splitting your time. Not only splitting your time between another job, a spouse, a family, etc. but splitting your concentration between different genres of photography. I talked about transitions, passions, and sacrifices in just getting into photography and this goes even deeper.

There are so many day to day business things to do that pertain to each business, from developing your work within that specific genre, to marketing, building a network, building your name, crafting a solid business structure, accounting, PR, etc. that one won’t have the time to run more than one business. Something is always going to be sacrificed. Developing a business to it’s full scale requires your full attention.

Lets take my story for example. My goal has always been to shoot lifestyle advertising work, and that goal developed after a year or so of shooting to figure out what I wanted to ultimately do. During my beginnings, I started shot a few weddings, a few model tests, and whatever I could to make money clicking a camera, while developing my lifestyle work. By focusing on advertising, I never had the time to put my full attention into any of the other genres and make them successful. I was just taking what came in the door, and eventually I had to leave them behind. Sometimes you have to juggle smaller things to pay the bills while you’re running for your vision.

My point: Focus your time(10,000 hours) specifically in developing your work and business for one genre to be more successful.

I'm starting to get asked this question all the time, so I figured I'd throw down a post about it. The first debate is Canon Vs. Nikon, and to tell you the truth at this point in the game it doesn't really matter. They're both great brands and cameras. Nikon has definitely been catching up to Canon and giving them a run for their money. I prefer Canon for a few reasons. The colors I get from the sensor, and the fact that I've been shooting Canon since I started. When I started a few years ago, Canon was the frontrunner in the digital world. They were the only brand that had a full frame sensor, not to mention the image quality was far superior and larger to Nikon, so I got invested. Once you start buying lenses for one brand, they are compatible and interchangeable with any camera within that brand. Recently the game has changed in quality, and Nikon has been releasing camera bodies that compete with Canon. I still prefer the color tones of the Canon DIGIC processors. The reality is that if you have either you are good to go. I don't really even consider any other brand a player in the market. Obviously since I know and shoot canon, thats what I'll be recommending.

Remember, lenses are as important or more important than the camera body. The quality of the image that is projected onto the camera's sensor is what your image will be so if you have great optics you will have great quality images. I love fixed lenses, but for people starting out I usually recommend a few zooms to cover a wide focal range.

That said, you need to ask yourself a couple questions. A:  How serious are you about taking photos? Do you want to just have fun, and take better memory photos, or do you want to eventually shoot on a pro level? B: How much money can you spend? 

Scenario 1:
If your answer to A is just wanting to have fun and taking better memory, then you won't need to spend as much to jump into an DSLR.

Here are my recos for this answer depending on your budget. The Canon Rebel is a great series for this scenario for someone who doesn't need or want to invest in a photography career.
A: $1000ish: Canon Rebel series(approx $750) + a 50mm f1.4(approx $350)
B: $1500ish: Canon Rebel series +
C: $2000ish: Canon Rebel series(approx $750) + 24-70mm f2.8L (approx $1300)

Scenario 2:
If your answer to A is wanting to try out photography with the potential of doing it as a career then you'll want to step it up a little. I would recommend saving up your money to invest more in the beginning then having to rebuy a prosumer body down the road.

The Canon 50D and 5D series cameras are great for this scenario. Purchasing the right one will depend on your budget. Obviously the 5DMKII(my review of the camera) will be the best choice, but is going to be more expensive. The 50D has a cropped sensor so your focal lengths will be multiplied by 1.6. That is the trade off for not spending as much on the body. The crop is something you just have to get used to and work with if you don't want to spend the money to jump to the 5D series.
A: $2000ish: Canon 50D(approx $1400) + 50mm f1.4 (approx $350)
B: $2700ish: Canon 50D(approx $1400) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300)
C: $4500ish: Canon 50D(approx $1400) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300) + 70-200mm F2.8L IS(approx $1700) these two lenses cover a great range.
C: $6000ish: Canon 50D(approx $1400) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300) + 70-200mm F2.8L IS + 16-35mm F2.8L(approx $1500) even fuller range.
D: $3500ish: Canon 5D (approx $2700) + 50mm f1.4(appxo $350)
E: $4000ish: Canon 5D (approx $2700) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300)
F: $6000ish: Canon 5D (approx $2700) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300) + 70-200mm F2.8L IS(approx $1700) these two lenses cover a great range.
G: $6500ish (my fave lenses): Canon 5D (approx $2700) + 20mm f2.8L(approx $450) + 35mm f1.4L(approx $1400) + 70-200mm f2.8L IS(approx $1700)
H: $7500ish: Canon 5D (approx $2700) + 24-70mm f2.8L (Approx $1300) + 70-200mm F2.8L IS(approx $1700) + 16-35mm F2.8L(approx $1500) even fuller range.

Please note that these are just guestimated figures. It will depend on where you buy your gear for more precise prices. I usually buy everything from BH Photo. I also shoot on the 1Ds MKIII series camera. There's plenty more money to be spent in areas other than just a camera an lenses, such as computers, compact flash cards, additional HD storage, etc. These lens configuration also pertain to the imagery that I like to shoot. There are many options depending on what you are wanting to shoot for yourself. The sensors in all the Canon cameras are pretty great and you won't go wrong with them.

If you're a semi-pro/pro (non photojournalist/sports photog) then the 5DMKII is a great camera if you don't have the funds for a 1Ds MKIII, however the 1DsMKIII takes the crop and is pretty awesome. The auto focus system is way better, along with the more rugged body.

The biggest thing to remember is that good equipment is just the entry to good photography. It's all about your eye and your vision. Just because you have a Mont Blanc $10,000 pen doesn't mean you're a writer. In the same respect, having good gear doesn't make you a photographer. It come down to final product that you are outputting.

I'm super excited to be featured on Commarts.com. Communication Arts is a prestigious industry magazine oriented towards Art Directors and graphic designers. Check it out!

http://www.commarts.com/
http://www.commarts.com/fresh/nick-onken.html