I’m pretty stoked about this Behind The Scenes video that my boy Ja Tecson cut for me. We did a three day shoot a couple months ago for the international division of Cosmopolitan Magazine, and it was a good time. We shot at a few various locations in NYC. Kristen, who makes her debut in the video as you can see is one of the most fun clients I’ve worked with.
Here’s a few images from the shoot:
The decision making muscle is one of the most important things in photography and the business of. Over the years, I’ve learned that making decisions faster in everything, especially business you can be more efficient and profitable, even if you make the wrong decision. Sometimes making the wrong decision and making a mistake, is better than not making a decision at all. At the very least you’ve learned something. Making decisions in business take you another step further from where you are.
More of what I wanted to parlay this into, is the decision making muscle of shooting. This really directly correlates with my ABS theory, in that you should always be shooting. The decision making muscle is the muscle that is exercised every time you push that button. This is the element of photography that assisting will never ever teach you because until you’re looking through that camera deciding wether the light is right, the composition is right, the model is in the right position, the wardrobe is spot on, the hair and make up are perfect, everything is lined up right, and everything else that you have to think about in creating a picture is to your liking, etc. You’ll never be actually logging those learned pieces of information into your brain. Making decisions of every element in your photograph is like exercising a muscle, and you learn more with every shot you take. That’s why it needs to be exercised, so that each time you shoot you are making better and better images.
Your vision is refined by the decisions you make. What ingredients to add to a photograph. Locations, clothes, models, hair and makeup, lighting, etc. These decisions all add up to create your vision which is portrayed through your portfolio. Learning to make better decisions makes your imagery better, and in the end that’s what sells you.
All these little decisions that you learn along the way get amplified when you’re running a bigger set. When you have a 15-20 person crew to steer. Learning how to direct more than just your subject, but your team. You are the leader, and that’s what leaders do.
Photo Plus Expo is coming, and I’ll be speaking on a couple of panels. They should be pretty good.
The first one:
Ask Anything
Thursday, October 28th, 2010 – 3:30 PM to 6PM at Javitts Center
You may have seen “Ask Anything” on aphotoeditor.com’s blog with Amanda Sosa Stone, and Suzanne Sease. They are hosting a panel with Kat Dalager, Art Producer for Teen Vogue, and Gregg Lhotsky from the photo agency Bernstein Andruilli. Some topics that will be covered: Money, Agents, Marketing, On Set, Creativity, and the Future.
The second one:
PDN’s 30: Strategies for the Young Working Photographer
Saturday, October 30th, 2010 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
This will be a Q&A session with a couple other fellow PDN 30 winners talking about how we got started, the most important lessons we’ve learned, the best business advice we’ve gained, how you approach clients and so on.
