Blog

Vanelli wrote a great article about asking for a mentor, having a mentor and finding a mentor. It made me think about the other side of that. What about BEING a mentor?

Why be a mentor?

In teaching, we learn. It’s something a photography mentor of mine said quite a few years ago and it’s stuck with me.

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If you're interested in learning more about the mentorships I offer: https://www.laurinovak.com/see/

I don’t know about you, but fall is one of my favorite seasons. Why? It’s finally cooling off, there are more colors in the world and the air becomes more crisp and fresh.

What does this mean as a photographer?


Read more: https://photofocus.com/photography/embracing-the-fall-season-through-photography/

Stop! Don’t press that garbage can icon!

I’ve witnessed this many times while out taking photographs with people. They quickly click through images using the screen on their camera and start deleting away. It makes me cringe and I almost always give them a little bit of advice — you might want to wait to look at those on your larger screen.

Read more: https://photofocus.com/photography/why-deleting-images-in-camera-is-a-bad-idea/

We probably all do it at some point — we become lazy, we’re shooting something we don’t really care about, we’re just creating snapshots or for whatever reason, we turn the dial to Auto.

It has its place

Read more: https://photofocus.com/photography/photographing-on-auto-the-good-and-the-bad/

I recently went to a fan event at Guaranteed Rate Field (still Comiskey Park to me), home of the Chicago White Sox. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some fun photos of the park without all people.

The big picture
Our first tendencies when we walk into a scene are to see the whole thing, the big picture.

Click the link to read more.

About a year ago I started writing almost every morning and it’s helped my photography and my business. Below I explain how.

“The Artist Way”
“The Artist Way” is a book/workbook by Julia Cameron. It had been recommended to me by a fellow artist (or two). When I first got it I read through it just to get an idea of what it was about, what it could help me with and if it were something I would really invest any time into beyond just reading it. I will still go back and ‘do’ the exercises at some point but one of the first things she asks you to do is write what she calls Morning Pages.

Read more by clicking the link.

Feeling creatively stuck? Here’s one way you can get the creative juices flowing again.

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As a follow up to my last article on selling your work online, I wanted to share some ideas and ways to market your work once you have it online for sale. You’ve uploaded images for sale on a site or several sites that you decided worked for you. Now what? Well, this is not the "Field of Dreams."

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Are you considering selling your photos online?

At some point, we likely all consider ways to create income from this photography obsession of ours. I mean, why not right? We have the images, there are plenty of options and opportunities out there to sell our work but finding the right avenue to do this can be time-consuming, confusing and overwhelming.

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The subject of why we take photos comes up every so often and I’d like to share parts of a conversation I had with a fellow photographer the other day. The conversation got me thinking about the why of our photography. We all have a different why, but many of us have a difficult time describing that why. How would you describe your why?

There are millions of images out in the world. From the beautiful, technically perfect, amazing location and gorgeous model shots to the family snapshots and oh look, here’s what I had for lunch shots.

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We get caught up in the big picture, the gear, the “rules,” the latest and greatest apps, plug-ins and software and it can all be quite overwhelming. How do you possibly learn all this stuff? How does this particular thing help me be a better photographer?

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Since I recently wrote about capturing the details of the holidays with macro images, I thought I’d expand on the topic a bit more.

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There are hundreds, probably thousands of images taken during the holidays. Family, friends, gift unwrapping, food, parties and so much more. Most of those images are wide shots, full scenes of the activities and decorations. Have you ever thought to step a little closer? Let’s look at some ways you can get the details of your holidays as well to complete the story of your festivities.

You really dislike having your photo taken, don’t you? Most of us prefer to be on the other side of the camera taking the images. There is something to be said though for using ourselves as models and test subjects in learning how to shoot portraits and also learning general photography.

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Let’s face it — some days we don’t really feel like going out to take photos. Weather, kids, work, chores, projects…the list goes on. The list of excuses, because really that’s what they are. All of these things take us away from our passion, our hobby and even our photography work if it’s a job for us.

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Whether you’re a serious hobbyist, semi-pro or pro, traveling and going on outings is part of our lives with our friends and loved ones. As a photographer, this can sometimes hinder our efforts to getting the shots we want while we are out but it doesn’t have to.

Here are some things you can do to ensure you all have a successful trip.

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Airport opportunities
A year or so ago I went on a trip to spend several days with my mom. I’ve learned over the years that it’s OK to leave my camera at home for these trips because we don’t really go out much. I’ll be the first one to tell you that there are ALWAYS, ALWAYS photo opportunities, no matter where you are. There are. I generally live by that statement. These trips are no different.

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As photographers, we’re hard on ourselves when we feel like we’re not creating the shots we want or when we are feeling like not even picking up our cameras. The reality is it happens to all of us.

Here are some things you can do to work through this downtime.

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In the wake of the Google+ ‘sunsetting’ announcement, it has me thinking of social media in general as I’m sure many of you are.

If you haven’t heard about this, here is a link to the post on Google’s Keyword Blog. Basically, they are shutting down the consumer side of Google+ and will only be offering the G-Suite version for internal business use. G+ users will have 10 months to figure out where else to go.

I think it’s time to reevaluate our use of social media as photographers (and in general). Is it merely social? Do you use it to promote and market your business? How much time do you REALLY spend on social media? What does it actually do for you?

Let’s look at some of this a little more in depth.

Read more at link.