Asian Restaurant News

I just got a gig shooting "Helen's Gourmet Chinese Food" for national publication titled, "Asian Restaurant News". Thank you Craigslist. You rock.

In the next few days, I'll go shoot the Interior, Exterior, the Owner(s), and some signature dishes. This should be fun, partly because I've never done a shoot quite like this before. I will get paid, and I will add a national publication to my portfolio.

I'll be sure to post some of the photos.

Putting Myself Out There

Yesterday I hung that final two (out of 6) framed art on the walls of local Florist.

Taking my work to the public is a brand new thing for me, so I'm a bit nervous, I'm excited and I'm cautious. I'm nervous to have other people seeing some of my work and talking about it while I'm not around. I'm excited to have other people seeing some of my work and talking about it while I'm not around and I'm cautious - trying to not to get my hopes up too high.

What AM I hoping for? I'm hoping for sales! I'm hoping for a few phone calls for some custom work!

If you are local, I want to invite you to come down to PETAL. Dana (the owner) is really nice. The flowers are high quality. The store is really simple, quaint and has great art on the walls. You will find a map and an address below.

Here are the 6 pieces that I hung.



PETAL (Corner of Willow and Nees) - Click HERE for a map.
1215 N. Willow Ave #140
Clovis, Ca

Now I'm working on hanging some art on the walls of Cinnamonster!

Maternity

I thought I'd experiment with some Maternity photos. So, I grabbed my sister in-law and my brother and snapped a few shots.

I actually learned quite a few things while experimenting with this niche of photography. For example wait until the woman is REALLY pregnant... don't shoot too early. Her belly wasn't nearly big enough.

I'm also learning about making the client feel very comfortable so that they are relaxed. Jokes and patience are mandatory, I think.

Here's a few shots from my experiment.





[Caption]


[Caption]

Crafts Man

Coffee Tastes Better Outside:
I'm determined to eat my breakfast and drink coffee outside in my backyard before it gets to be 1,000 degrees outside. So, today I built a picnic bench for my backyard.

Digital Photography School
I've used Digital Photography School (DPS) as a resource for help and interesting articles for a long time. Today I participated in my first "Weekly Assignment".

Picnic Table + DPS = The photo you see above.
The weekly assignment for DPS was "Construction". So, I had a great photo opportunity in my own back yard.

My Process:
Are you ready for me to reveal my secrets? I had NO IDEA of what I wanted; no clue of what would make a good 'construction' photo. So, I just started taking pictures. I took approximately 50 shots. I was looking for some spark, some inspiration... it wasn't coming to me.

I walked all around my work bench and took photos from above, from below, I whipped out the wide-angle and nothing looked promising until I got the bright Idea to pull out the macro lens. Ah ha! The Macro provided that "something" that I was looking for.

The only thing that I did to this photo in photoshop was to use "auto adjust" on the levels and I cropped it at 5x7 inches.

I liked the colors right out of the camera.

I don't think this is particularly an outstanding photo. It looks like it should be in a Craftsman Catalog or something (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). One thing I don't like about it is all the space in the upper right side of the image.

Anyway, it turned out much better than my "Class with Dave and Dave" assignment that was due today.

Check it out here.