Boozie McBoozerson......

I've never had a problem drinking. Alcohol and I have a long history. We always seemed to get along and we have had countless forgotten memories I'm sure. Constantly asking what the other did the night before. I rarely drink alone. I don't like being hungover. Drinking during the week has never been anything much more than a sorted fling from time to time. I can count on one hand the amount of instances I thought I truly needed to quit drinking. Sure there were always the countless regretful hungover pledges to cease from here to eternity all inebriant potions. But who really sticks to those promises anyway? 

No, this time was different. I think it was a feeling of loss of focus that I never felt before. A feeling of being off track. It all culminated one night with a feeling of completely being off my game I've never felt before. Where I had long gone past the top of the bell curve where amount of alcohol consumed is at the peak of having a kick ass time. I was on the other side, the down-slide, where the continued consumption leads to a deteriorating sense of being yourself and increasing feeling of just being an ass. So the next day I made a promise to myself to make a conscious effort at doing away with drinking for awhile. 

Now, 31 sober days later, I finally feel myself getting back to the determined purpose I lost sight of for a bit this past fall. A feeling at being entirely back in control. Perhaps this is just what was needed. A break, a vacation from that life. I will never correlate the fact that I've been doing very well with a lot of things in my life lately with the fact I have not been drinking. I don't believe lack of one day a week night out with drinks could really have that great of an impact. But I'm sure feeling great and things couldn't be much better personally and in my business.

Now I am not saying I will never have another drink again. I'm only human and I do like to have a good time with a cold beer. I'm not stupid and God willing I will have a long and plentiful life. But, for now, I am enjoying the brief, productive, and head clearing break from my old friend Boozie McBoozerson....


"I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there." ~Charles Bukowski

A Reminder....

At times I'm reminded that success isn't obtained by standing from afar, gazing at seemingly insurmountable challenges, but more so by taking them on and definitively kicking their ass........

Pushing Your Limits......

I'm a terrible blogger.... I'm the first to admit it.... I just get distracted easily..... Things come up.... a flood, locusts, Fender ate my blog, it wasn't my fault. However, during the time I don't get to this blog, every photographer in the internets world seems to find a way to tell me I need to be blogging more. Like, HOW do they know I'M NOT? So I guess I'm starting to catch up a bit.

Recently, I have found myself busier then ever. A situation arose that I thought I could share with you. It really isn't a surprise to most people that even when you are at your worst, you are capable of things you may have never thought you could do. You may only feel that way because you have never done them before or have other things going on which is life.

A new client came to me at the end of the summer with some work for their trade magazine. Great! That's something I have never done before. It would be a great experience and the compensation was very appealing. I knew it was going to be a lot of work but hey, that's what I'm in this for.

As the day approached for the first day of shooting I began to feel incredibly overwhelmed. I did do some preparation so I had a basic game plan but having never done anything like it before, I still had my apprehensions. I've studied my ass off with all the information on this type of shooting I could possibly find. But, I began to think, not how can I do this but will I do this well. What could possibly go wrong? Will I have to fight for each shot?

The morning came, myself and my assistant got to the location. Moved all the equipment in. Starting setting up and.... BAM first hurdle..... right out of the box. We didn't have model releases ready to go for every person that was going to be in the day long shoot. My fault. I did have model releases in the game plan but did not know who would be in the shots really and figured we would do that after the shots were taken. Thinking back, that was a stupid idea. So I quickly contacted my client and discussed what we needed in releases. We drew up a release right there and began to shoot. Lesson learned.

I honestly thought this day was going to be an uphill battle all the way. If there is one thing I've learned it's some people hate to have their photo taken. But as we started shooting I found that everyone was really cooperative and very patient. Maybe it was because they knew it was going to be in a magazine. But I think it's because I took the time to introduce myself and explain to them exactly what we were doing. Most people would of just jumped in front and shot away. I believe it's important to form some sort of understanding on a personal level with your subject. Make them feel at ease. That goes a long way towards getting the shots you really want.

This particular day was not all about smiles and nice portraits but standard stock type images. I definitely let my subjects know that and quite surprisingly they got it! Once I took the time to create a one on one connection with them we cruised through the whole day. It's important to develop a type of relationship with who you are shooting. Make sure they know that you are a real person and not just some robot snapping away. It is in some way a sort of seduction in an effort to gain their trust in you to create a nice image of them. Showing them you are human goes a long way.

The second day went ever better. I had put together a quick list that I was able to be more direct with and had each individual shot I needed that could be checked off as I went along. I learned a lot from this, my first major project for a publisher. Be prepared and don't let fear of the unknown prevent you from taking on new challenges in your photography. But more importantly, don't avoid challenging yourself in your personal life either. After all, both are truly who you are and you should fight at each obstacle to further instill your breath for life.

If I can pass on any advice from this opportunity it would be this. Those who fail to push themselves in to things they have never done, or fail to immerse themselves in learning everything they can in what they love to do, will be doomed to mediocrity and frustration. Take it from me, soak up all the knowledge you can from every possible avenue out there. Read, write..... and live your passion.

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." ~ Taylor Benson

Leaving Empty Space.....

Click For Larger View

I've always been a quiet fan of empty space in photographs. Where the "subject" is just in a small space of the overall image. I say "quiet" because it "goes against the norm" and most people may not like that type of image. But it can really be quite interesting. Jeremy Cowart is a master at these types of images and of course any other type of work he does. I had the opportunity recently to work for a client that wanted shots of their radio tower. I saw this as the opportunity to try out that empty space type shot.

I'm not sure why I never shared the photo. The first time I saw it, for a brief second,  I found myself getting those butterflies as if I was the one attached to the side of that tower. If only for a brief moment, I felt more a part of a photo than I have in a long time. It caught me by surprise. It's surely not award winning but a simple photograph and it just happened to catch my eye. Not everyone will like it this type of look. But I just found it pretty interesting.

Dick Diamond and The Dusters Part 2

Dick Diamond and The Dusters Part 1

The Shot I Missed.......

My friend Jim Karczewski asked me last night if I wanted to go with him to shoot a basketball game. I'm always interested in shooting different things so I jumped at the chance. What I didn't expect is to see such a HUGE crowd at my old high school. I certainly don't remember having seen so many people at a regular season basketball game when I went there. Plus the fact that we were a little late had us(mostly Jim) rushing around to get set up to shoot. I wasn't ready for all those people. But things quickly calmed down as the players took the court. There was quite the turnout at Munster High School from the visiting Valparaiso, Indiana Vikings.

Even if with them they brought the ugliest green tie and jacket I've ever seen.... which was worn, of course, by their coach Joe Otis. I get the school color thing coach, but your jacket seriously burnt my retinas.

As I walked to the far side of the court opposite where Jim was going to shoot I saw a bunch of kids running around behind the bleachers playing tag or something unorganized. Reminded me that some things never change. I ended up sitting in the bleachers at the end of the court. This was the first part of the set up to what would of been probably one of the most dramatic shots I "could" of ever taken.

It never fails, in all the excitement and pagentry I always screw up the first couple of shots. Maybe it's just me, but I always seem to forget something. I contribute that to being rushed. That's one of the reasons I don't like showing up late. However, after a few oopses.... I found my groove. I took enough in the bleachers after moving twice and decided to walk on down to floor level. Right behind the basket. Like a sniper I'd peek out from around the pole and get my shots and move on. I stayed at the basket for sometime. I was about to leave when it happened. Number 23 drove from my left towards the basket and... well, I couldn't see the basket but apparently missed and went crashing to the floor to my right. Play went on until there was finally a whistle. In an instant there began to be shouts to the referee forcibly letting him know that the player that went crashing to the floor was injured more extensively than you might expect.

As I walked closer to the floor I saw his legs and him rolling on the floor. I stepped even closer and began to see more of him. No sound of pain from the player at all, but moaning within the crowd perhaps. I finally moved forward a bit more to look around the end bleachers where he was laying in front of and then I saw what had the crowd moaning. Blood..... lots of it, gushing from his forehead. Pooling on the floor. He had apparently either got an elbow on the way down or just hit his head on the floor but whatever happened, he was cut. Like Rocky cut over the eye cut. Didn't seem to phase him as he was lying there but it certainly was a lot of blood. Pools of blood in different areas around him staining the floor. Reaching the back of his hair even. In that matter of 3 or 4 seconds it hit me.

Do I take that shot? I can still picture the shot frozen like a still photo in my mind. Very clearly. It would of been pretty intense. Like right place at the right time kinda intense. Fleeting moment intense. I knew the kid was going to be just fine, probably a few stitches but still. The amount of blood on the floor alone would of had any mother cringing. I contemplated three times to raise my camera. Even once leaning over in an attempt to "shoot from the hip" without raising the camera to my eye to still get it without anyone seeing me. I looked over at another photographer from a paper sitting right in the path of the player and they didn't shoot either. They were even closer! I lowered my camera and just ended my struggle with the idea whether or not to shoot.

In the end, after they soaked up all the blood and the player was on his feet I decided it was time. I got a shot of him being helped off by long time trainer John Doherty. Damn, can't believe he's still there along with Coach Marsh which I did get a chance to say hi to. Anyway, you're probably asking why I didn't take the shot.

If it had been at any other place, or a college or pro game I would of nailed it. But in that split second I realized, this was someones young son. Someone who was probably in the crowd that night. I was so close that there would be no way of me taking that shot without everyone in that field house seeing me do it. EVERYONE'S eyes were trained in my direction. I'm used to that and not afraid to do what I have to do to get the shots I want. But I'm way too nice and considerate sometimes. This was one of those times. I chose the high road. I tend to do that for most things in my life. My father has told me over and over again to always do the right thing in work and life. In this situation, I think I did. There will be, I'm sure, another "right place at the right time" moment for me. I'm quite sure, in the end, I'll get my shot......

You can see the rest of the shots from the game here: Valparaiso at Munster

Welcome back to ME!

In an effort to create a larger social footprint for my photography business, I've decided to reinstate my blog. This whole search engine optimization business is very time consuming and all the Smugmug forums mentioned blogging. I do hope to cover a lot of photography type stuff. As well as other things that happen along the way.

I've become a huge technology nut over the past year. I have completely fallen in to total Geekdom at this point. However I do really love it. I like hearing all the insider information on what's going on in the tech world. I must watch about 3 tech podcasts a day. Mostly through the TWIT (This week in Tech) http://twit.tv network.

I guess at this point I should mention that hell hath frozen over also. Recently, I finally broke down and bought.... yes, an iPhone 4. I say this because as some of you may know, I've been less than supportive of Apple products. However, it's almost like they've created their own monopoly because most businesses will create apps only for the iPhone. I'll get to the point, I love my iPhone. Camera is great. Bottom line, the iPhone is a perfect pocket pc. A phone? meh, it's ok.

But yes I love the phone. Like I said the camera is awesome. The apps make it fun and instant for sure. Easy to share too.

Alright, that's enough for now......