Have I mentioned that it's all about light?

I've said it before and I really believe it. Commercial Photography is always about light. If you can master the control of light you can shoot anything. My other blog is primarily food because I am known as a food photographer but you can't make a living in this economy shooting just one thing. That is why I say it's all about the light and if you can light, you can shoot anything. It just adds to the fun. These images of jewelry were part of a 3 day booking. I shot with two other photographers and just had FUN! What could be better than that?

Annual Reports

It's not always what you know.

It's not always who you know.

It is always who knows you!

That's a good thing to remember and helps to explain how I got a full day's job shooting for this annual report for the Endo Pharmaceutical company. My friend is Clint Morgan of Morgan Designs. Because he knows me he called me and offered me this job. While it has nothing to do with the food I normally shoot (see my food photo blog), because Clint knows me and some of my work he knew I could do this job well and offered it to me. My client is happy, his client is happy and I am happy too! Isn't that a great way to do business? So remember, be a friend to your clients, let them see what you can do and take good care of them always. That way, since they know you, they will give you fun work so you can make money. It's a wonderful way to live your life.

Product shots keep you busy.

Let's see... feed the family, pay suppliers, have some fun... this is why we trade checks for images that fulfill our client's layouts. This job was for Andy at Gerber. It was a rush job. I had two days to shoot and strip 55 Gerber products and then overnight a Fed Ex envelope so Andy would have the disk in his hands the morning of the third day. Andy did a great job of providing me with an Excel spreadsheet that laid out each shot needed and I kept throwing jpgs at him so he could see if what I was shooting matched what he was thinking. I only had to reshoot two shots and Andy got his disk on time. We call product shots like these our "bread and butter" shots. They can be done well and quickly and can be shot in the dungeon so the expenses are close to zero and everything is profit. We depend upon these kind of jobs to keep all of the bills paid. They are an important part of keeping a commercial photo studio profitable over the long haul. Hey - it's making money with a camera. What could be better than that?

The Ebay wait...

I'm sitting near my computer.
We are drawing near to the end of a bid on a 1996 Taurus Wagon.
Why you wonder? Well, I see automobiles as 2 things:
1.) A way for me to earn money photographing them and
2.) An instantly/continually depreciating means for me to move my studio from place to place (read this article to see why).

The Taurus wagon is the only car made that can fit my studio gurney. That gurney is part of what makes my studio so successful. I can shoot anywhere I can drive and can have all of my special comfy personal equipment with me. It cuts down on surprises considerably.

I had a great green Taurus wagon until last August. That day at 7:02 PM, I was sitting at a red light and driven through at 40 mph by an overly large pick-up with a big wooden bumper.

The good news is that I am totally fine. The wagon soaked up all of the impact and I am healthy as a horse (what ever that means). The bad news is that my beloved Taurus wagon (which got 24 mpg), is toast.

It is the perfect car for my business, but now it's gone.

And that is why I am sitting by my computer, seeing if my bid holds on a replacement 1996 Taurus wagon.