Thursday, February 27, 2014

Spring is around the corner

As spring approaches thoughts turn to getting outside to enjoy the nice weather. Unless you live in Hawaii. If not and you're planning to visit Hawaii why not have a family or couples portrait taken during your stay.

Refer to this blog entry and receive a nice discount upon booking your portrait session with me.

Enjoy!


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Sharing vs. Buying

Lately I've been struck by an interesting phenomenon that came to light when I uploaded a recent sunset photo. I got over 120 Likes and 13 shares for that same photo. I got lots of great comments about the photo but then here's where the fun started. A few people made comments about being glad that the photo had been shared and that they were going to make it their screen saver or cover photo. Normally I've been flattered when someone has shared one of my photos. Lots more people get to see my work but the troubling thing is that it's not bringing me any business. No one is buying my images. Facebook is a wonderful social media platform but it doesn't really foster ecommerce when people can simply share someone's photos and then steal them and use them however they want. I have also found that there's no way to stop people from sharing your photos unless you restrict who can see them but even then photos can be shared by people on the good list.

The one thing that I can do to ensure that my high quality work stays where I want it to be and that's to make sure that any image that I upload in only 72dpi at 720 px wide max. That way anyone who wants to steal it will only get a low quality version and not be able to use it as a screen saver or to expect to print it and hang it on their wall.

Sometimes I ask myself why am I posting photos on Facebook. Then I wonder about the other photographers that I know and I suspect that ego drives most of us along with the will to show our friends what we've been up to in the photo world. The downside to showing your work on social media is people are reluctant to buy anything when they can just open a photographers page and view or share their work onto their computer. If they want to view the image they just open a file on their computer and bam, instant gratification.

Tell me what you think. How can I increase my buying customers and decrease the stealing?

Here's the photo in question. 72dpi of course.


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Power Outage 2-18-2014

Tuesday February 18, 2014 Power was knocked out on my street for about 5 hours after gusty winds blew a huge branch off a tree that is right next to a pole that supports the transformer that delivers low-voltage to our neighborhood. Helco (Hawaii Electric Light Company) did a great job responding to my call. I called a bit after 3:15am and the rep indicated they'd received another call a few minutes earlier than mine. I heard the first truck on my street in about 15 minutes after my call. I assume that the first crew was there to assess the damage and to order replacement parts and equipment to render a fix. The second crew arrived about 40 minutes later this time with a truck with a cherry picker, a crane and a new transformer and spicing wires for both the high-voltage and the low-voltage wires that had been damaged when the limb fell on the lines.

After power was restored I got a call that I missed from the rep I spoke with earlier. She wanted to know if power had been restored. She said that if the power had not be restored to call them back. I was very happy with how quickly Helco responded and fixed the download lines and damaged transformer.

Of course I snapped a few photos to document the effort. I sent a few of them to KITV's news department to see if the on-air weather reporter would use them as part of either the 5 O'clock or the 6 O'clock weather report. Moanike'ala Nabarro the weather reporter use 3 of my photos on the 6 O'clock weather report.

Enjoy!




Monday, February 17, 2014

My new Portrait Book

I just got my new portrait book in the mail. I ordered a 11X8 Little Black Book (Lustre - E-Surface) (20 Pages) from ArtisanState (www.artisanstate.com). They have a great way of building you a book that lays flat. The pages can be full bleed to the edges and you can create double truck 2 page spreads where the photo will be seamless across the 2 pages. They have a great web-based interface that allows you to upload your images, organize them how you want and to select the style of cover and materials you want for your book.

This book will be used to present my work to future clients.

Enjoy!




Head Shots anyone?

Head shots are a valuable communications tool. They can be employed by artists, actors and actresses, professionals like Doctors and Lawyers, employees and last but not least by online daters. When the situation calls for being able to communicate your appearance a well photographed head shot can be just the thing you need to tell your story. Whether you're applying for a big part in a TV show or giving your fans a glimpse of you for your next book or introducing yourself to your future long term partner a well produced head shot can give you the winning edge.

If you need a new head shot or want to freshen up your look, feel free to drop me a line for rates and availability.







Sunday, February 16, 2014

Derby Down in Kona

A new season of flat track Roller Derby kicked off last night in Kailua Kona. The Echo City Knockouts and the Waimea Wranglers spun outside and around the outdoor hockey rink at Old Kona Airport Park. Another high scoring bout with the Wranglers pulling it out 161-104.

Here are a few hard hitting shots from last night's hip checking bout.

Enjoy!









Saturday, February 15, 2014

Where have my photos been seen

Over the last couple of years I've been lucky that my photos have been published in both the local paper and a few books and websites. Here's a small glimpse at where my photos have turned up.

Enjoy!


Doreen Virtue's Constant Craving


Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce - The Source



Free Surf Magazine - Danielle Zirkelbach-Fenwick


Rumley Art & Frame - My exhibition


West Hawaii News


West Hawaii News


West Hawaii News


Jim Leslie's Book - The Mal'lam Voyages

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Love it when a plan comes together...

Today was the culmination of intense planning and quick thinking. On Saturday February 1st during a conversation with a photographer from the Hilo side of Hawai"i Island we agreed to get together on the Kona side for a day of shooting.

Since I wasn't familiar with what types of photography my friend would want to shoot I asked her a question: Would you like to shoot Places and Spaces or People and Things. She offered both would make good subjects. I started thinking of ways to bring together elements that would make for an interesting day of shooting. I came up with an idea of bring together models for a shoot that would focus on People and Spaces. sort of a hybrid of the original question. Specifically I wanted to shoot tourists on the beach of one of Kona's best known tourist destinations.

The start time was 9am but by the time everyone collected on the beach of the King Kamehameha Hotel the sun was in full bloom creating the kind of light that most photographers run from. Bright clear sunlight. Of course it was way too bright to shoot without the normally bright studio lights that I decided not to bring today. So quick thinking prevailed. We moved over to the shaded grassy area on the Luau grounds where they had already started cooking the nights meal.

With 3 Photographers, 3 models, 1 assistant and one young model to be we started capturing the following images before the real tourists out numbered our intrepid group.

Enjoy!!