Potential customers and respect.

Respect is important no matter where you are. The professional photographic community is
a small world when it comes to reputations. In most cases, attitudes cost jobs and money.
A client is a customer and by that very aspect they get treated like they have a million dollar
job and they want you to shoot it for them. Its the same going down the ladder. An assistant
builds their reputation by serving the photographer. An experienced assistant can just about
anticipate the photographer's needs, if not at the very least listens and gets the job done. An
experienced assistant never forgets who their client is.

I'll tell you about three assistants I've had some kind of experience with over the years. I wont be mentioning names or gender because I'm not out there to hurt anybody. One of them I have
no idea as to their status nor do I care (As you'll understand why in the next paragraph), one is actively involved in the local industry, quite good at their job but dismissive of those whom are not well established in their eyes., and one who has gone on to be a highly competent
professional shooter who has built a great reputation and portfolio.

The first one was an angry know-it-all. I was at a social gathering for photographers and assistants a few years ago and was sitting at a table involved in a conversation with a few of each. One of the assistants was talking about how their studio strobe equipment was just sitting in a closet gathering dust from not being used. This assistant also was talking rather poorly of the market, the people in it in general. Some of us were talking about our favorite lighting equipment and I mentioned one particular piece I had and how happy I was with it. The bitter one commented to me "Well, that look is overrated." in an extremely condescending and arrogant tone to which I inquired how they knew exactly what I was shooting with it and the conclusion they had drawn. Instead of realizing their mistake they continued to speak like they had far greater experience than they actually had. This was when I noticed quite a few eyes at the table starting roll up. I then chose to tell this person that maybe there was another reason as to why that fancy strobe equipment of theirs was never getting used. This didn't stop them one bit- They were on a roll. I then asked for a business card and as it was handed me I was asked if I wanted to know their rates. I told this person that I wasn't interested in the rate. I just wanted to have their card so I'd remember who NOT to hire.

The second one is the perfect example of how to not treat a potential client. To an assistant, the photographer is the client. I got the impression from this assistant that I was not well established enough to want to work for and having my name on their resume would mean nothing. Almost every time I encountered this one I would eventually be treated to a dismissive attitude. If I was talking to other people and this assistant was present I would sooner or later see an eye roll. I had invited this assistant to come check out my studio (An invitation I extend to almost all I meet) and was usually treated to a negative response regarding how far away my studio was. At a recent gathering I bought this assistant a drink and they couldn't be troubled to even say thank you, along with appearing to forget that I had a studio in the first place. The final straw for me was a recent online conversation where I was treated to a rather arrogant explanation of something they did and that was enough for me. One more I will never hire.

The last one? I met him while working as an assistant for another photographer about 6 years ago. This one was diligent, attentive, never contradicted or argued and had a great attitude. Three years later when I had a shoot where I needed an assistant this one was the first to come to mind. The shoot went very well because of how my needs were anticipated and met at every turn. This particular assistant has since gone on to be a highly accomplished photographer and each year their client list and professional portfolio grows. I'm always happy to run into this particular shooter and hear that they are doing well.

Going up that ladder, those above you are potential clients. Be it an assistant working for a photographer or a photographer shooting for a client. Customer service and respect never changes.

Had a fun day today!

I packed up my gear with every intention of heading to the studio today then I saw the sun lighting up the ice that had collected on the trees and bushes around the neighborhood so I detoured across the street to the forest preserve. Walked around and took a few shots, then I decided to head North out to the 'burbs and my old stomping grounds- The Skokie Lagoons and I found even more cool stuff to shoot, at least to me.

Here you go:

Nikon once again proves that high-end compact/point and shoot cameras are best left to others.

There is a category of small, compact cameras sometimes known as "Point and Shoot" but appeal more to the enthusiast, giving features formerly limited to SLRs' like full manual controls and the ability to provide what is called a RAW file, which is a completely unprocessed file allowing for a huge range of adjustment and manipulation. As it was once said to me by a great photographer: "The difference between a Jpeg and a RAW file is the difference between a nice snapshot and a pay day."

Some of the cameras fitting the category I've mentioned are: The Panasonic Lumix LX5, Canon Powershot G12 and S95, Olympus XZ-1 and at the high end- The Leica D-Lux 5. All these cameras are at the top of their category where they not only can be used as your basic point and shoots', but also give a full range of manual controls as well as the option of a RAW file output. The G12, LX5, XZ-1 and D-Lux 5 also give the nice feature of an optional external flash, and the G12 also offers a cool options of a twist/swing out LCD display AND an optical viewfinder. The LX5 and D-Lux 5 Offer an option electronic viewfinder as well.

Now along comes the Nikon Coolpix P300. Supposedly positioned to go up against Canon's S95 and Olympus XZ-1. Excerpted from Nikon's press release: "Created for the photo enthusiast who seeks creative control but will not compromise image quality for portability, the versatile P300 features manual controls, Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) technology, and ISO sensitivity up to 3200. These features help create low noise images and faster shutter speeds, which minimize motion blur in low-light conditions like night portraits, even when handheld."

Guess what? No RAW file. For me, and anybody else interested in a camera like this- Its useless.

Nice going Nikon. Who would have thought that the manufacturer of some of the finest Digital SLRs' and optics on the market could continually screw up something your competitors have been getting right for years.

Monday's light dusting of snow.

As some of you will know, we got a light dusting of snow yesterday afternoon. I was driving in it and in my newly found decaffeinated existence found more of a sense of wonder than anger bordering on road rage. I had my Leica D-Lux4 with me (It almost always is) which had proven itself more than up to the task on numerous occasions when I wanted to take a quick shot without the burden of my full size gear.

So, driving westbound on Petersen Ave, I saw something and took the shot:

There ya go.

Chicago Blizzard 2011

Photographically speaking, I found the blizzard to be singularly uninspiring. I couldn't begin to tell you why but I saw nothing that made me want to pick up my camera and go shoot. Maybe its the fact that I'm old enough to have been though (now) 4 blizzards here. I actually found it kind of relaxing just to sit on the couch in my living room and watch it all blow by, except for the parts that stuck to the outer pane of my huge living room window.

The next day was a different story. After clearing some snow around the building and going up and down the sidewalk (One of my neighbors did it the night before, so I wanted to reciprocate) I was back on the couch, enjoying the sun when it broke though the clouds and I noticed the ice on the window was melting and slowly sliding down. I grabbed my camera, fitted it up with a macro lens and "went to town", finding all kinds of cool (Maybe just to me) shapes in the diminishing forms.

The objects of my fascination:

First post.

So where to start? This is my new 'blog. You either saw the link on my new homepage or I told you about it on Face Book. I'm slowly updating my website, just a little bit at a time because really- Thats all I have the patience for. A page or two here or there, upload some new images or remove some.

If you've seen the main page of my site before, you may notice that the image has changed. It was taken in Chicago's Millennium Park back in 2005. It was during the time that the rent-a-cops being used at the park were instructed by the city to harass anyone looking like a "professional" photographer for a city issued permit. To these people, a "professional" was looked upon as anybody with a tripod and/or a big (Larger than a point and shoot) camera. The permit that they were told to look for could be obtained from the city for somewhere between two and three hundred dollars. When I was shooting that first image, a young rent-a-cop literally rolled up to me (On a Segway) and belligerently asked if I had a permit. In the ensuing debate I was able to convince him that he had better things to do  than harass me for a permit I had no intention of paying for and I got my shot.

Not long after that, various news outlets carried the story of how that was happening to all kinds of people and the city relented, loudly deciding that only commercial photo shoots and film/video productions required a permit. Nice of them to make that decision for shooting in a public park, don't you think?

Subsequent trips to the part in order to shoot more usually resulted in one of the rent-a-cops pacing slowly back and forth in front of the "Bean" when they saw me trying to shoot (I'm sure they played this game with other photographers as well). Since I was usually shooting time exposures, they never actually showed up in the image.

So back to the main reason for this- First off, my site is going through a redesign. The format will be similar but I'm changing things up. Removing some old images and adding new ones. I figure this is a great way to do incremental updates. Also, maybe I can offer up some helpful information about my photographic experiences. That and the occasional opinion.