Well, I didn’t make it to the finals of the RedBull Illume Photo Contest but am proud to say that I was a semi-finalist.  My photo was among the 250 chosen out of 22,764 photos submitted!  Hmmm, there may be something to this photography thing after all.

This, I’d have to say, was very exciting even though I didn’t make it to the finals.  I looked at the finalists’ and winner’s photos and they all deserve to be there…fantastic photos!  Congrats to them!

I gotta say that I am now more determined, not only to win a contest, but to shoot at a higher creative standard.  These finalists’ and winner’s photos have all inspired and motivated me.  Time to get crackin’!

Here was my entry that got me into the semi-finals:

If you’re here to find out how to make money with your photography, then I’m here to tell you that photography is not for you and you are doing it all for the wrong reasons.  I’ve been getting pretty annoyed lately with all these blog posts about how to make money doing this and doing that.  With the advent of cheaper dSLR’s, people are now thinking that they can make quick money by becoming a photographer…how hard can it be right?  Aim, focus, push the button.  Bring it into photoshop, touch up here and there, and presto…money in the bank.

Photography is NOT about money.  Photography is NOT about prosperity.  Photography is NOT about wealth.  Photography is NOT about being that famous photographer.

I’ll tell you what photography is…it’s about the passion in capturing life in that fraction of a second on film (Yes, I said film…I’ll get to that in a bit).  Life is constantly moving and changing around us and photography captures the art of and within it.  It is a medium that expresses joy, pain, excitement, fear, disappointment, love, gratitude, disgust, beauty, flaws, imperfections.  It can tell us a story or make a quick statement.  It can ask a question.  It can answer a question.

If you take a look back at the photographs of the great masters, you’ll see how through their pictures how they were all in love with life.  From Henri Cartier Bresson to Ansel Adams to Alfred Stieglitz to Richard Avedon.  Look at those pictures…but don’t just look, see.  And don’t just see, feel.

Now, I mentioned film because if it wasn’t for film, I don’t think I would have appreciated photography for what it actually is.  Taking pictures on film, developing the negative, developing the actual print…the motions you go through to get that one shot turns photography into an artform.  This artform is being lost with the advent of inexpensive dSLR’s and software programs like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture.  Sure, you can argue that this is not being lost, but more like it’s evolving.  And I agree, but you can’t have it evolving if you don’t have the foundation and/or understanding of what photography actually is.  At the very core, it is simple.  Photography is light…how we see light and how we record light on film or digitally.  Philosophically, photography is life…why we are taking photos and of what.  This is what I believe.

Stop looking for the money in photography, and start enjoying photography for what it is and for what it teaches you about life.

I just found out that my photos were featured in this month’s Smart Business Magazine.  I got the cover as well as a double page spread and a quarter spread.

I’ve been doing a lot of photography for Oversee.net, one of which were corporate headshots of the CEO, Jeff Kupietzky.  To my surprise, I just found out that those photos were featured in this month’s Smart Business Magazine.  I got the cover as well as a double page spread and a 1/3 spread.  Very exciting stuff!

If you would like to read the article, it is available online at Smart Business’ website.

I shot an event this pass Friday for WriteGirl.org.  What is WriteGirl?…well, pulling from their website:

“WriteGirl is a nonprofit organization for high school girls centered on the craft of creative writing and empowerment through self-expression.”

I think Keren Taylor, Executive Director and Founder of WriteGirl, and everyone that helps out in this organization does a phenomenal job and deserves to be recognized for the amount of dedication and work they do.  The event held was a year-end celebration with all the girls that took part in this 22-week program each taking turns reading their writings.  Congratulations to all the girls!

One of my photos was published in the Pasadena Star News today accompanying an article:

The entire article can be found here on Pasadena Star News website.

Katie has an amazing voice and recently decided to put it to good use.  She’s been going out to auditions and landed a part this past week!  Congratulations Katie!  However, she can’t go out to these auditions without a good headshot…that’s where I come in.

I picked her up in the late afternoon and headed out to the park.  It was an extremely nice day and everyone was picnics and barbecues making it a bit challenging for me to get a good backdrop.  Although headshots most often than not have a blurred out background and cropped in tight around the face, it’s still a good idea to get a pretty uniform backdrop, nothing in it that’ll distract from the face.

I was lucky to have Katie’s roommate come along and offer to hold up my light stand as the wind was having it’s way with it, knocking it to the ground.  Thanks Bree!