There's Always a Picture

When I was a young writer coming up in the world, I did a lot of reading. I read books about writing, books by other writers, books for writers, books about writers, books filled with quotes by other writers -- you name it, I read it. There was a lot of good advice that I adopted and followed and use to this day, though most of it has sunk into my subconscious, has become a part of the background noise of what I know about writing.

One piece of advice that I remember, verbatim, though I can't remember who wrote it is: "There's always a story." That used to pop up in my head a lot when I was at the newspaper, and had just been assigned a story on what I thought was absolutely nothing of interest.

That quote would pop into my head as I sat in my cubicle, balancing a pencil on my curled-up upper lip, tapping my foot, running my fingers through my hair, reading some three-sentence-long press release about some such. "How am I going to write a story on this?" I'd think to myself. 

And then, after much hemming and hawing, a phone call or two, something about the topic would get its claws in me and I'd start to write. Whether the story turned out to be good or bad isn't important, what is important is that quote always rang true.

That quote, along with a lot of other writing elements, can be tweaked to fit the world of photography: "There's always a picture." It may not be a good one, but if you shoot enough, look at your finished work long enough, do a bit of cropping and a few minor tonal or other adjustments it, too, rings true.

So, take a second look at those snapshots you took for the 4th of July holiday. Maybe you were too drunk or sunburnt to shoot straight, but I'll be there's one picture in there that you like. And don't fret that upcoming photo shoot, newbie. If you shoot long enough and look closely enough, there's always a picture.

***

This is Blue, my new assistant, co-pilot, and personal white tornado, snoozing on the 4th of July. The lack of opposable thumbs makes it a bit hard for her to hold the reflector for me, but she makes one helluva model.

Oof

Another week gone by. Can't believe it. 

Sorry for the delay, it's nothing but sheer momentum keeping me from writing these days. 

Ever since I announced the opening of Thom Nezbeda Photography, things have been slowly, but steadily, building. I've had the one paying job, with a few more people enquiring about my rates and availability. I've got darn near every piece of gear I might need to shoot right now (just acquired a brand new Gitzo tripod w/a Manfrotto-Bogen pistol grip head last week, and walked home from the Post Office an hour ago with a brand new gold/silver reflector), so the big push is in the marketing department.

The business cards have helped immensely. If you're starting your own business, make sure that's one of the first things you do. I paid a bit more for mine than a non-photography business might -- semi-glossy cards with a picture on one side, my contact information on the other -- but it's been worth it. Do it right and you won't regret it.

The website is the next thing on the list. My online portfolios at Model Mayhem and Flickr have given people an idea of what I've done, to date, but they're not quite professional enough. I need to consolidate everything -- all my pictures, all my contact information, rates, etc., in one website so I don't lose people on that tenuous bread crumb of a trail leading from the blog to outside links. It's the cost of doing business in the 21st century.

Another recent marketing opportunity popped up unexpectedly. My friend, Kate, owns a coffee shop called the MT Cup here in town, and she offered to hang some of my work. It's not a gallery, no big show with the accompanying fanfare, wine, art snobs, etc. But it's a start. Kate is the first person I met when I moved to town almost a year ago, and she's one of my favorite people in the world. So the chance to hang some of my work on her walls is an honor and a privilege. 

I think most artists have their work for sale when they hang it, and I suppose if someone wants to be some of it, I'll jump on the chance. I'm just stoked to be able to hang my stuff in a place that other people will see it. 

I don't have as much hangable work as I'd like at the moment, and wanted to put some of my older stuff (from the first two or three months of the L2C project) along with some of my newer stuff, but the few images I have that survived the laptop crash are too small to print and hang. I've got a few images that'll work for me that are being printed and mounted as I type this. My friends at Crazy Mountain Digital Photography have come to the rescue. They do great work, and I'll be able to hang my stuff early tomorrow morning before the town is flooded with people for the Fourth of July holiday.

In other interesting L2C news, I'll be working with photographer Paolo Marchesi next week. He's one of the professionals I've been trying to recruit for the project. We've met and worked together briefly, and he's invited me to observe/shoot while he shoots for a project he's got going on. More on that later, as well as an old school L2C chapter/post. 

Paolo's a great guy and shoots for some big-name clients. I love his work, and it's always cool hanging out with him. Again, more on that later.

Oh yeah, almost forgot: I also have a new model to work with. She's a friend of a friend; great girl; I'm looking forward to working with her. More on that, too.

Okay, have to go. Have to do some sort of explanation or artist's statement, or something like that for the pictures I'm hanging in the MT Cup. Updates to follow.

Back to Basics

So I just got off the phone after an hours'-long conversation with one of my oldest, dearest peeps. It was a rambler, we covered all sorts of ground after not having spoken with each other for a while. But that's not important. What is important is something she said just before we hung up. 

She told me how lucky I was to be doing what it is I'm doing. How I have this great opportunity (starting my life over after Iraq, doing exactly what it is I want to do) and how I should take full advantage of it, run with it to the end. 

I tell myself, almost daily, what she told me tonight; but hearing it come from her made it hit home. I have to admit, I've been squandering this for a short while. The computer glitch set me back a bit, got me out of some good habits and patterns I was following. I sort of lost the trail along the way; or, at least, it faded a bit.

I started getting warmed up again after getting the new iMac, getting settled in my new digs. I've got some new Photoshop books I'm working with, and have been doing some research on a real, bona fide website. I've even had a few impromptu shoots to kind of bust the rust off of things and try to get the gears grinding again. 

The first shoot took place while I was helping a buddy plant a farm in the area. I took the shots while driving the tractor (yeah, you can drive a tractor and take photographs at the same time, believe it or not). The picture above is from that shoot (processed to look circa 60's-70's). The second shoot was during a friend's birthday party. Bad light, heart not really in it, just shooting for fun. 

But despite all the shooting, the preparations, the gear buying (a lot of that going on), etc., I still feel as if I haven't totally been focused on the project or actually learning to see. Sure, I haven't had a vacation in...six years, I've got a lot going on with a new house, new assistant, blahblahblah. Most people would probably understand all that and tell me to go easy on myself, that it's all good, no worries, it's understandable. And I'd agree.

To a certain extent.

But I made myself a promise in Baghdad. I promised myself that if I got out of there alive, I'd spend this year learning to be a photographer, start my life over right, forge something new for myself. I got off to a great start, and I've come a helluva lot farther than I ever imagined I'd be in five months, but I've been slacking these past couple of weeks. No mas.

BAB (my friend) gave me the gentle kick-in-the-pants I needed. It was more a reminder than an admonishment, but it worked. So, in honor of really getting the ball rolling again, here are a few Back to Basics lessons learned over the past month or so...

1. Trim the fat from your life (we've heard a lot about that). Seriously, take a look at your life over the course of a week. Take notes (if you have to) to see how you're spending your time. Are you burning valuable hours watching too much t.v.? Are you taking on too many responsibilities at your "other" job? Are you spending time with people you don't really care about or who draw you away from your passion? 

You know when you're off track; there's no doubt about it as your mind and your gut try to process that slightly uneasy/guilty feeling running through your body. And you know what needs to be done to get on track. Do you really need that beer after work when you could go home and get crackin' on whatever your passion is? Really? 

2. Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS). A stand-by in the military, almost everyone has heard of The KISS Principle. A close cousin to No. 1 above, this lesson is invaluable. Keep everything streamlined; work smarter, not harder. Granted, today's photographer needs a lot of technological support to do the job. (That's why I couldn't shoot while I was shopping around for a new computer.) But the computer, the lights, the business cards, the new printer, the tripod, etc. (you get the picture) are not, themselves, photography. They help the photography, they help make the process work, but it's the camera, that one simple element that is photography.  

Don't get caught up in too many ancillary issues. Photographer + camera = photography. Plain and simple.

3. Do what you do. If you're a photographer, put lens on subject and shoot. Shoot. Shoot. If you're a writer, put pen to paper. Mechanic? Wrench to engine. 

4. Take some time for you. If you're not adhering to Lesson No. 1 you don't have time to stop and breathe. You're too busy juggling too many balls to make things look smooth. Drop a few balls, find some quiet time and do something different for a bit. I'm doing some work on my farmette (okay, so it's a vegetable garden) every morning. It's completely different from photography, gives me a chance to put the camera/computer/etc. down and just turn off my brain. Distract yourself enough and you'll be surprised at how much it helps when you return to your passion.

5. Be flexible. Let's face it, the last two months have not gone according to plan. They've been an interesting twist, but I never thought a chapter on not having a computer would be a good idea for my book. Things are going to come at you that you didn't expect, no matter how much you plan, prepare, or research. 

My original intent for this blog/book was to recruit a bunch of different photographers to work with over the course of the year and, while I've had some great responses and support, some of the photographers haven't gotten back to me or have been unable to mesh their schedules with mine. It's a bit frustrating as there are only a limited number of photographers I'd like to work with. But I've been flexible, and have recently had a few near-future photo opportunities present themselves. 

No, they weren't part of the plan but I can learn something from the opportunities that have jumped in my path. You can too if you decide to flex. 

Okay, that's enough time in the pulpit. Hope my issues (and their resolutions) prevent some headaches on your end. 

SOLD!!

Okay, so I thought getting my business cards in the mail was a cool thing. (It was.) But even cooler than that is actually getting paid for your work. Yeah, that's right, I'm a professional as of today. Got paid a few hours ago for a photo shoot I did of a friend, her daughter and mother a couple weeks back. 

Righteous.

While there's no way to complain about that, it does sort of throw the whole learning to see thing on its ear. The original goal was to have just one paying shoot prior to January. I figured it would take a helluva lot longer than the five months it's actually taken (like in the 11th hour, just before the end of the year). I'm still carrying on with the original plan, but have to figure out how to tweak this blog/book to fit this most fortunate turn of events. 

Stay tuned. 

Have to go and deposit said First Check. I'll be back.

***

Ri, if you're reading this, don't forget to pack your old school mike for the trip out. 

The 21st Century

Finally, I'm 100% back in the 21st century! After a two-week wait, the internet guys showed up and installed internet in the Bat Cave. Now I can use all of the great modern, expensive gear I've been stockpiling for the past two weeks. I can use the great new computer that I've been using as almost nothing more than a very expensive, very funny looking stereo system (people complain about the quality of the speakers that are built into the iMac; I've got no issues to date). I can get online and, as I write this, my new Adobe Photoshop is being updated, via said internet so I can use that, too, in the next few minutes.

When that happens, I'll be able to update and process the few pictures I've been taking during this two-month photo-fast. And the photos I took at the Mark Halper workshop in April. 

This is another picture of Maggie. Most of the pictures look like the one I posted right after the workshop in April, except for a few different poses. I've recently been toying with them in Photoshop Lightroom (that didn't need to be registered/updated via internet), playing with the crop tool to get some really good headshots. 

As soon as the Photoshop is finished with its update dealio, I'll open this picture -- and all the others -- and get to crackin'. 

It's about damned time. Oh, and since I don't have to borrow a friend's computer, or try to hack out a post while racing the clock in the library down the street I'll be updating more regularly now.

Thom Nezbeda Photography

I've been giving out business cards like it's cool. Most people show off their new baby, a new car, or a new house. For me, right now, it's the business card.

The response has been pretty positive, to date, and the cards are doing what they're supposed to do: generate interest and drive people to my business. One side of the card is a picture of Maggie Henry I took during my photo workshop in L.A. in April. The other has all my contact information, the URL for my soon-to-exist website -- construction is about to start on that, as well as the URL to this blog, which leads to my current online portfolios.

I've got the gear, I've got the cards, and I've got some tentative nibbles on the hook for photo shoots, but there's other stuff to do. Culling from my past conversations with other, more established shooters, there's a long line of things I need to jump on now that Thom Nezbeda Photography is up and running.

There are contracts to draw up, model releases to print, pricing to figure out, etc. Almost everyone who has received a card has asked me what I shoot. My answer: ANYTHING. I'm a general photographer; if you want it shot, I'll shoot it. It's still too early in the game for me to specialize, and I enjoy shooting so much that I don't discriminate on subject matter.

I'm still trying to build up my portfolio, especially since the first four months of my work went south along with my laptop, so that's important, too. I've got a few ideas in what I'd eventually like to focus on photographically, but for now I'm stoked to be shooting.

Speaking of focus, I have to sign off and do just that. But I'll be back, soonest. Two posts in one week is a good sign.

And I'll start posting pictures, again, soon.

iMac...I Mean, I'm Back

Almost two weeks since my last post, the very longest I've gone without writing here. Sorry for that. As I alluded to in the past few posts, I've been working on a lot of backstage stuff, and it seems, finally (really, this time), that I've got almost everything in order.

As the title of this post alludes to, I've gotten an iMac. A new computer. A brand spanking new computer. A very expensive, brand spanking new computer. Yeah, I've eschewed the PC after using it my entire adult life, much to the relief of many friends who've been pushing me in this direction, and much to my relief, as well. It wasn't necessarily that pushed me over the edge, but rather a bad experience with a large, famous, very well established computer company that couldn't seem to bother to get a quote to me. Not only did they not get the quote for a new computer to me within the 24-hour window that they promised; they didn't bother getting it to me at all.

So, I decided to swing by the Apple website. As it turns out, all of my financial fears weren't well-founded. Yes, the iMac I bought is more expensive than the PC I was going to get, but not prohibitively so. So, after having two PCs flame out on me in six years and a certain PC company that shall remain unnamed not getting back to me, I decided to take the leap. And as other Apple users have told me in the past: I'll never go back.

If you're interested in reading about the iMac and/or all things Apple, check out their website. If you're interested in buying one for your own use, I can wholeheartedly recommend the brand to you after owning it for only one week. I'm in computer heaven.

But this post isn't just about a computer (I'm sorry, the computer). This post is to declare that I'm back in action, blogistically and professionally speaking. I've got a new computer (complete with software), a new back-up camera body that I bought from a friend a couple of weeks ago, new digs (re-locating one's world headquarters isn't the easiest thing in the world), a web address (website forthcoming) and, as of today, new business cards. In the business world, I am now bona fide!

The one thing I don't have yet (but it's on its way) is internet in my new locale. There's a week-and-a-half wait for that, but I can do pretty much everything I need (except posting from home) without it.

So finally, after almost a six-week hiatus on life and profession, I'm back in action, and am announcing the official launch of Thom Nezbeda Photography.

Stay tuned...