Moving Forward Rapidly

It is hard to believe I am almost done with the photo program at GTC!  I only have next quarter, which is my internship quarter, and then a 5 week mini-mester.  The past quarter was more difficult than I expected.  I think I learned a lot more though, simply because I had assignments that I had to re do several times.  It forced me to learn what I was doing wrong and then make changes until I got it right.  I also had my first portfolio review.  It was a time to sit down with my instructors and look through my hard drive to see what might end up in my final portfolio.  It was pretty nerve racking, but I had over 40 selected as “maybes”.  I am pretty happy with that.  It also gives me a better idea of what sections I need to concentrate on.  All of my images for Advanced Commercial, with the exception of the food, were shot using the 4 x 5 camera and chrome film.  I did not scan them before turning them in so all the images here are the test shots I took with my digital camera.  The assignments were location, wine and spirits, jewelry, food and soft goods.  For the food assignment we were paired with a chef from the culinary department.  We had very little control over how the food, so our job was to come up with the best way to light and display it.  After the shoot was finished, they prepared all of the dishes for us to try.  Yum!

jewelry

Snow snow and more snow!

 

Stuck in the condo at Snowbird today.  Too much snow to ski or even leave the condo due to avalanche danger.  Tooks some pics yesterday but can only take them from the porch today.  Hopefully I will be able to walk around later today and take more.  Maybe even be able to do more skiing later!

 

 

Part 3 Lessons Learned in Multimedia II

Lions and tigers and bears oh my!  How about Blogspot and WordPress and Twitter and Facebook and Flickr and Youtube and Tumblr OH MY!!  Week by week Mr. Jones added more places for us to blog and post our pictures and videos.  It can be a bit overwhelming to keep up with it all.  If it were my only class it would not be too bad but, it is not.  It is all part of “shaking the web”.  I think we have shaken it pretty well.  We are all linked together on each other’s pages and make comment on classmate’s posts.  This increases traffic to ours sites and helps us to get noticed.  However, when it becomes overwhelming to post on ALL the sites it is tempting to let some go.  This is where Pixelpipe can be a big time saver.  Pixelpipe acts as a gateway that allows you to make a post one time and have it distributed to over 100 social networks.  You just choose those you want it to go to, make your post and just like magic, it posts to all of them!  It is not perfect though.  I like all my postings to be in the same format and Pixelpipe does not do that.  I also have not found a way to make hyperlinks in Pixelpipe.  It is a great tool but don’t rely on it completely.  I suggest using it but check and make individual adjustments as needed.  I also learned that Tumblr is not very reliable.  They do tell you they are incredibly sorry though…

Part 2 Lessons Learned in Multimedia II

Another big lesson learned in Multimedia II is the importance of not being stagnant.  When you have a blog (or in our case) blogs you want to make sure people have a reason to come back and visit.  Post often.  Make lots of posts.  However, do not post too much all at the same time.  Give folks a reason to come back and check out your blog again and again.  Stagger your postings.  Tweet about posting your posts so fellow twits will view your postings.  The more interest you create by posting often the more hits you will get and the more noticed you will become.

The Social Media Hierarchy of Need

 

This is an image I found at John Antonios’ website. He has a ton of information on social media and personal branding. There is so much to be learned! I tried to copy and paste his article but his page is laid out in a way that does not allow it. Here is the link.

Part I Lessons Learned in Multimedia II

So I thought blogging was just for people who wanted to show off their life and get attention. I am the type who just prefers to do my own thing and not call attention to myself. I guess that is why you will find me behind the camera. As a photographer though, I need to get my name out there and get noticed. I learned that by blogging and linking together with my classmates we can create a web presence and get noticed. It is basically free advertising. The idea is to shake the web and get yourself to the top of the Google search. By having an uncommon name I think I have a bit of an advantage though! Search my name and you will see I am at the top of the list. In fact, I am the entire first page! Thank you social media!

Fashion/Fantasy Shoot

I was finally able to get my fashion/fantasy image selected and printed.  My theme was “bad girl wannabe”.  Hard as this girl tries, she just can’t pull off the bad girl look!  We are nearing the end of the quarter and things get a little out of control at this time every quarter.  So much work to do and so little time to do it!  I tend to be my own worst enemy and am never satisfied with anything so it takes me ten times longer to decide I need to just be done and move on to the next project.  I am finding sleep to be way over rated.

Creating a Mood

In my Advanced Portraiture class I had to do a fashion/fantasy shoot.  My instructor had us create a mood board which tells how we are going to do the photo shoot.  It was to include the location, clothing, makeup poses etc.  I am not a fashion photo person so this was a difficult task for me.  I didn’t hate it but it really is not my cup of tea.

Tumblr Blogger Jamie

This blog is pretty awesome.  It is by someone who goes by the name of Jamie.  Jamie who? You may ask?  Well, I do not know.  As awesome as her blog is I could not find her last name on the page or her links.  I love her layout.  It is very streamlined.  She has a ton of pictures and there is no doubt what her blog is about.  I still think her last name should be where it can be seen though.  I like her series she calls “at home with“.  It includes images from behind the doors of real people in NYC.  So check out Jamie someone..

 

Tumblr Blogger Lynn Lane

In my quest for Tumblr blogs I came across this one by Lynn Lane.   Lynn Lane is a photographer/filmaker  in Houston.  His blog is set up well with large pictures and also includes quotes for various photographers.   He uses a lot of available light when doing fashion shoots.  I think he does a great job.  Take a look for yourself.