Finding Your Style: Part 1 - Selection

Finding your Style:

Finding your shooting style is like figuring out what type movies you enjoy, just takes more work. The best way to discover the types of movies you like is to watch a generous amount, of a wide variety, of films which genre interest you most. Of course, that in only going to give you a high level indication of the films you gravitate towards. For a deeper understanding, you would need to find which actors were your favorite, which plots pull you in the most, director style you like most, cinematography that appeals to you, and more. I'm sure a few months and a subscription to Netflix would put you on course to only selecting movies that you would thoroughly enjoy.

But what does that have to do with your shooting style?

Everything. When I started shooting, in nature photography, I heard many of the seasoned pro's talk about other photographer 'Style' of shooting. The most I got from the question 'How do you find your style?' was 'Keep shooting and you will find it.' Well they were right, and finding your style is no different than the movie example mentioned above, just on a different scale. Be for warned; it is a long, tedious road that you will travel, but the rewards are well worth it.

First, you need to amass a collection of work to begin culling through. Whether the work is from assignments, personal work, or a mixture is up to you, but the end result will give you an indication based off of the sample. There should be a variety within each grouping. For instance, with nature photography can have wildlife resting, in motion, feeding, hunting, exploring, sleeping, defending, migrating, and any other situations you can find them in.

*One tip when shooting is to ask yourself 'What is it about this subject that interest me?' , 'What am I trying to convey', and 'How do I capture this subject in a way that the viewer feel/see it too?' Now there are many other questions you can ask and these do not have to be verbatim. This is just a small practice I learned to help identify what I wanted to shoot, why, and how, so that I wasn't stopping at every blade of grass and shooting it.*

Now from this group of images you will make your initial Selection of images.

But which moments do you select?

In my opinion you should select the images that speak to you, whether technically good images or not,  ones that draw you in. Try looking at your images first in a thumbnail view via what every editing software you use. On the first pass you should select the ones that catch your attention the most, as they are the 'stand out' ones. Then take a second pass through the images to find the remaining ones that you 'feel'. For the sake of having a decent size selection pool, let's say out of 150 images you select your top 50 (Again 'top' referring to the ones that you feel impact from the most) This will give you your 'Genre', from here we move on to specifics about that selection, which I will talk more about in a future post.


Until then, enjoy the journey, as you never know where you will find your style.

As always, if you would like to share some step you took to finding you style of shooting, leave a comment.

Giddy Up

Few horses from a local farm ...

Brian

Twigs & Spikes

There is never a shortage of inspiration when you follow your passion. My passion is photography and nature, so with 30 minutes in the field I walked away with these:

Giving yourself some time, daily or weekly, to be creative and produce personal work lets you experiment with new techniques in different settings. All of which, will benefit your future clients as you will be able to incorporate what you've learned into the assignments you take on. The cool part about it is this goes for any career.

My favorite of the group is #4, would love to hear yours...

Enjoy -
Ja mata,
Brian

Patty & Frank: Married!

Patty and Frank, seen here at their Reconnection Session, are two of the nicest and loving people you will meet. Perla and I had an amazing day with them, their family, and friends capturing their wedding as it unfolded. The ceremony was beautiful, with vows that left those in attendance shedding tears of joy. Before arriving to St. Vincent's Church, Patty & Frank, did a 'first look' at Virginia Kendell park in Cuyahoga Valley Nation Park. The color scheme of silver and dark purple was perfect for a fall wedding with the changing colors of the leaves.

Perla and I were honored to document Patty & Frank's celebration of love.

Enjoy.

Brian & Perla Palmer





We would love to hear which captured moment you liked the best.

The Journey....Onward

Finally back on the move again, but still working out a few things though.

First, setting up a new location for all the 365 files, so it will be easier to browse for those who missed some days or just want to look through them.

Second, Next week I will kick off the 52-Pick-up with Sara. Where she will taking a photo every week, and I will just "give her the camera and shut up!" Scott Bourne suggested the idea of giving a child a camera and letting them shoot at Summer School 2010. Interesting enough, while Perla and I were at Summer School, my mom got Sara her own camera, so it seems like perfect timing. Can't wait to see what she comes up with.

More to come.

Ja mata,
Brian

Engaged: Patty & Frank!

Meet Patty & Frank, one of their engagement moments was Day 363 on the blog. For the engagement Reconnection Session, we met in the Valley and had an amazing time with them. We started out on train tracks and then ended up further in the park at a tunnel. If you know me, you know I like to be playful to loosen up the mood to start. So I asked Frank to stand at the top of the tunnel, near the train tracks, and told him jokingly "Don't worry, none of our couples have ever been hit by a train." Three minutes later, we hear a train horn in the distance. After Frank comes back down the path, Perla and I captured a great moment of Patty & Frank watching the train pass by. Fun times. 


Thanks Patty & Frank for taking time out of your busy schedules and wedding planning to reconnect and let us capture the moments that resulted from it. We cannot wait to capture all the beauty and love of your wedding in October.

Enjoy:

Ja mata,
Brian

Chi-Town

Ok, so I am trying to give myself a break - But just cannot go without posting something. So I give you Chicago and the Odyssey II.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

A Moment vs. An Interruption

As some of you know Perla and I were at Skip's Summer School this past August, which was an amazing experience, hosted by Skip Cohen. In addition to the speakers presentations there was a breakout sessions where Skip, Tony Corbell, Clay Blackmore, Scott Bourne, and Bambi Cantrell were having a Q&A session with anyone who wanted to participate. 

As the session was winding down Skip & his wife, Shelia, turned in and I decided to play the photojournalist and capture a few moments of them leaving. Here is one I captured of them on the escalators.

     I still cannot believe they didn't see me sneaking along behind them, as I was shooting with a 24-70mm so I didn't have a lot of reach. Would this had been a better shot with Skip and Shelia facing me? Maybe. But not interrupting that moment, regardless of what it was, will, in the long run, mean more to them than a posed straight on capture. This is in no way saying posed and camera aware captures do not have meaning, because they do, just as much and more just depends on what you are trying to accomplish. This write up is only a comparison between the two. Just food for thought.


**Word of advice - be careful when laying on the ground next at the top of an escalator! The edges are sharp.

Enjoy.

Keep Shooting. Keep Learning.

Ja mata,
Brian

Hard Cycle to Break

Tonight, I got home and seriously paced around looking for something to shoot for about an hour. Looks like I'm having 365 withdrawal, just feels weird that I am not going out to shoot and post on the blog. This will probably only last for a few days, I am too into the routine of making a post to actually stop. The only difference will be that I not have the deadline of a new capture everyday, even though some days there will be a new one.

The broken rock represent how I feel in a way. After becoming accustomed to a certain way of life for a year, I feel somewhat incomplete and slightly broken to not continue. Especially since I am so closed to fixing the break by shooting and posting.

On the other hand, I do need to break from the daily grind to focus on several other projects. Ones that have taken a back seat to the year long commitment. One of the new projects will be with Sara. I will work with her to do a '52 pick up', where she will take one photo a week [On her camera] and to post it online. I'm interested to see what she will come up with and how she will shoot it.

An additional project coming down the pipe, is a Twitter Campaign to raise funds for a local non-profit organization. Need to fine tune the details, and record a video before I can go into specifics. If that project takes off, it could could turn into a bimonthly event for different organizations.

Going forward I will give a wrap up to the project just completed, plus suggestions and tips for those thinking about attempting. Until then, keep shooting, keep learning.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 363 - Engagement

Day 363

Today, we hung out with Patty & Frank for their engagement session, which was an absolute blast. We went to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to capture moments with this awesome couple. The remaining session captures will be up soon.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 362 - Full Circle

Day 362

Look familiar?  This was the subject on Day 30, we were driving by today and I thought it would be good to recapture the scene, yes at sunset, but is a slightly different light. I can remember taking the image for day 30, wondering where I would be in 300 days. Would I even make it 15 more? what would I capture in the winter or construction season for Ohio natives. The interesting part of this capture was how similar the sky was 330 days apart.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 361 - Bridge to...

Day 361

With only 4 days to go until the last 365 post, I am starting to feel a little anxious about how to end this project. The biggest question I am getting now is 'So what's next?' ... Not sure yet, but there are several options in hand and other projects to finish.

Captured this bridge today scouting out a location for an engagement session on Saturday. It's going to be with a super fun couple, so Perla and I cannot wait. There is something about bridges that I just love, whether it's the colors and construct, or it's how they look over calm waters, they just speak to me. Reminds me of all the bridges I saw as a kid when traveling to Gary, Indiana to visit family.

I also think about how no matter the strength and support of a bridge, they are still fragile and can tumble like any other man made structure, thankfully not easily.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 360 - Music

Day 360

My wife and I were talking about different type of music that we each liked today, that inspired this capture. To me, Music is universal, yes it is transmitted in many different languages, but no matter the language you will always feel the mood of the track. The same goes for photography, conveying a mood within a moment. That is actually a hint towards one of my next projects. Five days left! I think this calls for cake.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 359 - Art Apreciation

Day 359

Lessons from a three year old: Post your work somewhere and you will appreciate it more. Sara is always proud to show off something she drew. Today, while going to her room to tape another masterpiece that she created, she said her room looks 'Like a museum!'

That comment had me thinking about my own work with the project and it's next steps. What about a gallery showing? Turning the images into a Blurb book, getting some of my favorites printed and hung. Maybe approaching an office building about having my work decorate their walls so they can have that 'museum' feel to it. With 6 days left I'm going to have to really think hard about the next steps.

Enjoy.


Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 358 - Product Samples

Day 358

We just got some sample mounted products in from our most recent wedding.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 357 - Star Studded

Day 357

It's a beautiful night and the sky is sprinkled with stars. I'm temped to get a telescope and try my hand at astrophotography.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 356 - Cookies

Day 356

Cookies!

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 355 - The Calm

Day 355

How can you not enjoy nature? This scene was captured at a local reservoir. I will need to find another body of water to photograph a sunrise next.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 354 - Q-Cumber

Day 354

Love fresh veggies from the farmers market, plus they make wonderful subjects.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,

Brian

365 Project - Day 353 - Still Traveling

Day 353

Most of the time, we all quote the greats. Which are the people who come up with clever things to say to put your life into perspective. But if we take a moment to think before speaking and listen to what we are saying...we just might surprise ourselves.

'Inspiration is a starting point of a creative path, the trick is to not exit too soon or too late on the journey' ~ Brian

Well it's not Confucius, but it fits the movement captured tonight.

Enjoy,

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 352 - Light Seperation

Day 352

Today, I am torn between two different moments that I captured. The one above ultimately won a spot for Day 352. Luckily, I am planning another project, actually several, to give the non-365 images their day to shine. For now, here is a weed that I captured and used a shallow depth of field to get a smooth bokeh light off the back of a passing car. Since the weed dipped below horizon, the light gives a nice separation of the weed and the background. Have to always be thinking outside of the box.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 351 - Cleaning House

Day 351

Outside the office window today, this guy was cleaning the bricks, but only the tan bricks and not the red ones.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 350 - Running out of Time

Day 350

With 15 days left, it's time to lace up the running shoes for the final stretch of this project. I feel like writing a book about all I've learned from the journey and those who I have learned from on their own 365. For anyone who happens on to this blog, project, or page...If you take nothing else from what I, or the other 365ers have done, it should be that no accomplishment can be completed without the first step! Whether you a photographer, teacher, farmer, or just someone dreaming big, a plan has no progress without action. Don't let the small stuff stop you. No gear? rent or borrow it. No one to shoot, ask a cousin or friend and buy them lunch. No time? Turn off the TV, you will be surprise how much time you have. There is no good reason why you shouldn't be practicing you craft daily whatever it is. Working hard is not a chore, it's a necessity for success. Make a change tomorrow, big or small, just make one.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 349 - Misty Night

Day 349

Sometimes you just have to go for it! Coming home around midnight, we past this field that had between 1-2 feet of fog on the ground. After getting Sara into the house, I ran back out to shoot a timed exposure with the tree and fog. It's too bad there wasn't more fog to work with, but I do like the look of the shot. I am glad I went out and shot the image, otherwise I would be kicking myself in the morning for not going out and shooting it.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 348 - Cell + iPOD light

Day 348

Tonight, I had a Mountain Dew Throwback with Real Sugar, so now I'm Real(ly)awake. I used the flashlight app again, but then also used my iPOD screen to light the other side of the subject. While I do have images that have the can more luminated, like the look of the 90 degree side light, blacking out the front.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,

Brian.

365 Project - Day 347 - Alternate Light

Day 347

A soda bottle, cell phone, and a camera...why not use them together to get an image of the day. I downloaded the flashlight app on my phone then, at 100%, placed it behind the glass bottle to light it. I was surprised at how the light traveled up the bottle. Experimenting is always fun.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 346 - After The Rain

Day 346

Just because it's raining outside, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be out trying to capture a little beauty. As the sun was going down, there was a slight down pour, I went out to see what memories I could make. I ended up under a pine tree looking through the needles for places to shoot that were also protected from the rain. But I happen to catch a drop of water amongst the needles and bark. I guess you don't know what you are looking for, until you find it.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 345 - Potpourri

Day 345

I have been thinking of ways to shoot this Potpourri leaf since I got it in the mail from cards that I ordered. The smell of this Potpourri takes my mind back to the moment I received the product in the mail. It's almost as powerful as looking at a memory captured on film that takes us back to that moment in time, to a place where you can smell whatever was in the air then.

I was watching the Live Schrader Photography Fireside Chats today with my good friend Greg Schrader. He touched on how the story behind the memory can invite others in to share and experience the moment. I cannot wait for the next chat with Greg.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 343 - Rabbits

Day 343

Tonight image was a special request from my daughter. We have been reading the Velveteen Rabbit to her now for the past few days, so she wanted a picture of 'Velveen Rabbit' as she likes to calls him. This is her new bunny that she, occasionally, brings to bed with her. I used a 580EX at the camera right, set at 1/16 power to get the lighting.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 342 - Cows

Day 342

Today we visited a farm and Sara could not be happier. Between eating fresh tomatoes, throwing leaves in a pond, picking flowers, and feeding cows, she had her fill of fun. We can't wait to go back.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 341 - Tools

Day 341

On the surface, a crayon is just a semi-soft, dyed stick that leave residue in it's path. But to a 3½ year old named Sara, it is as much of a tool for expression as Michael Angelo's paint brush. Sara recently drew a unicorn, that looked pretty good. I started thinking about how she started getting better at her arts. Simple, every chance she gets she is drawing something. And every chance we get, we are hanging her art up around the house, encouraging her to keep drawing and being creative. For those looking for the secret formula for becoming a Pro Photographer or Pro [insert your craft here], it's very simple....U + A LOT OF HARD WORK = CHANCE @ SUCCESS, with a remainder of HAPPINESS. Work at it as much as you can, know what you are working with, understand what you want to accomplish, and how you can achieve it. Practice your craft and photograph your passion.

Still need proof?!

Then I'm pleased to display 'The Unicorn, with magic at the top of the horn' by Sara 3½ August 13th, 2010.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian & Sara

365 Project - Day 340.2 - Comfy Couple

Day 340.2

Ok, so one more image. Tonight, I also got this shot of a couple looking at their camera while standing in-front of a display window. Just liked the feel of the image too much not to post. Sometime dark images can have a light surprise. This is comfy part two, and they look comfy together. I was originally going to just shoot the display but saw these two having a moment and adjusted to capture them in the image. After I took the picture they walked away into the night. I would have liked to pass them a card, that way I could send them the image. But I didn't want to approach them and take away from the moment I was seeing.

Why give them the image?

Why not? Imagine they are a couple on their first date, or even first date after being engaged. He could be simply visiting from out of town, but having this image would bring back the emotions of that precise moment when they were looking at the pictures they took of each other. Maybe some one will see this and forward it on to the couple, even though they are tough to make out.

I will need to start another blog or section of the blog called "The 563 Project" all the images that didn't make the image of the day will have to make sure I have enough work to last the year.

Enjoy,

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 340 - Comfy

Day 340

The people at Starbucks really know how to make a place look comfy. Perla spotted this nook when she went to get a grande-latte something [forgive me, I'm not a coffee drinker]. When she came out, she told me about the chairs, so I went in and captured a couple images tonight for the blog. I will need chairs like this for the studio, time to start looking.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 339 - Ni Hao

Day 339

Just my daughter's cartoon figure of Ni-Hao Kai Lan, using a little back-lighting and a foil card to fill. I really love the light falling off and mixing with the back light on the figurine. Just realized today, actually my wife pointed this out to me, that when I made the foil card I used the dull side of the foil not the shiny side. Yay me. After I flipped the foil around there was an instant difference. Oh the small things. And keep an eye on the blog, this weekend I will be introducing our newest photographer to join the crew.