Assignment: Covering A Deployment

At first I thought this was going to come about back in July of this year, but things have worked out a little differently.  Tomorrow I am heading out for a six month deployment aboard the USS Sterett (DDG 104).  Part of my duties involve being the Assistant Public Affairs Officer and Command Photographer.  I will be extremely busy working on projects like the cruise book and other media-related items.

I am looking forward to the trip, although I will miss my family and friends terribly.  It’s hard to beat getting paid to travel the world, take photos, and shoot video.

I hope to visit some great places (some of which I have been to before, and some I haven’t) and be able to experience new things and get some great photographic opportunities.

That being said, the blog here will be a little scarce over the next several months.  I will update when I can, but it will only be when I am in port and able to get WiFi somewhere.  I will post images and experiences of how some of the gear I use has held up.

Thank you to all my readers and I hope that you enjoy sharing in my travels and adventures until I’m back at home again.

All the best,

Stephen

Stephen Zeller Photography Gets A Makeover

I have completely redesigned my website for Stephen Zeller Photography, including a new logo which I had mentioned about a week ago.  I wanted to do with a design that could be consistent with both my website and blog.  This was important to me for fluidity and consistency with the design and function of the site and provides a completely custom user experience.

I used WordPress for the back end, which is great because with the jquery slider on the home page and Lightbox in the portfolio pages my site is completely functional and viewable on the iPad – something else that was very important to me.  I loved the look and feel of my Flash site, but didn’t want to miss out on potential clients who may be viewing my site on their iPad or iPhone.  With as many people that are using the iPad, that’s a huge slice of the viewership pie that I didn’t want to pass up.

Please feel free to browse around the site and tell me what you like and don’t like.  I would be grateful for your thoughts on the design and overall functionality.

Also, if you’re looking for a great WordPress site, check out my buddy Don Giannatti and his WordPress Themes for Photographers.  Don is a great designer and web guy and he can get you set up and running.  He’s also looking to strike up a deal if you happen to have an iBook laying around.

That’s it for today.  I have a busy week ahead getting ready for a BIG assignment coming up.  More on that later on this week.  I hope you had a great weekend and got a chance to get out and shoot.

Also, have you had a chance to check out The DSLR Workshop yet???

1-Day Portrait Photography Workshop in San Diego, CA – October 2, 2010

The Workshop 411:
As I mentioned on Friday, I have a workshop coming up in San Diego, CA on October 2, 2010.  This workshop is only going to be one day long, but we will move efficiently to cover portrait photography and workflow.

The cost to attend the workshop is only $150.00, which covers the entire day and even includes lunch!  We will be focusing on portrait photography and all the aspects that are encompassed by it.  I’ll talk about lighting, posing, subject interaction, working with models, and more.  Towards the end of the day we’ll discuss post processing and working with images on your computer, as well as turning your photography into a vocation.

When I teach, I prefer to demonstrate and then let my students try their hand at the technique that I’m covering.  This method of “see and do” is much more conducive to learning than the “show and tell” method.  My goal isn’t to stand in front of you and tell you about this stuff, it’s to show it to you and then let you try it for yourself.  I’ll be there for guidance – but I want you to practice so that you can repeat what you’ve learned when I’m not around.

Check out the workshop page for all the details and to sign up!

A Few Words About Our Sponsors:
The workshop is sponsored by Zenfolio and Lumodi, companies whose products I already use.  Zenfolio is THE place to host and sell your photos online!  They provide excellent service that is packed with the features that photographers want.  The fact that they use my favorite lab in the world, Mpix, to fulfill print orders is simply icing on the cake.  Lumodi produces some of the coolest and efficient speedlight beauty dishes available anywhere!  I use both their 11″ and 14″ beauty dishes and love ‘em!  I’ll show you how I use them throughout the workshop too!

All workshop attendees will receive a coupon for 15% discount off a new account with Zenfolio and there will be product on hand from Lumodi for giveaways throughout the day!

If you live in or around the San Diego area or if you are going to be in town on October 2nd, come on out to the workshop and I’ll teach you all about portrait photography using the “see and do” method so that you’ll remember what you learned after the workshop is over.

 

Home Again

I’m finally at home again after spending three weeks out to sea!  I’m glad to be back, but I have a LOT of catching up to do!  The blog has been noticeably empty over the last three weeks (with the exception of one quick update) and things will be back to normal on Monday.  I’ve already got two posts lined up for next week and more to come!

So I thank you for sticking around and I’ll look forward to seeing you back here on Monday!

Have a great weekend!

Stephen

Friday’s Photo and Update

Friday is here again and since I haven’t posted an update since Monday, I thought I would share a little about what’s been going on lately.  I have been extremely busy with work, shooting, and editing in addition to doing fun family things and spending time with my wife, my kids, and my parents – who were recently visiting from my hometown of Branson, MO.  We’ve been having a blast and this week has simply flown by.

At work, I am my ship’s photographer and the Assistant Public Affairs Officer.  We recently acquired some new equipment and so I have been busy checking it out and getting it ready to be put into service.  I haven’t had to shoot too much this week at work, which I am thankful for because it has been incredibly busy!

My youngest son and my daughter have both started a T-Ball league (that’s where the photo above came from) and so there are now practices and games to attend, which are going to be great!  I’ll be the photographer dad with the 70-200mm always taking pictures of my kids on the field.  If I had a 600mm you can bet I’d bring that too!

I’m also working on putting together a little project which I am VERY excited about, but it’s too soon to reveal the details now.  I promise that you will be the first to know about it as I will likely announce it here on the blog first.

I hope you have a great weekend and no matter what, find an excuse to get out and shoot a little this weekend.  Even if it’s only for 30 minutes, it will help you improve your craft and sharpen your skills!

All the best,

Stephen

New Photos and A Long Overdue Post

Yes, I know… it’s been a long time since I have posted an update to the blog. Unfortunately, when things get busy something has to fall off the plate and that usually means the blog. It also translates into a longer than usual post when I get back to it. The good news is that I’m going to stop writing and carry out the rest of this post with some images from the past month. I hope you enjoy ‘em!

I hope you all have an awesome Memorial Day weekend! I’m relaxing and enjoying today with my family and tomorrow I’m off to Napa, CA to teach a portrait photography workshop. Looking forward to sharing some images from my trip! Have a great day!

Photoshop CS5 – It Does Indeed Exist

I have made no announcement in regard to what I’m about to tell you – because I could not. But now, I can, therefore I will!

For the past several weeks I have been beta testing Adobe Photoshop CS5. Adobe has just given me permission to disclose what I have been doing, starting today. So I’m happy to announce that Adobe Photoshop CS5 does exist, and is well on it’s way toward release. There have been quite a few other folks that have been testing as well and I think Adobe is really onto something with the way they have gone about this round of beta testing.

Now, as much as I would love to divulge all the dirt about features, interface, and the like – I cannot. I apologize, but in order to honor my agreement with Adobe I simply cannot discuss any particulars about the software at this time. As soon as (and if) I am able to, I will be sure to update you with the latest and greatest from the flagship application from Adobe.

In case you have been wondering where I have been and the fewer posts that have been up on the blog, this is part of the reason why. I hope you’ll hang around with me this weekend, because I’ve got some more cool stuff coming, including the announcement of the Winter Photo Contest winner!

Be back soon!

Stephen

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a great day today. If you happen to be reading this and you’re outside the U.S., have an awesome Thursday!

See you all back here on Friday!

Cheers!

Stephen

This is a “No Whining Zone”

Last week I had posted an ad on Craigslist in the Creative Gigs section. In the ad I mentioned that I was looking for musicians, bands, or singers who would like to do some TFCD work so that I could start to build a music portrait portfolio. Part of the agreement that was in exchange for their time, I would give them a CD of select images that they could use and I would be able to use those images in my portfolio. Simple and straightforward, right? I’m afraid not for some people.

I got an e-mail from another photographer here in San Diego, who we’ll call Melissa. (Made-up name used to protect the part involved.) Melissa was upset that I had posted such an ad and felt it necessary to e-mail me. Here is what she wrote:

“Thanks to you and others like you, the rest of us miss out on legitimate paying work.

Thanks a lot.”

I wasn’t bothered at all by what she wrote to me. I do know that a lot of other photographers feel the same way that she does however. Even still, there are great guys like fellow photographers Chase Jarvis and David Hobby who think that doing a limited amount of work for free is a great thing.

I did respond and I’ll let you read what I had to say:

Melissa,

I must say that I’m a little confused. The people that I am shooting with are likely not those who would be willing to pay a photographer for a photo shoot. If they were, they probably wouldn’t look on Craigslist to find one or they would post an ad in the Creative Gigs section.

If you know of a way to shoot a type of client that you have never shot before and get them to pay you without having something to show them first, please let me know! I’d like to get in on that too! It would certainly save me a lot of time and effort and raise my gross income at the same time! Heck, I am sure there are a lot of photographers who would love to get paid thousands of dollars to shoot a wedding without having ever shot one before. Also, I highly recommend this Wikipedia article about Supply and Demand. I think it will give you a little more insight into what I’m doing and why I’m going about it this way.

I’m sure that there are a lot of photographers who oppose what I’m doing. Yet there are great photographers like Chase Jarvis who think this is a great idea. But the bottom line is that I’m doing something for someone and at the same time they are doing something for me. They get a few great pictures, I get to build my portfolio. It’s good karma and what goes around, comes around. Please know that I have no intentions of doing this forever. I’m simply working on a portfolio.

Good luck in all your endeavors and if there is ever anything that I can do for you, please let me know. (Yes, I’m being serious.)

Sincerely,

Stephen

I really hope that Melissa understood where I was coming from and what my position is on this matter. I wasn’t there to bash her, be disrespectful, or otherwise. My intent was simply to inform her. We, as humans, make a lot of mistakes along the way because we are often misinformed or we misunderstand someone else.

If you are reading this and you don’t happen to understand, read what Chase and David had to say (see links above). I think it will really open your eyes to how doing something just like this can open some doors for you. Not to mention the fact that there is a lot of experience to be gained.

I’ll be out to sea this week so the blog will be a little scarce. I’ll have some photos up for you tomorrow from a photo shoot on Saturday. Have a great week!

My Wife Goes Location Scouting!

So my wife was out hiking around yesterday, but I didn’t know that she was also scouting locations for me. She sent a text to me midday and said that she found an awesome place to shoot portraits. When I got home she showed me the photo (above) that she snapped with her cell phone! I was blown away! Not only did she think about me (which she always does) but she found a really cool location! Thanks Baby, for supporting me. I think your going to have to go location scouting hiking more often!