Movies and Networking.

This past week was a very social week for me considering I'm always working or taking care of school work. On Monday, my best friend Adnan finally found time in between his rotations to go see a movie. He's been working shifts from 4AM to 8PM on the burn unit with no breaks - yet my boy always finds time to call me after a 16 hour shift. Props where props are due. Anyway, we decided to go watch Slumdog Millionaire and I must say, it is jaw-dropping good. Honestly, it is easily one of the best movies of recent years. Since both of us are from the Southeast Asian subcontinent, there was a lot of imagery that we can bear witness to. While a lot of people who have no connection to that area found it entertaining, we saw it as a testimony to the reality of some places and people there.

The Perfect Wedding Guide hosts the monthly Professional Wedding Guild Luncheon and I was fortunate enough to attend this past Wednesday. It was a great opportunity to meet many of the local vendors, venue owners, and wedding coordinators. For those of you who are starting out, you HAVE to network - getting to know the managers of Embassy Suites on first name basis and having top notch caterers as fans of your work really comes in handy. In the coming weeks, I'll be posting dedicated blog posts about some of my favorite vendors in the area.

Alright, no pictures for today. I know, I know - been busy with school ... and something else :)

I have a HUGE business project in the works, and yes, all of you will have the chance to be a part of it... more information to come soon.

=)..

Duotone and Rap

I get asked often about my duotone conversions and what process I use to get them the way they are. So, I thought I would make today's topic about how I address duotone pictures.

But first...

Rap music - I've never really been a big fan of the genre (due to the vulgarities), however, I came across these underground rappers and really took a liking to them...



Some of their other stuff gets political and it just seems that underground rappers have so much more significant things to say than the mainstream stuff you hear over the radio... I absolutely hate turning on the radio - rather sit there listening to the buzz of my heater.

Anyway, back to photography. First and foremost, I think that many people make things duotone (black and white) just for the same of making it duotone. Some try to hide noise, color fringing, or bad exposures and some just like everything to look like old B/W film. My approach consists of a more balanced outlook. The key element to developing a great duotone picture is to know what types of pictures "work" as a duotone. My criteria consists of two major points - lighting and essence. As far as lighting goes, I rarely ever make hard lit pictures duotone - only ones with soft gradations of skin tones and soft light (unless of course the clients specifically asked for something outside my criteria to be duotone). Next, I look for an essence to the picture - either a direct connection with the subject (like a deep eye contact) or an elegantly natural moment.

Once I find the pictures I'm looking for, I start the post-processing. All my duotone conversions are handled in my RAW editor - Photoshop is only used for sharpening or skin smoothening if need be. I personally like to have my conversions more on the high contrast side with deep shadows. Depending on one's taste, it either works or it doesn't - just like everything else.

The Legit Way.

I was discussing all things business with some friends and we got into the methodology of starting, maintaining, and running a professional service business - particularly, photography. One of the biggest things that we started to ponder over was legitimization of existence and the importance it has on so many realms.

Nowadays, there are many consumers who are getting the short end of the stick in regards to the photographers (and other vendors) they hire for their wedding. It's truly baffling how much risk is involved in contracting someone to do something and most people are completely oblivious to the pitfalls. So, for the sake of education, I decided to write up this post to help consumers out there be fully aware of the situation they might find themselves in and to encourage photographers going into business to do things the legit way.

Lets start...

1) Legit Business Identity
Nowadays, all a photographer needs is a few hundred dollars to launch a fancy website, a few nice pictures, and a makeshift pricing plan to look like a professional. However, many photographers - even some who have been in business for a few years - do things "under the table". With no legitimate business identification and no tax ID, they charge their clients thousands of dollars at times. Now, some might ask "how is this bad"?

Well, first and foremost, a consumer should know that they are out to hire a professional businessman first and a photographer second. How is giving thousands of dollars to a person whose business doesn't technically exist in the eyes of the Secretary of State a smart move to make? Moreover, if these so-called "business (wo)men" can't make the investment of a few hours and a few hundred dollars to establish and maintain their own business (which some of them claim to love with their hearts and souls), how much importance do you think they will give to their client's and other contracts. If they don't have the tenacity to run a legitimate business and if the government does not recognize them as a business, then should consumers really consider these "professionals" as options?

Another thing to consider is the whole tax situation. These "professional wannabes" are avoiding paying taxes on their income. Now, this might seem great for consumers as they save money on paying taxes and it helps keep the package costs down. However, there is a huge flaw in any logic that looks at doing things "under the table" as a good thing. Consumers should ask themselves whether or not it is a good idea to contract someone who is "playing the system". Is giving thousands of dollars to a person who is avoiding taxes and cheating the government he/she resides under a sound decision? What do all these things say about the service provider's business ethics? Moreover, what do all these things say about the clients of this so-called business?

Words of wisdom: when you go out looking for trouble, more than likely, trouble will find you.

2) Insurance
Something that completely leaves me gobsmacked is how so many "working professionals" do not have business insurance. What is equally disturbing is how many of their clients don't care. Again, I would like to pose some questions:

What happens if the photographer loses or damages all of the equipment (up to tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff) before a client's wedding? They have no way to replace this equipment and many people can literally go out of business when such a thing happens. How are prospective clients contracting photographers who do not have their tools covered?

The bigger issue is liability insurance. Living in this society, it's only common sense to have a good coverage plan. What happens if a light stand tips over and falls on Uncle Mike's seven year old kid at the reception due to someone bumping into it by accident? What happens due to a massive equipment failure during the wedding? You get the point. Liability insurance is crucial, not only for the photographer, but for the client also. Does a smart consumer really want an uncovered photographer working for them at an event they have spent months (and tens of thousands of dollars) planning and developing?

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is responsibility. Be responsible, be aware, and be legit.

On a lighter note, we had a snow day here and in the first time in five years, I was able to run my fingers through soft, gorgeous snow. Since all posts are better with pictures, here's a snapshot of me outside enjoying the weather:

Donovan Williams+ Morris Ricks | Artist Shoot

I was approached to take some pictures of local hip-hop artists Donovan "Vash" Williams and and Morris "Mez" Ricks for some promotional materials. These guys, while being young, really have some excellent lyrical skills and while I'm not a rap fan, I was still impressed. Apparently, their CD hits the markets in a month or so on a national scale and these guys are really busy recording their last 4 tracks at a downtown recording studio in Raleigh.

Once we setup, I only had about ten minutes to get them something they would like. Over the course of a normal two hour portrait session, I usually have time to warm up and analyze my surroundings to get the creative juices flowing. However, they had to be at the studio and I had to come up with something fast. On top of that, we did this photo-shoot on campus and as it turned out, we were caught in a break between classes. This meant ridiculous amounts of student traffic getting in our way.

The following two are my favorites from the small session that we got to shoot:

Freedom | Documentary

Sameer is a good childhood friend of mine and a local graffiti artist. There was a 3 hour event at the NCSU's Freedom Expression Tunnel where various artists were making murals condemning the current war in the Middle East. Sameer called me up and asked me if I wanted to go and document him doing his thing and I agreed. By the time we got there, most of the people had finished and left - we stayed from 8:30pm to 12:00am. It started to get really cold really fast, but we managed to stay out there for the duration of the project. While he is capable of developing very complex graffiti art, this was a pretty straight forward piece.

Enjoy the pictures...

Sameer | Artist Shoot

Sameer is an Egyptian artist who is somewhat of a local legend in the community. We both grew up in Staten Island, New York City - where he had started his art at an early age. His specialty lies in complex graffiti art and murals - some of the work I've seen is truly impressive. Tomorrow, he'll be doing a session from 6pm to 9pm at NCSU's Freedom Expression Tunnel calling for peace to the war going on in the Middle East. We thought it would be a great idea to get him a photo-shoot for promotional materials.

After about thirty minutes of playing around, we wound up with two shots that he really liked:

First Shoot Ever - Favorite Baby Pictures

So, I was going through my archives of 2006-2007 and came across a few of my favorite pictures from a baby session I did when I first started. Actually, this was my first photo-shoot ever and armed with a Rebel XT and a Canon 50/1.8, I ambitiously went at it with hopes of bigger projects and larger ventures to come. Little did I know how much work was ahead of me and how far I would come. These might not be the most genius baby pictures in the world, but they hold a very special place in my heart - they were my first attempt at photographic portraiture art and these were the first pictures I was ever paid to take. The only thing I had back then was a fist full of hope and a heart full of vision - before the taxes, before the stresses of business, before the constant struggle to refine the art for the sake of staying competitive, and before the investments in advertising. These were taking for the pure love of taking pictures and being paid $80 for them left such a satisfying feeling in my heart back then. I had lived off of milk and oatmeal for two months to save for that camera and lens. Anyway, enough about me, here we go...

Brothers

This past Thanksgiving break, I went up to NYC to see my family. Luckily, my uncle from Delaware was over, too, and with him came the boys. I don't know what it is with us, but a lot of the boys in family have a thing with wrestling. My brother and I would go at it until we'd get yelled at or until one of us gave up - my little cousins are no different. 

First, have to load up on Oreos for energy...

Then we get to gladiator business...

The victor gets to warm up under the blanket. To this day, I'm surprised how cold the living room gets in the winter, yet, everyone still insists on chilling there (no pun intended).

And finally, the digital age - playing arcade games on the Blackberry.

The Magazine Initiative

I'm happy to announce that our print media advertising for the year is officially complete. We're being featured in the extremely popular Weddings Magazine and Saathee (a publication targeted at the local Southeast Asian community). Both publications are free and can be found throughout North Carolina. Weddings Magazine has 15,000 copies distributed through Wedding Expos, top bridal boutiques, and popular wedding venues. Saathee can be found at various Pakistani and Indian boutiques, stores, and restaurants. 

So now, about The Magazine Initiative...

From now to February 25th 2009, any future prospective clients who bring one of these magazines with them will get a 10% discount on their total package price. This is a huge deal and provides for some great savings. All you have to do is bring a copy of either magazine to the consultation meeting and you will qualify for the discount. 

If you're not getting married, this provides for an awesome gift, too. if you know someone who is engaged, get them a free copy of either magazine and hook them up with hundreds of dollars in savings!

Azra + Omar | Couple's Session

This was a quick and clean session - maybe 15 minutes long total. The sun was going down and it was an extremely overcast day, so the light was fleeting fast. I had just enough time to play around with off camera lighting for a backlit shot - everything else is shot via ambient. With everything around us wet and soggy, I decided to make the most of my time and get the couple very clean cut compositions. At the end, I have a group shot of these guys with Nadia and Muj from the previous post - both shoots were back to back. The group shot had lot of post production work done on it as I only had one speedlite on me and it only managed to light up Muj in the foreground.