Thursday 30 October 2008

What I learned from Tiger Woods


Tiger Woods. Don't know about you, but I am just blown away at how gifted this golfer is. Not sure if there will ever be someone like him who will dominate that game the way he does. But for me I believe that Tiger's continued success was helped by him making one major decision in his career as a golfer and that was to "change his swing".


After knee surgery in 2002, Tiger knew he needed to change his swing otherwise his knee was not going to hold up for another season of golf. So he, to the shock of the golfing world, fired his swing coach Butch Harmon, and proceed to make adjustments to change his swing.
What resulted was no wins in 2003 and 2004. Yet through this time Tiger never seemed to second guess his decision. Then finally in 2005, he won his first open, the Buick Open in January and from that point has continued winning.


I love this quote from Tiger, "Have I ever second-guessed it? No," Mr. Woods said in early ‘05. "I took some steps backward to go forward, to make some giant leaps forward."


I have followed Tigers example and started to restructure my business this fall and winter. And I am excited by the steps I have taken. To some it may seem futile, but then again that is what people seemed to feel about Tiger changing his swing and coming back even stronger.


So here's my question for the day.


As a photographer, what do you need to "change" in your game to see improvements and growth and a sense of life come back again ?


Do you need to be open to a new photographic style or grow in your photoshop application to your style ?
Do you need to start a blog ?
Do you need to update your website?
Do you need to update your prices ?


Give it some thought.


Will talk more about Change in Life tomorrow.


Blessings,
Rockie


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Monday 27 October 2008

Romance Novel Posing (Part 2)

Here are some more covers with great ideas.
Have fun practising them !
Rockie
























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Posing Ideas from Romance Novels (part 1)

Hey everyone,


So... recently I made a bit of a trip out to Toronto and while there stayed at my relatives. The room I was staying in happen to have a ton, like almost wall to wall romance novels. I was like blown away by them all !

I remember one day I think it was my good friend Scott Robert Lim who talked about how on the covers of Romance novels are amazing concepts to posing. So I decided to do a bit of investigation on this idea. And wouldn't you know it ? He was right !


Check out the samples. Let me know what you think. I personally think they are dang great ideas on what to do with a couple, their hands and feel. Great ideas for say...... an engagement session !


Blessings,


Rockie





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Are You Tired ??? !!!


















Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the silence of recent. I have been freakin busy as I am most sure all of you are too. Do you ever think you don't have enough time in a day to get all that you have to get done, done ? I sure do.

Well, I will have some new posts up shortly as well as our V-LOG should be up and running shortly also.

Talk to you all soon,

Rockie

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Wednesday 15 October 2008

Flash Video: Adding Gel's for Background fun !

Just ran across this great video by David Hobby from Strobist. If you have not seen or read his blog yet, you need to. It is one of the best resources for Flash Photography for Photographers.

Have a look at this video and see if you can adapt what David is doing for your next gig.

Don't forget to share wtih us what your shots look like.

Blessings,

Rockie



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Monday 13 October 2008

Flash photography

Just found this image on google. It's pretty cool..... check it out.


Rock

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5D mk2 Coming Soon !



Don't know about you guys but I have to say I am pretty stoked for the arrival of the 5D mk2.


Not only is it better with Newer technology..... but it is even more affordable than the original 5D was ! How crazy is that !




It is 21mpix with iso rating as high as 25,000 and to top that off, it shoots HD video !




Don't believe me ... check theses links out !







Vincent Laforet borrowed the 5Dmk2 Beta for 72 hrs and made this kick ass short movie.



Make sure that once you have seen the actual movie that you go and watch the "behind the scenes" movie on how he actually made it. You can find it on his blog as well.


For image comparisons goto here


scroll through until you have found the images where it compares 6400iso, 12000, and 25000 !



Have fun.

Rockie


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Sunday 12 October 2008

If you really have time this weekend.....

Ok.. so I saw this clip posted by Darren Rowse from ProBlogger and man it was just fascinating. Now I know some of you might be thinking, "where is Rockie going with all this stuff and what does it have to do with Photography ?"
All I will say is that there is a huge powerful social network out there that I believe photographers are not making use of to increase sales and growth of their business. My desire for all of you who read this blog is to be aware of the resources that are out there that may make the difference for your "business" either now or in the future.
Anyways, check this out and see if there is anything that resonates with you.

Peace,

Rockie


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Saturday 11 October 2008

Do you have a "LIKEABILITY" Factor ?


Recently I have been reading a great book about "Likeability" or the
"L Factor".

To be truthful, I orginally didn't give this book too much thought,but as I started to do my own little survey with friends and family members on why they chose a "certain" photographer over others they had met, I began to realize that "Likeability" was the deciding factor.....Above price point or packages or services !


I am thoroughly convinced that the next wave of business will be heavily focused on both "Likeability" and "Service".


Have you ever defined whether or not you are "likeable" ?


I would have to say that this book that Tim has written has really defined what "likeability" is and very practically outlined how one can grow in this area. Tim has even included at the end of the book a "Likeability Test" to help people gain a bit of outlook on where they stand and what areas they can improve in. Could it be that you have plateaued due to your "L Factor" ?


More thoughts to come about this. But for now check out the book and Tim's Blog.


Rockie




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I.E. 2009 Instructors list !

Hey all,

Some of you have seen the list already on our Facebook group (find us there if you have FB) or on our Myspace site.... but just in case you have not seen who is coming here is the list. We have a bunch of NEW INSTRUCTORS for I.E. and let me tell you... they are killer Instructors.

I will have bios and images and web links up for you all just as soon as I get all their information.

Until then check it out and if you have any questions, just send me a message or post a comment.

Blessings

Rockie

*************************************************************************
I.E. 2009 Instructors

Advanced Portrait: Greg and Lisa Daniel

Complete Studio: Doug Box

Contemporary Wedding: Scott Robert Lim

Children/Babies/ Maternity: Lori Nordstrom

Contemporary portraits/Marketing : Vicki and Jed Tauffer

Business of photography: Andre Amyot

Creative photography : (These are 2 separate Courses !)

1. Joe Glyda and Carol Andrews

2. Arthur Rainville (NEW PROGRAM)

Advanced Photoshop: Jack Davis

Digital Workflow & BOOT CAMP (with LIGHTROOM) : Kevin Kubota

Painter Course : Jane Conner Ziser

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Friday 10 October 2008

Hello All !

Welcome to our NEW Image Explorations Blog Page !

We are now starting our next stage of Communition with you all. We know that in the long run this will be both an benefit and resource for you all who attend Image Explorations and for those who are just finding out about I.E. !

What use to be our Blog which was found on myspace is now our "V-LOG" !
This has been a long dream of mine in bring us one step closer to having a great magazine and resource center for all photographers nation wide.

Starting Oct. 15th, 2008, our "myspace" site will now only feature, slideshows, and Videos ! We will have monthly product reviews and interviews with master photographers and IE alumni attendees. (link is on the side bar !)

For our blog here, we will be posting articles, images, and information pertaining to I.E., including Instructor articles and bios.

If you would be interested in writing and submitting articles to our blog please send them in to my email addy with the subject: IE Blog article. And I will put it on our calendar and post it up here on our blog !

All articles written by Alumni of I.E. can be about your studio, your work, product review, sharing info, or thought about photography.

Looking forward to meeting more and more of you as we write and post.

Be Blessed,

Rockie

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