Quoted for truth…

Show your money maker!

Every visual artist with a portfolio has one piece that makes up a client’s mind as to whether or not to book them.

Their entire portfolio may be exceptional…but there will always be that one image, clip, or layout that strikes a cord with the audience.

But how do you know which pieces are “the ones”?
I can tell you that from experience… my most “successful” images have been the ones that I did because I felt them. I felt so strongly about the images, either while shooting or editing, that I just knew that I had made something I was proud of.

My portfolio is a collection of images that I like. Of course I’m careful about what I show, but ultimately if I don’t like it, I’m not going to show it.
But am I limiting my potential work?
Maybe…
However…what I’m showing is me.

I can spend hours shooting, editing, and retouching images, in hopes that a particular client or magazine will love them and want use them.
But what if they don’t?
If it wasn’t something I had my heart in…what is the value of that work now that no one else likes?

I used to worry about shooting for other people…I loved hearing feedback (still do), but that’s what I was shooting for…Validation.
At the end of the day when the ticker tape parade stopped, and the excitement over the latest greatest shoot was over… I was still stuck with images I didn’t truly think represented me as a photographer or as an artist.

The point is…we can tweek our ideas, concepts, and art towards clients…but ultimately the client hires an artist for their unique perspective. I doubt most clients want some cookie cutter remake of something they’ve done before.

Produce work for you… and FIND the clients that want your work.

Of course bills and rent don’t always allow for this mentality…but at the end of the day, when it’s time to be creative and have fun doing what you love…

Why do it for someone other than yourself?

What I’m reading

For the last 3 weeks or so I have been stripped of my main connection to the outside world…my computer.
Without being able to be entertained constantly with Facebook and StumbleUpon, and being thoroughly tired of every pathetic excuse for T.V. show on the boob tube. I resorted to the archaic practice of reading books!

I typically have a couple books in rotation at all time, just to keep my wits sharp (or dull them with mindless fiction). But these last few weeks my arsenal has grown to a whopping !

…I have become a bookworm.

The first book (one I’ve just finished) is World War Z by Max Brooks.
This book is a great read! Its told from the point of view of a researcher interviewing the survivors of World War Z (the zombie war). Each “chapter” is broken down into little stories from each survivor, elaborating on his/her accounts of the war.
Brooks does a fantastic job of giving each “Survivor” their own voice and personality, and in doing so makes for a truly interesting, inspiring, funny, and sad piece of reading. Definitely pick this one up!

This next book is by the same author (actually published before the aforementioned WWZ book). The Zombie Survival Guide Is just that…
A survival guide.
It reads like an instruction manual, complete with rudimentary illustrations, and “Dick and Jane” examples. Having read WWZ before this one, I had a heads up on most some of the things he covers. Like which gun is best? You’d think a machine gun right?…Wrong! I’m only around 60 pages in, but this book is funny! It takes a very serious tone to protecting oneself agains the “eventual” rising of the dead. Later on in the book he gives “real” accounts and stories (which I can only assume was the inspiration for writing WWZ), which should be just as fascinating as the rest of this one! If you have a fear of zombies, or are into books that take themselves too seriously (on purpose) this is a must have. I’d read WWZ first, It’ll help add some humor to the instructional part of the book.

To keep with the end of the world theme I also picked up The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
I’m only about 30 pages in on this one as well, but so far the characters are incredible. This story is about a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world. They are travelling south to avoid the harsh winter, and along the way come across many challenges and choices that really make this book worth reading. This is the same author who wrote No Country for Old Men so if you’ve read that one… you’ll be familiar with McCarthy’s writing style. If not… the best way to describe it is disjointed. McCarthy has a knack for great characters and descriptions of scenes, but it can be tough to follow sometimes without the typical format of: “The man said ‘….’” McCarthy ‘s character dialog floats between the father and son, and occasionally requires a re-read of a paragraph to cure confusion. Flash backs are rampant and unannounced, which often blend in to the story you thought you were following.
Don’t get me wrong… I love McCarthy’s writing style, but for those not used to it… It can be a shock. Nonetheless this is a must read, just for the simple fact it won the Pulitzer Prize. (No I haven’t seen the movie)

On the lighter side of things I’m reading Russel Brand’s Autobiography, My Booky Wook.
Brand is an English stand up comedian most popular for his role as the eccentric rocker Aldus Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I picked this book up because I think this man is hilarious. His attitude, and delivery are classic, and believe it or not can be found in his writing. This guy writes just like he talks…with all the “innit’s”, “mum’s”, and “wanka’s” Brand’s accent is readily prevalent while reading. So far its just ok… but again… I’m only a few pages in, and I’m sure once I get to the good stuff… the good times will roll!

Last but not least is a book I have read before. I’m re-reading it because it was one of the greatest reads of all my life.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

This book is by far the funniest book I have ever read in my 31 years on this earth. Never have I laughed so hard at the written word, nor have I had to put a book down for fear of having an aneurism from laughing so much.
Tucker Max (The main character and author) is the stereotypical college douchebag. He’s rude, he’s obnoxious, he’s disrespectful to anyone and everyone, and he has the most crazy adventures in the world.
Have you seen The Hangover? Ok… take that movie, and multiply it by 100 (or how ever many Tucker Max stories there are). My favorite “friend” that joins Tucker on virtually every adventure is called Slingblade…(gonna leave that for you to find out). He’s introduced in the chapter “Everyone has THAT friend”. From that point on…you’ll never look at going out to bars and chatting to people the same again! Of all the books I’m reading…This is by far the one you MUST read. On a side note, I have the original paperback version which has since been discontinued and replaced with a “movie Tie in” version which supposedly concentrates on stories associated with the movie. (No I have not seen the movie…I don’t want to ruin the incredible awe this book has provided)

So that’s it… for right now… These should keep me busy for a while.

Are you guys reading anything awesome?

Looking over your shoulder…[EXPLICIT]

A photographer once told me…”if you spend time looking over your shoulder, how can you concentrate on moving forward” -Liz Von Hoene

Those of you who are familiar with Chase Jarvis, know that he is a progressive guy. He loves to share knowledge, he truly gets excited by the opportunity to help someone by giving away what he knows. Just yesterday, Chase announced a collaborative effort to offer free LIVE classes via a new website called Creative Live. Here you will be able to enroll in FREE class taught by some of the top WORKING professionals in the industry. Like Zack Arias and David Duchemin. It’s not limited to just photography either, Vincent LaForet will be teaching Video classes, the first being based on HDDSLRs.
Here is the intro video to the project, it does a better job explaining what is going on than I can.

There are a LOT of people out there who completely HATE that this is happening. Complaining that these people are just “giving away” their careers, making what may have taken them decades to learn, and giving it away to someone like me to learn it in a weekend.
To me those people are Scared. Scared that they don’t have the skills or the drive to push them selves further as the business changes and evolves. They are content with their life, and don’t want some snot nosed kid to have the ability to snatch their job away.

You know what I say to that? Grow a fucking pair!
People seem to forget that we all started from the same spot. Maybe it was hard work that got you to where you are, or maybe just plain ole luck. But just like technology changes, skill sets change, and the demand for both grows exponentially every day.
If you can’t keep up… you need to get out-of-the-way! Those nay sayers should consider this…
What Chase and his friends are doing is making it easier for people to “keep up”. They are providing the proverbial “fishing class” instead of being the haters saying, “there are some trees, you might consider making yourself a fishing rod… that’s what I had to do.”

I’ve always been the kind of guy that likes sharing what he knows. In school I would leave the studio doors open during shoots, I constantly help friends, and other photographers with techniques and Photoshop. But is that what has kept me from being successful? Are these people taking the knowledge I’m giving them and using it to take what is “rightfully mine”. NO. I am failure for a multitude of other reasons, none of which even remotely relates to “paying it forward”. If my position in life and the industry is to be a stepping stone for others, so be it. Thats not what I want, but by god if I’m not going to be the best step I can be, while climbing my own set of stairs.

Keep an open mind, move forward, or your ass is going to get left behind.

Now lets see how many followers and friends I lose after this one lol

to dance, or not to dance?

Thanks to Chase Jarvis for inspiring this post!

Of all my shortcomings in life I think the biggest one I have found is that I’m a wimp.
I’ve always been one to take the safe road, and made sure I knew what is in store along the way. Always worrying about what others thought, I became just another…copy.

But I’ve come to realize that with anything in life, the greatest rewards, come with the greatest risks. At some point fear has to be sign to move forward, not back. Where would we be if people didn’t take a risk, didn’t say “who cares what they think”?
Taking a leap, not caring where you land or what may happen on the way, means that you are absolutely free to be who you are.

Unique.

How many times in your life can you say, “That was me…I did that”? Or even better, “I was the first!”?

The Re-Edit, March.

Time for another “Re-Edit”.
This month I chose a shoot I did back in June ’07, just before my graduation from AIA. At the time I was interning for Liz Von Hoene. Being the sweet person Liz is, she offered to let me use her studio (BIG Studio) for a day of shooting.

I took full advantage!

I booked 2 shoots that day, the first was with Hannah. It was short notice when I was told the studio would be available, so getting a stylist didn’t happen, but I managed to book 2 makeup artists, one of which happened to have a few garments with her. I stayed late the day before to paint the prop boxes after my usual painting of the Cyc wall. Everything was as ready as it was going to get. I began shooting, trying out different things, and realizing how much a location (in this case the studio cyc), and equipment, can influence the look of the photography. I achieved a quality of light that I had never produced before. Everything seemed to just click. The makeup was fantastic, Hannah was exceptional, and I was literally jumping up and down with excitement over the images popping up on the screen!
I didn’t shoot a lot, because it seemed that EVERYTHING was awesome. See the original edit here.

So when it came to re-working this shoot, I didn’t have a lot of images to choose from, but at the same time, it was still very hard to pick favorites, they still strike me as great images. A couple times during this process, I thought about doing a different shoot, just because I kept wanting to go back to some of the original picks. But in the end, I resolved that I didn’t have to make an entirely different editorial out of this shoot. So as it stands, it’s really more of a slide show of “outtakes” rather than a full on edit. There are a couple of images that I will probably change out in the original edit after going back and doing this.  I think it will reflect a little more of my changing sensibilities.

Anyway, here it is, straight from the camera, no touchups, no nothin’, here is March’s Re-Edit, Hannah.

more about “The Re-Imagining of Rich Meade, Hanna…“, posted with vodpod

Again, the compression applied to get it on Vimeo has messed with the quality, the HD version (fullscreen) looks better. But let me know how it looks to you guys… (still learning this video mumbo jumbo)

Podcasts…why didn’t someone tell me about these!?!?

In yesterday’s post I mentioned podcasts as a potential way that I could keep the flow of knowledge coming in while working on
something else…In particular my love handles.

I downloaded a couple “episodes” to give them a shot, and was pleasantly surprised at how much faster the workout time seemed to go.
“Great! What else will this work for?”
Facing a daunting load of retouching, or as its come to be called “editing”, I opted to listen to a podcast that I wasn’t quite sure about.
The Nerdist podcast. Hosted by Chris Hardwick (ya know this guy, he used to host the show Remote Control on MTV), anyway, Chris and his comedian buddies just basically shoot the shit for an hour, and occasionally have guests.

I’m delving into my work, and I have my headphones on, and 2 minutes in I am laughing my ass off. The Nerdist guys are hysterical! It’s an uncensored show, so there are obscenities flying left and right, they are dogging celebrities, movies, whatever their mind comes across. Before I know it, I have reached the end of the hour-long broadcast, and I have gotten through my quota* of images (*when retouching I set an hourly goal for the amount of shots I want to get done). Not only was I productive, but I was entertained at the same time, so much so that I downloaded another 2 episodes to listen while I finished the remainder of my work for the evening.

Some of you have no doubt discovered podcasts a very long time ago, so this nothing new, and I apologize for wasting your time. Not really, you do have a “back” button. But for those of you… like me… that haven’t really discovered the awesomeness that are podcasts you should really give them a shot.

Time Management.

Over the past week, things have picked up significantly.
I joined Facebook which allowed me to catch up with tons of people I haven’t heard from in a while. It has even drummed up a few money-making opportunities. Friends are calling me up, and texting me to go hang out, have lunch, grab a drink. It’s awesome!
My retouching business has picked up, which is really an understatement, because I have been slammed the entire weekend with work. Both new customers, and returning clients are needing a lot of work done.

By no means am I complaining on any level, but the reality is that I have been such a hermit, and recluse for so long, that I have gotten into a day-to-day routine that is somewhat productive, but not as efficient as it could be. That’s not to say that I’m not getting my client work done! That is first priority of course, but the amount I’m working on lately has made me aware of where I’m lacking in other areas.
With Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and the myriad of other “informative” distractions, I find I sometimes lose a good 2-3 hours just flipping tabs on my browser.

So I’ve decided to come up with a schedule, and some creative ideas to solve my lack of productiveness.

1. Alternate research subjects from day-to-day. Instead of just Stumbling from Art, Photography, Design, Typography, etc. I intend to focus on subject a day. I’m beginning to feel that the enormous amount of info I get each day is blending together. On some levels thats good, but I think overall its bad.

2. Cut off the internet during my “peak” hours. Everyone has a time frame during the day that they are most productive, the most focused. For some it is early in the morning, others in the afternoon. Me…It’s at 12am. I don’t know why, maybe it is the fact there isn’t much to do at midnight, but when the clock strikes 12, I am a PS maniac. The only thing that hinders this productivity, is the aforementioned “informative” distractions.

3. Get my lazy ass up and exercise in the morning, instead of the afternoon. I, like most people, feel spectacular after working out. Not only getting the body energized, but I feel good emotionally too. This should go a long way to help productivity.
To aid in my motivation to get up and exercise, I have started downloading Podcasts. After a while, music just becomes monotonous, and if you are like me, your playlist is so varied from song to song that maintaining a rhythm is virtually impossible. Podcasts are like listening to buddies ramble on and on, but about something you choose for them to talk about. Here is my opportunity to get my “informative” distractions while getting my fat ass in shape!

We’ll see how all this goes… I’m not really quantifying my productivity by an output of work, but really how I feel at the end of the day when I hit the sack. I wanna feel like I used my time efficiently and that I got as much out of the day as I could.

What do you do to maintain your productivity?

Old School

The other day, while rummaging around the garage, I found an old hard drive.
No labels, no writing, no cords or cables.
Having no faith that it would work at all, I took it to my room. Miraculously I found a USB cable to fit it (one of those square’ish connections…(no doubt pre-USB 2.0). I also lucked out that the power cord from another drive happened to fit. I clicked it on, let it get up to speed, plugged it into the laptop, and now the fingers are crossed.

Believe it or not, it mounted. The hopeful orange icon, “untitled”, now sat on my desktop.

One click in, I see a single folder… labeled “Fotos”. I stop there and fire up Adobe Lightroom. LR does it’s thing, and I see that there are 11,443 images. Not bad. The Drive has images ranging from as early as March 2004, to November ’06. It’s literally all “old school” images.

Seeing all these images, some that I haven’t looked at since first putting them on this drive is really fantastic. It’s like looking through an old family album, it’s virtually the same thing I know, but its different because it’s all Me. I had the concepts, did the production, shot the images, and did the post work. I get flashbacks of all of that, while looking through this “time capsule”.

My question is… How often do you go back to old stuff? I mean waaaaaay back even to the beginning.
I know 6 years isn’t really that long ago, but to me it seems like an eternity. When you get a chance…dig up an old hard drive, portfolio, or box of slides and see how far you’ve come.

Flickr

So in following many many photographers on Twitter, I have noticed quite a few utilize flickr as a place to show off work.  My archaic thinking led be to believe that you should only post the good stuff, and it should be on your website.
Suffice to say, my point of view has changed.
In my efforts to become more visible to the world, I have to take every opportunity to share what I’m doing/done as much as I can (without being annoying). So I’ve created a flickr account to post (for the time being) images that just don’t belong anywhere…yet.
I could have easily put them here, but I think this blog has enough randomness to it already, and a simple link to my “photostream” should be just fine.

My flickr photostream

There isn’t much there right now, but as I get familiar with the site, and cruise through the archives a little more, there should be plenty of random images that I think are cool, but just don’t fit.
If you are on flickr hit me up!