Q&A - What do you value in photography?

I asked a handful of you what you value in photography. Here are your answers. Thank you for your participation.

• Lighting
• Composition
• Reasonable price
• High quality images
• Style
• Photographer’s ability to direct a shoot
• Willingness to listen and implement client’s wishes
• Ability to catch special moments
• Lively images
• Quality of the images
• Quick time it takes to receive said images
• Punctuality
• Creativity
• Compatible personality / quick to build a rapport
• Convey a story and do justice to their subject by setting a mood and depicting true character, whether it's the character of their subject or their opinion.
• Friendly
• Edited well
• Individuals in image look good

Are there any they missed? What do you value in photography? Please leave your answer in the comments.

My interview with Eric Cassée

      For my Portfolio Exploration course at the Art Institute, I got to interview a professional photographer in my area. It was awesome, so I want to share it here on the blog!

1.       Who is your target market?

Eric Cassée –That is a tough one. I have primarily 3, High end portrait, fashion, and beauty. High end is like Esquire, Wire, that kind of thing.  Shooting stars, politicians and regular people. In art and commerce, beauty, that is subjective. It is up to the beholder to determine if it is appropriate for advertisements as opposed to commercial.

 ©Eric Cassée

 

2.       Do you have a printed portfolio? What do you usually use it for? When did you stop using a physical portfolio?

Eric -Yes. It is invaluable as a tangible way to market myself to have something to talk about at a meeting. I can tell people about the prints they are passing around. This way people remember me as well as my art. It is an association thing. Even if they will be seeing stuff they have already seen on the site. Secondly, when it goes with Wonderful Machine (a company that represents artists and drive art directors, publishers to their site as well as assist the artists with marketing).  Then all the prospective clients will look at the portfolio along with several others to choose which artist fits their bill.

©Eric Cassée

 

3.       What types of portfolios do you use?

Eric - Both printed portfolio and website. You have to have a website.

4.       What colors and fonts do you use in your marketing materials and/or portfolio? Did you choose these or hire a designer?

Eric- I chose them. It is all custom; some people used designers. The color is white and minimal linear font as not to distract from the images.

 ©Eric Cassée

 

5.       Where have you shared your portfolio (if printed)?

Eric - Anytime I go to a meeting with an advertising agency or magazine. Any meeting where I am trying to get hired.  Editorial publications and even businesses.

6.       How often do you update your portfolio?

Eric- The web one is always in flux, sometimes with a magazine, I have to wait until it is published. With personal stuff I post it already. On my Tumbler I update it at least once a month. The books are about 600 dollars to print, so I don’t update it any more often than once a year.

 ©Eric Cassée

 

7.       Are your images displayed in any particular order?

Eric- Nah, yeah, sortof. They are scategorized. Online they are pretty organized, in the print they are organized by mood. I like to open and close the book with vivid images with a lot of red in them.

8.       Do you have any advice for emerging photographers when it comes to portfolios, what to do, what not to do, etc?

Eric- Yeah, I think that a lot of people get stuck in the rut where they fill their portfolio with market specific stuff. It is better to demonstrate what you love that you are good at and something that is different while also showing that you are technically proficient to do what the client wants. These shoots generally take 12 hours. Clients need you to be honest about your skill set so they can pair you with the right project. Be identifiable. Shoot what you love. Don’t clutter it up with a lot of subject matter that is all over the place. You need to tell who you are in just 25 to 30 images that leave a distinct impression. Don’t clutter the page with crazy text or graphics either, keep it simple. 

To view more of Eric's amazing work, check out his website at http://www.ericcassee.com or like his Facebook page at /EricCasseePhotography

What does a photographer do on Date Night?

After dropping off the kids with a friend, my husband and I went to Chipotle, watched Despicable Me 2 and then with my camera, tripod, remote shutter release and a bag full of glow sticks from the 99¢ Store, we hunted for the perfect location. It didn't take long to find a deserted unfinished neighborhood development where a playground, and streets were established, but no houses were built. The playground had no lighting, which was what we wanted.

It took 4 tries to get this image. In retrospect, I should have picked a night where there were no clouds and a high moon. I also need to work on better focusing the camera ahead of time. I look forward to trying this again. The idea came to me and my husband after watching this video.

Woohoo! Check it out!

Short post, because it is a link of my photo series "Adults eating like Babies" on  How To Be A Dad ! Please go check it out and share!

Sugar Addict

For this series, I wanted to look into addictions. My father passed away 5 years ago with hardened arteries due to chronic alcoholism. I have had other family members and friends who have faced and beat addictions to harmful substances like marijuana, prescribed pain killers or cigarettes. Dietitians now say that America's expanding waistlines are due to sugar addictions. I wanted to share some images that express our need to fill a void in our lives, or at least attempt to make it more bearable. Some people escape from reality with books or internet. Others do it with hours at the gym or gossip. Reality TV is the most popular way for people to escape these days. What is your fix?

M&Ms in a pill bottle.

Candy cigarettes. We learned that they burn and char quite quickly like marshmallows.

She wasn't fond of the candy, but super stoked about the Sprite!

Big League Chew bubble gum. She spit it out and handed the bag to me. I really like bubble gum, but chewing it is not "lady like".

Can you guess what the powdered sugar was supposed to represent? My model had fun getting messy.

Mind your Manners!

Here is another personal project that I ended up using for class. Please note, I don't have a fascination with food, it is just easier to get people to model for me if I offer it to them :-) .

First off, I would like to thank Jim's Burgers and Eggs for allowing me to come take photos during their down time. I also want to thank my lovely cousin for modeling for me.

I want to challenge what is expected. As a youth, my mother made me walk around the house in high heels and books on top of my head. Elbows were never allowed on the table. In our house, the children were taught manners which aren't priority these days. This group of photos titled "Mind your Manners", has a 2-fold message. The first is pointing out how the youth these days are not expected to learn table manners. The second is for some reason manners are expected to go hand in hand with young ladies in the pageant world.

The burger and fries were delicious!

Courtney did everything perfectly wrong with little direction; it was great! Gotta make sure the dress doesn't get dirty. 

Who needs napkins? Hands work just as well!

Jim's uses shredded lettuce, making the burger even messier to eat!

She couldn't let go of the burger while eating the fries. Who knows what might happen to it?!

I was so grateful that Jim's allowed us to set up my lighting equipment. Luckily there were no other patrons there at that time to make Courtney self conscious. 

Still not gonna put that burger down to get a drink. I love her dimples!

The messy burger was to delicious to look at the camera. Did you notice her elbows on the table the whole time? Winning!

My artistic genius is recognized by my instructor as well!

I am currently taking a Digital Darkroom course with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division.

This assignment was to produce a creative collage. My 7-year-old (autistic) son was quite wiggly, explaining that he was purposely giving me different angles to capture. He is a boy after my own heart. The background is just my front yard, nothing fancy. I didn't use any special lighting technique. ISO 100,  f/14, at 1/160 sec. Golden hour sun light and my 55-200mm lens.