Shoot a wedding on an iPhone?

Well, you can't... well, you can, but it's going to be pretty low-fi ya know... Yeah, you could do it if that's all you had... You can print 6x4's You can make yourself a wedding album on instagram. You could print a little book for all your guests as a mementos...

But that's not what this post is about... This post is about the attitude attached.

I was driving out to Healsville sanctuary yesterday with the family, Seb was asleep and M and I were talking about photography, I was trying to work out if I should get a certain type of camera - we eventually managed to get to talking about how photographers are an opinionated bunch, me included, and we are... You know, if someone posted "I can only get someone with an iPhone to take my photos" in one of the professional forums on the internet, that person would be laughed off, escorted out, ridiculed... But why? If that's all they could afford / if that's all they wanted... if that's all... then who are we to judge? I used to be one of those people - so worried about my gear / the gear people used to define their work that I was missing the point... Generally it ain't the 'professionals' that are all about the gear, it's the fauxfessionals or the amateurs with a 9 to 5 and a serious hobby / gear addiction. I'm the first to admit, I love tech, I love gadgets and I love my iPhone... I'll get a 5 as soon as I've got the moolah. But we have to remember, it ain't the gear that defines us, its what we create with whatever we have...

The only reason I can think of that there's all this worry and talking down to people doing the best with what they can is that, people with nice gear and more experience are going to lose work to this army of iPhone equipped photographer types? If you're worried, work harder, set yourself apart from someone with a phone camera or a point and shoot (does anyone bother with a point & shoot anymore?)

If that's not the reason, then what is?

This is a creative industry, why then are our collective creative brains so against people using different ways to create their art? 90% of the population can't tell what your photo, 600px wide on a blog or Facebook was created with... Yes, if you're printing a sweet wedding album, then you're going to notice... If you're printing large, then you're probably going to notice... well, the pixel peepers amongst us will... I had a friend in my office recently, he picked up a print I'd done on my Canon Pixma, it was a 5x7 of a coffee photograph I'd taken with my iPhone... when I told him what I'd shot it on, he was blown away...

Attitude, Snobbery and Hate, there's no place for it... 

Boy with the gun | Music Friday

It's still Friday, though quite late here in Melbourne, as I wait for America to wake up for a couple of calls I need to make, I'm listening to David Sylvian - it just never gets old. Secrets of the Beehive[If you can, you should]

I've seen David Sylvian live in concert once (as opposed to dead, in concert?) in London at the concert hall on Southbank... It was experimental, random, a touch crazy - but this album, Secrets of the Beehive, it's different and less manic. It's more a car ride in a sweet old convertible - a sunny afternoon in the country.

I'm still listening to David, and I'm still waiting for people to get out of bed - I've also just had news that I'm going to be part of a cool new up-coming project! Stay tuned for that one! [Social Media for ******** and promoting a wicked ******** that's not even out yet]

Photos today - no Canon photographs, but a couple of iPhone photographs I liked, here's one below that I used in my 52 self portrait series... I don't have a name for it, thoughts? I went to a 'gallery opening' t'other night - it was all about street photography.. There was a room full of some awesome photographs and some crap, but the thing that interested me the most was this - half of it was Leica / Olympus etc, the rest was iPhone! And the best bit - hardly anyone knew the difference... Make art... Why not...

I quite liked the photo above - it's a bit of fun, edited in Lightroom, capture with my iPhone and an OlloClip Fisheye lens (Best $70 you'll ever spend on your iPhone, honest!)

Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens for iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S

Sunlight falls, their wings open wide.

Tell me, I've still a lot to learn - understand, these fires never stop.

How to pose a model, part one...

This is a VERY serious* post on just some of the ways you may pose a model at a club night, I will simply show you a set of images and you can try the ones that work best for you. Please note, all 'models' were under the influence of at least some alcohol, some were under the influence of about as much alcohol as a small jet plane burns between Sydney and Brisbane... [minor nsfw]

More after the *slurp* ....semi-graceful fall down the steps to the ladies room! [jump!]

*please note, there are two boobs after the jump! if you're offended by boobs, well* 

There's really only one place to go from here if you're not getting the 'coverage' you're after... (If a BOOB offends you, please, smash your screen NOW!) simply 'get 'em out' (Though, your friends may not like it so much!)

I hope this post has given you a grasp of what NOT to do when shooting club nights...

*yes, this post was a bit of a joke!*

Social media for Photographers

Should you be a part of every social network?  - No. Should you be a part of any social network at all? - Yes.

I have a good friend, he's not very 'social media' friendly, I mean, he's always busy and he's always working and doing quite well with his photography. He has a blog that he posts on once in a blue moon (however often that actually is, in this case it's not very often) and he tweets, but not really in a 'selling himself' kind of way - just a 'this is what I'm doing today' kind of way. He shares his work via Twitter and Instagram form time to time. He doesn't like Facebook and we've not even touched on the topic of Google+ yet...

Is he doing it all wrong? Could he be getting more work? - No & Maybe

He's currently doing what he can handle doing without bringing someone else in to assist, he's not having to gouge out chunks of time that he doesn't have - he's getting his name out there. But, is he doing it wrong? Well, I personally don't think there's a wrong way to do social media - as different ways work for different people / companies / industries.

There are certainly ways that don't work very well with the majority of people, but they still work with a select few. For example, the pushy, sales only type of social media approach. It's not my thing. Consider this for a minute, you've finished work on a Friday afternoon and you've gone to the bar with your workmates, you're there having a nice cold beverage and someone walks in, pulls up next to you and starts offering for you to buy his photographs, you don't say anything so he says it again... "Buy my photographs, Hire me!" ...this keeps happening until you leave the bar and go to another.  You didn't go to that bar to be sold at, and Facebook / Twitter etc, they're pretty much the same - they started out as a way for friends to communicate - you have to remember that first. Social media marketing needs to be a lot more give than take by businesses.

I personally think that you have a great opportunity to reach an audience that you could generate a sale from, raise awareness in or become a valuable part of by using multiple social media channels.

Feed your audience ice cream, they may just come back for more.

Next Week : Don't Make Your Audience Jump Through hoops for you....

Sime

Social Media for Photographers - Part Three

I know I said we'd be talking about keywords and stuff like that today, but I've changed my mind... I have decided that I'd talk about what 'social' actually is, or, what it should be when done well...

• When you walk into a room, what's the first thing you say?
• When you answer the telephone, do you say "Buy our camera bags, they're awesome!"
• What about at a trade-show, do you bother with "hello" or skip straight to  "will that be cash or card"

...you say HELLO! just like a normal person [mostly] would do!

That's right... Social media is about being social! I know, it's hard to fathom in today's look down, walk quickly, don't talk to anyone society - but online (most of the time) you don't get beaten up for saying hello to a random stranger, infact, largely it's encouraged!

Social media for business is a little different, but not THAT different... You do need to find the happy medium based on your audience - and most audiences are very different... Let's take for example two of my clients (both photography related) - one has a couple of hundred thousand users, the other only has about thirty thousand, the large one is dominated by people that don't like much confrontation, and are generally quite timid, whilst the smaller network is full of working pros, they take whatever you give them, they understand criticism and critique for what it is. That said, applied to my little social model here, the larger group generally like to be 'fed' a certain way via the means we use [Blog -> Facebook -> Twitter -> LinkedIn] using NetworkedBlogs and how we feed them certainly wouldn't work for the smaller lot - they prefer more informative kinds of content, less basic, a bit more chewy...

What I'm trying to say is identify and get to know your audience - create plates of yummy food [content] that they like to eat [read] and serve it hot, daily... Don't go overboard - if you feed them too much they may burst and that would be messy... if you don't feed them enough, they're going to starve... Find that balance and stick to it...

If you're 'not available to post' schedule something via Wordpress as we talked about yesterday, Wordpress is great for scheduling content, and if you use NetoworkedBlogs you can feed it out via your other social networks to make sure everyone gets enough of you...

• Know your audience
• Work out how often you should talk to them
• Find out what they like talking about [polls, comments]

...but the MOST important thing you're going to learn for today... IF YOU POST AND SOMEONE REPLIES, REPLY BACK TO THEM... If your audience are going to take the time to say something to you / your brand, be it bad or good, make sure you take the time to thank them for their comment / content... Try and get a feel for what they're like / what they are like from the way they  post or interact and be on their level. Let me give you a great example of how NOT to run a Twitter account!... 185,818 angry people... Say something, don't just stand there!? The same as getting on stage and saying.... nothing? [or is it?]...how many Tweets?

Then there's the classic "you will listen to what we have to say, you will like it, we will keep saying it!"  Now, I love Phil Jones Bass gear, I play bass and I have a PJB Amp / Cab... but what I don't love and what I've tried to help with is their social media... this is what they have currently..

Here... let me 'real world' that for you...

LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME

Tomorrow... is Saturday, I may well write something tonight and automatically post it tomorrow! Or, as most of you are reading this from work whilst trying to look busy, I'll just wait until Monday! Either way, have a great weekend...

--Sime