Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been busy and a little lazy lately. However in the time since my last post I've been mildly productive which is always a good thing.

I shot:

Some executives for online start-up company Mpire




Shot local band Ken Parker




Shot local band Madrid live.




Also made a Christmas card for my sister and her husband with a photo I took of my nephew.





The other day Mr.Strobist David Hobby made a post that has been heavily discussed in photo forums and blog circles about the topic of working for free. You can read his article here. I figured I'd throw in my $0.02 on the subject and hopefully see what others may have to say via the comments section.

As a young photographer and relative n00b to the business side of photography I see a lot of opportunity to sell myself short and work for nothing and in exchange not get anywhere or be taken seriously. Don't fool yourself into thinking I charge a ridiculous fee for shooting either, I still feel that I work for cheaper than what I am worth but there is a tradeoff between getting work and having a few extra bucks to throw around and getting no work and having no money to show for it let alone any photos.

In this day and age there are more photographers than ever throwing their hats into the ring, digital photography has really bastardized photographic media in such a way that it makes the market more competitive than ever. It's hard to even score a gig off of craigslist, why? because theres at least 10 other guys that'll do it for 50% less than you will. Will their photos be any good? maybe, but probably not. I feel that anyone who takes themselves seriously and values their craft at all would not work for free and will stand by their fees and have the portfolio to support their argument. As a photographer that is what I strive for. I want my portfolio to speak for itself so all I have to do is shoot and watch the dollars roll in. The odds of me actually accomplishing this feat are stacked up against me though.

There is something to be said for working for charitable causes, in which case working free of charge is rather saintly. If there were a cause I was particularly interested in donating my time to I would be all over it. However I have sent out e-mails to numerous charities and NPO's and have received no form of correspondence which equates to disinterest on their behalf in my eyes. So does this mean working for free is harder to come by than working for next to nothing? You be the judge.

Been somewhat busy lately, had two shoots in the last week and have another coming up. It's given me a great chance to meet some cool dudes and shoot some quality images for their myspaces and general promotion.

I shot Dressed To Kill last week:


And I shot At Night yesterday:


I'm supposed to shoot Ken Parker on the 25th, hopefully that pans out. I enjoy working with bands immensely because of how much I'm into music, it just feels like I'm contributing my part to the scene in a kind of round-about way.

All in all everything else in my life/career is going well. My new job is pretty sweet, I'm making good money and saving up for a Nikon D300. I have about $600 saved up which means I have $1000 to go. Not that much money when you take into consideration that I've saved that $600 in about a month.

Anywho, long story short I am enjoying photography more than ever and am stoked that I'm getting some new faces in my portfolio. Keep the offers coming.

Well I start a new job today.

I quit my job with the studio on Wednesday due to the fact that I simply wasn't enjoying the work. For anyone who didn't know I was working at a studio that handles school portrait contracts. Great way to burn yourself out on photography is to take the same crappy picture over and over again and not be able to do anything creative!

Anywho, I scored a job with a company based out of Gig Harbor called ArtBeads (www.artbeads.com) they are an online retailer of beads, pretty booming business apparently since they have a big staff and have been growing nonstop for the past 6 years. I got hired on as a image editor, so I work with the rest of the Art Dept. and edit images for publication on the web. During the interview I was told they wanted someone who could also help with and possible do some shooting of the products as well, so hopefully that pans out.

I suppose I'm not terribly stoked about this new job, but that's only because I just want to do stuff I'm really excited about and anything less just seems like...well, work.

I haven't done a shoot in awhile, I need to get back on it. I also need to get back on the gear purchasing train, new camera, new lights, more POCKETWIZARDS!!!

I have a few pet projects I'd like to shoot, just for portfolio use and hopefully I can pull that together by the end of the year, we'll see.

Well, I guess I better be hitting the ol' dusty trail.