Mixed up message...

I think these people had a bad line while talking to God. Maybe there was a lot of static? I'm just guessing, because their message seems to be mixed up from what I was always taught about God's infinite wisdom and compassion.

Either way, it was sad to see this kind of extremist protesting happening in Dallas, TX. I decided to shoot some of it for a project I've been working on. I'll shed more light on that in the future, but for now, here are some pics of the protest...

My Diana broke...

I found a Diana clone at an estate sale several years back for three dollars. I shot a couple rolls of film through it and then put it up on the shelf. Well, today I decided to play with it again. I took it to a shoot and pressed the shutter, but it didn't feel right. I looked at it, and it's broken!

I'm not really planning to spend the fifty bucks or so for a new production Diana - the ones sold at Urban Outfitters, on ebay and elsewhere. And, I doubt that I'll find another one at a garage or estate sale anytime soon.

Oh well, it's not a big deal. I still have four Holgas, which are very similar to the Diana. I've also got some other "toy" cameras that I should pull back out. But, still... I'm sad that my vintage Diana clone is broken.

Photocrew...

I'm looking into Photocrew.com to see if it adds any value to a photographer's current networking and social media plan. Does anyone currently use their site? I just found out about it through an ASMP bulletin. Anyone know if it's worth my time to start visiting regularly?

Can you spot the photog?

I am pretty easy to spot in a room full of dancers. I am the one who doesn't know how to dance. But, I do know how to take some nice pictures. I'll post a link to the dance photos when the story comes out in The Dallas Morning News soon.

The youngest...

I need to take more pictures of my youngest boy. He'll only be this size once...

GOOOOOAAAALLL!!!!!!!

I am not a very sporty guy. I don't follow any professional teams for any professional sports. I don't watch games on television and rarely go to a sporting event. I just have other interests, like music, photography, my family, etc...

With that being said, I still enjoy getting to photograph sports and athletes. I was hired by a corporate client to shoot an event they were hosting/sponsoring with soccer (or futball/European football) legend Claudio Reyna. He was supposed to do a full coaching workshop with area kids, but the weather forced everyone inside. He was still nice enough to talk with all the children and sign autographs.

First LEGO League...

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but one of my photo shoots from last weekend was pretty wild. I was hired to shoot the First LEGO League competition in Dallas for its sponsors. It was a total blast!

The event consisted of 58 teams from various elementary schools from across Texas and Oklahoma. The teams designed robots from special LEGO parts to perform specific tasks on a playing field. It was an all day event, and it ended with a Super Bowl-style showdown between the final two teams.

I got so many great images from the day that I'll probably post a bunch more in a future blog. I really like shooting fun events like this. It would be nice if every gig involved such a great theme.

Art contest...

Do you feel like entering your photography in an art contest?

www.artistsassoc.org

CALL FOR ARTISTS
AANC 19th National Art Exhibition & Sale

The Artists Association of Northern Colorado (AANC) is currently accepting entries for its prestigious National Art Exhibition. Artists from across the country are encouraged to enter. For the prospectus: www.artistsassoc.org.

Call for Artists
Deadline: February 4, 2010

Artists Association of Northern Colorado
19th National Art Exhibition
The Lincoln Center – Fort Collins, CO

April 3 – May 7, 2010

Entry Fees: Members $35/3 entries
Non-members: $40/3 entries
Over $5,000 in awards!

Juror: Frank Francese, NWS – Grand Junction, CO
Workshop: April 7 – 9

www.artistsassoc.org
shows@artistsassoc.org

New print...

I know that I always post blogs about my Quick cover shoots, but I don't just shoot for them. I actually have a lot of other clients. Some of the shoots are really boring, and wouldn't be worth sharing (but they still help pay my bills). Some other shoots are a lot of fun, but I run out of time during a busy work week and forget to post about them.

In any case, I'm going to try and share more samples of my work, and not just Quick stuff (even though Quick is totally cool). Here are a few recent issues of The Dallas Morning News that I did photo shoots for. They are all concerts, plays and musicals that are going on around town...

iPhone pics...

A lot of people have been publishing their iphone (and other brand of camera phone) pictures on the web and in print for a while now. I'm not sure that I've ever shared my iphone pics here before, though I do post them on my facebook page and email them to friends and family.

So, I ran through my phone and picked a few favs from the last year, including one from the Warped Tour concert, a wild looking sky and my oldest boy asleep with his trains...

Profoto event video...

I got some video up from the Profoto-sponsored event last night. Dallas area photo assistants and photography students got a chance to try out some really nice gear, and everyone seemed to be having a great time!

Chronicling the death of an industry...

www.newspaperdeathwatch.com

Profoto dancer...

So, I went to the Profoto shoot that I mentioned in a previous blog... the one to let photography assistants test out their strobes and light modifiers during a free seminar with professional ballerinas as models. I was there as vice president of the Dallas ASMP to represent the group and answer any questions the assistants might have.

I shot some video of the event, which will be online later, maybe in the next few days. It was fun and the photo assistants and students that attended got some good experience with the new Profoto Pro 8a Air packs and Giant Reflector 180. I was eager to try out the new equipment, too. I snuck into the mix and snapped off half a dozen frames. Here is one of my better shots:

I definitely liked the packs and wouldn't mind some one on one time with the reflector. It was too hectic to really get in there and play around with all the gear tonight, especially when this event was supposed to be about the students and assistants.

We are talking to the Profoto guys to come back in town sometime this fall and maybe give the ASMP members a closer look at some cool, new gear. That should be fun!

I still love this one...

I still love this trio of photos...

Not photography related...

I know you all follow my blog for photo tips, or to hear stories about my shoots around north Texas. Well, this post is not photo related. I just wanted to give you all a heads up, in case you feel like joining me.

Either the first or second week of February, I will be taking a large supply of hats, mittens and assorted clothing downtown to give to the homeless. Most likely, I will be doing this at The Bridge - the area's homeless shelter. I purchased approximately 60 pairs of mittens, 40 warm hats, and a dozen or two shirts and light jackets.

Remember that February is still very cold for north Texas, and the average evening temperatures reach down to the thirties. Do you want to help out? Do you have blankets, shoes, socks, underwear, etc? Let's do this!

Top 40 magazine covers...

This is worth looking at, if you like important and iconic magazine covers:

www.magazine.org/asme/top_40_covers/index.aspx

What is wrong with France?!?

I recently licensed a photo of Pantera's Dimebag Darrell to a French guitar magazine. It paid well enough and all I had to do was email the image file to their editor... quick, easy money. They sent me a copy of the issue, and it looks great. A full page devoted to my image at the beginning of the feature story. Most photographers work a lifetime to get that kind of coverage. You would think I'd be happy (which, I am for the most part), but there's a small problem: No photo credit!

They didn't just forget to put a photo credit under the picture. They didn't hide it in the gutter (the design/layout term for crease/crack in between two bound pages) like many magazines do. They didn't have a page at the very back of the magazine listing credits and annotations. Nope. Not a single photo credit for any of the photographers throughout the entire magazine!

What is wrong with France?!? Is this a common practice for all French magazines, or does this one French magazine not respect artists? I was baffled when I saw a lack of photo credits for all the images in the issue. That is unheard of for North American publications. Oh well. Next time I'll know to ask for a larger payment to offset the lack of photo credit.

Some recent Quick Pics...

I just thought I'd share some recent pics of mine that ran in Quick:

Weddings? Yeah...

I posted some recent wedding pics here, if you want to see them:

www.janikphoto.com/blog2/2010/01/finally-new-wedding.html

Your camera can't compete...

Seriously. Nothing else can touch this thing:

www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/st_darkenergy_camera/

Insane CGI...

Forget about taking pictures... This guy can do it all in the computer:

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

vimeo.com/7809605

Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

vimeo.com/8200251

The best album covers?!?

Thank goodness none of the album covers I worked on made this list:

new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mojo/12594/top-10-worst-cd-covers

Now, if only one of my albums would've been released on vinyl... maybe one would be on this list:

www.artvinyl.com/en/nominate/nominations.html

For students and assistants...

If you are a photo student or photo assistant, you should definitely attend this event. You would be absolutely insane not to! Seriously!! Go!!!

Profoto is giving you a chance to shoot for free with their really expensive gear, in a pro photog's studio. Forget about the contest. If you win, well, that is just icing on the cake. However, the main thing you'll get is a chance to shoot with pro gear, pro models, in a pro studio, with pro help at your finger tips. These photos will be perfect for building an awesome portfolio.

A magazine, a nice guy and me...

I don't think I ever shared this pic with you. I shot it for D CEO Magazine a few months back. The photo is of Gil Stricklin, a real nice guy. His ministry helps people all across the country and other parts of the world. I actually shot him and his wife once before, years ago. I was doing a shoot for one of my corporate clients - Pilgrim's Pride - at the time. Anyway, I really enjoyed my time with Gil, and I think I came back with nice image.

Another great link...

I discovered this one while researching better terminology for a contract I need to revise. It s filled with useful tidbits for the professional photographer:

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/

Keep Your Copyright...

The name says it all. Click it. Read it. Do it.

http://keepyourcopyrights.org/

Event photography isn't easy?!?

Event photography may look easy, like anyone with a point and shoot can capture spontaneous moments and classic candids. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in real life. Most clients hire me after they try to shoot an event themselves (or hire some college intern to do it), then end up with sub-standard images to put on their website, in their powerpoint presentation, to give their sponsors, etc...

A good event photographer may be pricey, but it's well worth it in the long run. Take this recent holiday event I shot. The sponsors were major alcohol and beverage companies, and they needed images of the event. They needed detail images and shots of people having fun. These events are usually a madhouse to photograph, and require someone with experience... Someone who can turn that potential madhouse into photos of a wild, fun party:

More old photos...

This time I found some photos of Cat Power performing in Dallas at the end of 2008...

Yet another old photo...

OK, now it's just getting ridiculous! As I was sifting through last year's photos, I stumbled across a photo from 2007. It is Billy Ray Cyrus in concert! Something told me, "put it on the blog... NOW!"

Another photo from 2009...

Maybe I should be posting my very best images, instead of odds and ends that catch my eye. After all, this is a blog that potential clients see. However, I just feel like posting a few random shots that I find to be interesting... for whatever reason. A soft, subtle picture of a local musician or this:

I know, I know. Very goofy. Very, very goofy. I was working in the studio one late night and my middle boy (2 years old in this shot, now 3) came up to visit. He should've been sleeping, but I couldn't resist playing with him, instead. Here he is howling like a wolf.

Digging through photos...

I was digging through photos from 2009, looking for stuff to FINALLY upgrade and build my new janikphoto.com website. While searching, I found this shot. I liked it enough to share it with you all today. It was shot with natural light - very unlike me. I usually shoot with strobes. The shot is of Dallas musician Trey Johnson.

Trey's music is very soft and introspective. Maybe that's what drew me to this photo. It seems like everything is in the subtle details. Or, maybe I'm just drawn to it because it is so unlike what I normally shoot. This picture seems so quiet, simple and straight-forward. Most of my images are wild, goofy and over the top.

Not the best statistics...

This is where most of my business comes from, so this quote isn't really a good thing:

The past few years have been unkind to the publishing industry.

In 2008, newspaper advertising revenues declined by 17.7%, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Meanwhile, average daily circulation at 379 newspapers fell 10.6% from April through September 2009, compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Magazines haven't fared any better. In 2009, more than 360 magazines shut down. During the first half of 2009, ad pages fell 27.9% when compared to the same period in 2008, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

The morning newspaper has been replaced by a growing online media presence — much of which is accessible for free. The Amazon Kindle — even with its price tag of around $250 — and other eBook readers could increasingly become one-stop sources to access newspapers, magazines and books.

It came from an online story I found on Yahoo News. Maybe that means I am part of the problem, if I'm reading online news?!? I do subscribe to some magazines and the daily paper (Thursday through Sunday, anyway). Here is a link to the whole feature about things becoming obsolete:

finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108504/10-things-not-to-buy-in-2010

Did I ever show you this video?

I can't remember posting a link to this one yet, so I thought I'd share it now (and possibly again). It's just another fun little interview/feature that I did for BlackWhiteRead.com last month.

lakewood-dallas.blackwhiteread.com/view/articles/17833

Not photo-related, but...

I thought you'd find the magic behind some of your favorite movies and televisions shows to be interesting:

vimeo.com/8337356

Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Demo from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

A look back...

I wanted to look back on the last decade, so I decided to grab a photo from each year, 2000-2009. I didn't spend too much time choosing the images, as I wanted it to be a somewhat random sampling of photos that I've shot. I decided to thumb through each year and just grab the first image that caught my eye.

In theory, the images should get better from beginning to end. And since I grabbed any and every shot that I saw, you should see a variety of subject matter, not just a bunch of music/concert photography. I suppose I could've easily filled up a page full of band pics, but I wanted something a little different. Everybody knows my music photos...

2000 - Coca Cola Lake, Arkansas.

2001 - A football coach speaks to his team after winning their final game of the season.

2002 - My grandfather's hands.

2003 - Rodeo clown cowboys.

2004 - Venice, Italy playground.

2005 - Heavy metal band Megadeth performs.

2006 - The Black Eyed Peas perform.

2007 - Airplane landing at dusk.

2008 - Turn To Jesus sky writer in Orlando, FL.

2009 - Rhett Miller solo album back cover.

First moon of the new year...

The title explains it all.