bali on just a 50mm lens

I realised that I haven't been posting anything for quite some time. Almost a year in fact. Maybe I was too busy with work. Maybe I was distracted by Instagram. Maybe I was just being plain lazy.

So next up, Bali with (only) a 50mm lens. 

finding your niche in photography (and in anything you do)

Choices x3
We talked about choices in almost everything we do daily. 

From the trivial who-the-heck-cares what to have for breakfast to the complicated, life altering choices such as erm...who to marry...erm...ok that's not a good analogy but you get my drift.

In the coming post, I will share some views on turning pro (with some f.o.c. rant about certain people calling themselves pros thrown in) or stay a hobbyist.

Today, I want to talk about finding your niche in photography and I think this applies to almost anything you choose to do in life as well.

Often time, photographers especially those who struggle in eking a living out of their photography career and end up shooting almost any jobs that come by because they were not able to, or are still searching for a niche, something they totally love and/or good at. 

Finding a niche in photography is not easy. Often it is a process of trial and error and self-discovery. It is swift and easy for some but it may be elusive throughout most parts of their career for many.

So how exactly does one 'discover' one's niche in photography?

Is it about shooting stuff that you are most passionate about?

If it is, what constitutes the stuff that you are most passionate about? 

The subject (eg. insects)? The genre (macro photography)? Or does it really matter to you?

Have you found yours? Again, does it really matter to you?

I'll attempt to share some thoughts on this topic...

Career photography or passionate shutterbug?
At some point of your involvement in photography life, you would have contemplated whether you should or can make a career out of your photography.

I know I did.

Photography started as a hobby for me many years ago. After it turned into a passion, I asked myself should I take the plunge and turn it into my career of choice. I took some assignments and managed to pay off initial my investments after just a couple of assignments and I made a little more to invest in other gear.

With the confidence that my clients have sort of endorsed, the big question comes. Should I make that move?

After much pondering, I decided to stay as a hobbyist but I do not reject new jobs if the timing and price is right. And I am still doing this after 20 years on.

So what can I share on making photography a career choice? Am I qualified to offer any advice at all? 

I may not be but I do have some points to share. So if you are keen to see it from my viewpoint, do read on...

Google "career in photography" and you'll find tonnes of advise asking you to try out one of, or a combination of these:

• Start with something that does not require heavy investment in gear, such as weddings, portraits, etc. This is simple deduction. You are just starting out to make money and you probably have to skimp on your meals to buy memory cards...I know some who do; 

• Offer yourself as an assistant cum second photographer to some pros...this may not be easy coz if you made your intentions clear from the start, no pros are going to let you be their second photographer since you are potentially his/her future competitor;

• Start from the basic of the trade. In the days of shooting film, I've been an assistant in a photo studio. I did everything but shooting...supposedly I am supposed to be able to learn the trade by washing the studio toilet. Of course I learned pretty fast enough that I'm being taken for a ride. Pretty fast coz I quit after just 2 days. There is hardly any gratification in watching someone who basically shoots license and passport photos with an occasional family portrait for a living;

• What's the market like? A lot of choices we make, or in this case niche we search for depends on the development of the market in this trade. Malaysia is a country where people are NOT willing (yet) to pay decent money for a good photographer's services. Some pros can vouch on how factual this statement presents itself. When you have people bargaining with doctors, lawyers and accountants on the professional fees chargeable, don't expect in another 200 years that people are going to pay you chunks of cash for photography works. It is to some point, pretty insulting if you ask me. One photographer friend of mine is willing to do a full-day wedding shoot for a mere RM300 (that's less than USD100) when comparatively, someone say in the States would be charging USD1,500 for an 8-hour job;

• Room for creativity. There is also this pressing issue of shooting what you fancy or what your clients demands. If you are making a living out of your photography, this is a no-brainer isn't it? You shoot what your clients want. Not what you think he wants. It's how the market here works, generally. 

These are some additional issues that I personally feel one should ponder:

• If you are pretty broke and your bills are overdue, you might have to shoot any jobs that come by and with that, you may end up charging much lesser than the usual 'market price' to weed out competition;

• Don't waste your time becoming assistants to others. Get into the job and start making a name for yourself. If you have a family to feed, you will find a way to market yourself and get yourself some shooting assignments. You just will because choice is not an option;

• Don't expect to be paid handsomely in the first few years into your job. Photography is a career where reputation and word-of-mouth marketing work hand in glove with each other. You screw up one wedding shoot, and you'll almost have to start again from zero. Even if you did something incredibly remarkable on most of your jobs, you still risk being priced out by others. Especially when clients' main concern in pricing outweighs the creativity work they might get.

The 'new' photographer
Even the Malaysian market is so saturated. That's a fact. The question is how to find your niche so that you are known for what you do best.

I don't profess these to be sure win formulas. They are just some random ideas that crossed my mind when I find myself thinking...hmm...well, if you are just starting out and consider making a living as photographer, you might want to consider venturing into some of these areas.

• Become a hobbyists' photographer. Target collectors...watches, Hello Kitty, football kits, match boxes, Gunpla model, cars, etc...they have an extensive collection of stuff they are passionate about so do talk to them to shoot a series for them. If you're lucky you might come across some rich collectors of arts or you might end up shooting someone' strange collection of animal foetuses preserved in a variety of jars. This is, erm...occupational hazard. 

• Vacation photographer. Take the worries out of your clients' holiday photo mishaps by becoming their 'official' vacation photographer. Also applies if you tweak your marketing line a bit to suit couples going on their honeymoon. You need to be there yet be stealthy at the same time. I did a pre-honeymoon shot for someone previously. Pre-honeymoon because they want a series of photos depicting that they were on a honeymoon coz they don't want a third party tagging along their actual honeymoon. Understandable. The key is creating the concept for the shoot and the mood.

• Intentional product placement. How this works is, shoot something interesting but plan your shots with certain products clearly visible. Erm...choose a big or renowned brand. If your work is one that borders fine art so much the better. Then approach the brand and show them your photos. If they like them, they are very likely to strike a deal with you. If they don't, at least you've left an impression with them. They might just call you to use one of your shots for their newsletter even if the photos don't make it to the billboards. If they don't have any products, shoot anything that has something to do with their brands. You're the artist. Get creative.  

• Shoot wedding with a twist. Years ago, I did a wedding shot for a friend. Being a close friend of mine, I suggested a concept where I shoot the bride during her preparation, which includes among others, shots of her in the shower and changing. You may call this a wedding + boudoir shots. They were shot very carefully with no nudity and printed in monochrome and sepia. Unless your clients are exhibitionists, they need not show these set of photos to the parents and relatives. For the couple, well they loved it. 

• Specialise in shooting courting couples. Yes, you heard (read) me right. Getting the intimate expression out of them is a sure bet. They are courting. They have no time for sad times.

• You can also do individual portraits at home. Babies, pregnant mums, boudoir, pets, etc. 

• Bloggers' product photography. There are plenty of individual online traders selling a myriads of products but often not, their product photos are less interesting. Strike out a partnership with them to shoot their products. Mobility is key but it must be balanced with close to studio-like shots. DIY your own lightbox (or softbox as some prefer to call it). It's inexpensive and easy to make. It may not look professional but it gets the job done. Invest in a pair of still lights and a flashgun (two for syncing would be near perfect). Practice like mad at home shooting anything in various lighting set ups. You'll get there I promise. How to build your own lightbox? Google!

Well I said these are not sure win formulas but I do have some ideas how to make them work. If you're keen, contact me. I'll share them in exchange for a cup of good coffee.

Social media and the power of the Internet
Whichever idea that fancies you, I think you should not dismiss the powerful use of the Internet and social media. Speed is key.

Whatever you shoot, let your clients preview them immediately. Send a few initial unedited shots to them and get them to post them on their FB and websites. Get them to Tweet, Pinterest, Tumblr, whatever-have-yous them instantaneously. And in all that they do, ask the to tag you and mention you as the artist behind the photos. It's instant (and free) marketing for you!

Upload their photos immediately, yes on the same day on your website, blog, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, you know the rest. 

Then within 3-5 days, send them the rest of the photos, in CD or DVD as well as in soft-copies, provided they have settled your fees in full.

Speaking about fees, you might ask do I ask for a deposit or up-front payment before commencing a job? This is totally your personal preference. I hardly take assignments but even if I do, I don't take deposits because I strive to know my clients first and building a rapport with them before taking their jobs. 

Building relationship with your clients is very important because the most powerful marketing tool in this business (if you prefer to call it so) is still, your clients' word of mouth endorsement.

So brew yourself a sexy cup of coffee and flick your creative-cap switch to 'ON'. You'll be surprised what you can come up with especially if the coffee is an insanely good one.

Happy shooting and remember to "Learn to rules like a pro so that you can break them like an artist." - Pablo Picasso

Vacation Photos II: capturing the mood

Langkawi (27.09.2013 - 29.09.2013)

Pics shot using my Xperia S and uploaded in my Instagram @quartzimodo

 Cliché but a must shot if you sit near the wings 

 Don't get too sucked up, esp when you are on vacation

Langkawi Airport

 Lilies in a lake on the way to the cable car ride

 Admit it. You'd want to latch on to this and feel the wind

The weather was a disappointment  

The only missing thing was sharks torpedoing out of the sea where we can shoot them 

Pulau Dayang Bunting (Isle of Preggo Maid...haha)

These waves can be ruthless 

 Mood of the day

My bro Joe in deep thought 

Joe not thinking straight by this time

Eagles at Pulau Lang Tengah 

Nature's contrasting colours 

Aishah. 7th generation descendent of Mahsuri's. I'd go back just for her

Now for some must have holiday shots:

 

Different focal point 01

 Different focal point 02

Poorly maintained guest house...the hallmark of Malaysia's tourism 

Gigantic 'whatever you call these' that connect the cable car cables 

A more interesting viewpoint compared to the next one... 

Yeah this one!

Weekend Project: DIY Slides Viewer with Slider

I set out to do this DIY project for a couple of reasons.

1) I wanted a simple slide viewer in order to have some of my selected work digitalised. I had wanted to use my Kindermann slide projector but the lack of a proper white screen puts me off and I am not about to spend large sums of cash on a new projection screen. So I decided to improvise on what I have.

2) Upon digitalisation, I plan to have the negatives...well, they are actually positives 😊 removed from the slides mounting as I have another project that uses the slides mounts as its main ingredient.

Now back to the slide viewer.

It's a very simple and easy to DIY viewer. I use an old table lamp. Changed the amber bulb to a white bulb. Then measure the diameter of the lamp 'shade'.

The slider viewer is made using a thick black card by cutting a 1.5 inch strip and roll it along the lamp shade diameter. Just make sure it fits neatly, not too tight and not too easy to slide off.

Cut a piece of rectangle black card and measure a mounted slide on the middle. Cut a square out in the middle but make sure the cutting is smaller than the actual slide size.

Cut two 2 inch strips and glue them across the top and bottom of the rectangle card. But ensure that you leave a bit of gap between each horizontal sizes of the strips to act as sliders when you place mounted slides in between them.

As for the squarish hole in the middle of the rectangle card, cut a piece of white paper and glue it behind the square creating a screen-like look. I tried using tracing paper for this but didn't like the effect as it is off-white. I also tried using a very thin lint paper-like material for this but it doesn't allow enough light to pass through from the lamp.

Now the slider is done. Glue the circle made with the strip earlier onto the rectangle slider screen. When it's dry, it will assemble to look like this.

The top L photo is the view of the slider front facing and the lamp used.

Top R shows the slider viewer from the back. The white paper is glued here so that when faced front, it looks like a screen, albeit a small one. 

Bottom L is how the slider looks with a mounted slide in between the 2 strips of paper glued on top of the slider.

Bottom R is how it looks like when assembled and mounted on the lamp.

Ignore Crappy and the aquarium though. I needed extra backlight so that's the best background to set the stuff on the front.

This is a bigger photo of the slide viewed using this DIY slider viewer. Photo taken using my Sony Xperia S.

This photo was taken in 1997. Yes! That long ago.

All measurements used are based on convenience and a little common sense. There is no hard and fast 'rule' here...er...pun intended.

Next, I have to start cleaning the selected slides. Then using this slider viewer, a DSLR and an extension tube, it's digitalisation time.

More of the very natural and pretty June, the model above (one of the best models I've had the privilege working with) and other subjects soon.

I need...

some assistance / contacts.

Hi guys, it's been a while since my last post. 

Besides getting my time filled with my day time job and lots of reading and researching work done, I am also planning a few photography related projects.

Project No. 1

The first one is a 2-in-1 themed project. It's a street photography + street portraiture project.

I am looking for 2 models actually...hmm...

A Malay (male or female) and for legal reasons either models have to be over 18 years of age. 

Apart from that my preference for the female would be someone who wears the hijab or tudung. 

I am not looking for professional models. In fact I am actually looking for the typical men / women on the street...it needs to fit into the theme right?

This is not a commercial job. It's a personal project. Ok, I say this with a caveat...but anyway, I will explain this to the model when we do pre-shooting discussion.

I am based in KL but I do not mind travelling for the shoot if the model is from outside KL.

At this point, let's not get confused.

I am looking for 2 models right...now the next 'model' I am looking for is a Volkswagen Beetle, yes the car.

I would prefer an older model of the Beetle, if possible. 

This will be just for a few hours as I have already planned and have details for the shoot worked out. I just need to speak to the owner of the car to get things moving. Basically, I just need the car on location, rain or shine, for about 3 hours...say from 6.00am onwards and we can wrap by 9.00am on the same day.

I aim to complete this project by mid-October so it's kinda urgent so to speak. Please phone me at 0126652323 and/or email me at quartzimodo@gmail.com

Thank you so much.

Project No. 2

This is a weekend project.

I have hundreds of slides, yes those 35mm slides in my collection and I plan to have them digitised, DIY way.

Once digitised, I plan to turn the slides into something else...wait, let's take this one step at a time.

For the digitisation of the slides, I am building a simple device to do it in my own make-shift studio a.k.a. my bedroom...hahaha...

I'll share more info on this as the project progresses.

Project No. 3

We'll talk after Project 2 :p

i'll be back...

Hi guys...

I'll be taking a short blogging hiatus due to some travelling on official assignment.

God-willing, I'll be back.

Cheers, take care and keep shooting!

instagram: think outside the square

Instagram. 

Some of my friends think it's a total waste of time.

Some of them think it is narcissism in a new form. 

Some of us are addicted to it. I am, a little.

Why is Instagram so popular? 

Here's a quick glance: 
40 millions photos posted daily.
4 billion photos in its repository since it first started in 2010. 
Oh yeah, Instagram is owned by Facebook.

Perhaps I am less informed but I couldn't think of any user-friendly online photo app and repository of this magnitude.

To the less-initiated, here's my take on Instagram. These may, to some extent, satisfy the narcissistic calling in you:

Square it: 
Whatever orientation you take your shots, always bear in mind that Instagram is in 1:1 (i.e. square) format. So compose your shots with a square in mind. That will make it easier for editing later. 

And since it is square, the rule of thirds in photography does not apply. A lot of photos you see on Instagram have their subjects smacked right in the centre of the frame. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

Filters: 
This is Instagram in its truest form. Basically you just take a picture using your phone / tablet camera or Instagram's in-built camera, apply any of Instagram's featured filters and you're done. 

Here's a photo without filter and one using Instagram's filter.

#nofilter

Edited using Instagram's Lo-Fi filter with brightness on.

Pre-Instagram Editing: 
I do this for almost all my photos. Pre-Instagram editing is where you use another photo editing app to edit your photos before putting the edited work on to Instagram for application of filters or direct postings. My personal favourites are Pixlr Express and Snapseed. Both have lots of very easy to use simple yet effective photo editing tools. 

Here's the same photo above but this one has some minor edits using Pixlr Express before posting to Instagram.

Edited using Pixlr Express, then using Hefe filter in Instagram for this final result.

#ashtags: 
I don't use hashtags a lot but hashtags will surely increase the chances of your photos getting featured or be seen under the chosen hashtags. It is quite simple actually. Just use the # followed by the word / term, eg. #love, #nofilter, and so on. Your photos will be instantly tagged to the hashtag and featured in the  'album' carrying the hashtag.

Quotes:
Towards the final step before posting your photos, you can include a line or two on each photos. Lines that describe the photo. Some compose a two page material. Some use it to promote their products. Some hashtag their photos. Your creativity is the only limitation, both in shooting that photo and putting in the words.

Geotagging:
You can also tag where the photos were taken. Pretty useful if you are on vacation and wants to share where you are and what you are doing, almost on a real-time basis. Just make sure you don't geotag those vacations with the mistress ;)

Selfies:
This is very famous Instagrammers' obsession. Mostly females who take self photos either using the front camera of their phones or their reflections off mirrors. Some go to the extent of doing selfies with very little clothes on. So guys, feast yourselves, if you will.

Foodies & Feet:
Some users seem to love taking photos of what they are having for lunch and there are some who enjoy snapping pictures of their feet (and footwear). Whatever their obsession is, it is totally up to them. We never fully understand humans anyway :)

Thai celebrities:
It is quite amazing that there are some many beautiful Thai celebrities out there. And it is also pretty (pun intended) amazing that most of them have hundreds of thousands of followers. Asians rock!

Beautiful Malaysians:
Malaysians are beautiful, regardless. Instagram or no Instagram. And I'm proud to be one!

Likes:
Take time to scroll through the featured photos. You will find some photos you like. Afterall, there are 40 million photos to choose from daily. 

Liking someone's photos also increases the chance of getting your own photos viewed, liked and followers since every like is notified to the user, therefore if the user happen to click on your name, he/she may chance upon your photos, unless you set your account to "Private". 

Follow:
Instagram allows users to 'follow' other users, worldwide. They may be people you know or those you chance upon at random. There is a lot of fun doing this as you might discover someone whose portfolio you like and you just want to follow his or her Instagram journey. Some users (especially celebrities) have millions of followers.

Interact:
Place a comment or two on the photos you like. You are instantly connected, if you so wish, to hundreds of millions of Instagrammers so why not make more friends? Just don't pass hate remarks or comments of someone's photos. It only reflects your negative self.

It's not a numbers game:
Posting 300 photos a day is not going to make you a star. Choose what you post and post what you really like. 

Privacy control:
Setting your account to "Private" means you are only comfortable in allowing a selected few to view your photos and you need to 'approve' any users who wants to 'follow' you. 

You still have some form of privacy so to speak. However in reality, it is still not total privacy because Instagram 'owns' all your photos, legally. To verify this, do read Instagram's Terms of Use.

Back-up:
You can back-up the photos that you post on Instagram. Online and the good old method. For online back-ups, just Google it and you'll find many sites and programmes offering back-up services, some paid some free. For the old school ways, well all the photos you post are still in your devices right? Then again there's always DropBox or its equivalent. Not forgetting, your computer hard drive. If you treasure your photos, you'll figure out a way.

Thanking your followers and 'likers':
Sometimes you'll get plenty of likes on your photos, at times, not a single one. But if you do get lots of likes and positive comments, do take a few seconds to thank those who've liked the stuff you posted. It goes a long way.

Finally, true to its narcissism spirit, do check out my Instagram at quartzimodo.