Tip of the day: Managing Difficult People

I've been thinking about this for a few days and it's an experience every experienced photographer has endured at some point in their journeys.

Difficult people. Whether they be stylists or models (because usually it's the stylist or it's the model). And yes you can quote me on that :) Difficult people need to be managed.

Let's break it down. Why are difficult people

Winds of Change

5 posts in June.

That's pitiful. Really.

But if you've been following me on flickr (click any of the images on the photostream above) you'll see that I've been busy.

A better way to describe how I feel is stretched.

Things are changing around here and the LUCIMA brand as well as the studio is incorporating new pieces to expand our ability to be recognized as a photography powerhouse (for lack of a better expression). Lots of moving parts and modularity allows for me to think of the LUCIMA brand as a machine that is constantly being upgraded to perform well, better.

And of course as all of this happens I'm bound to experience to growing pains. It's been stressful sitting in front of the computer because it seems like I can't make a dent in the workload. I finally had a chance to write down all the things I have on my plate and I had to categorize the items on the list because without breaking things down the list began looking unusually long and extensive.

As things reveal themselves to me, I expect to reveal them to... in due time ;)

I sometimes wonder whether it's a matter of perspective. Perhaps things are a lot more comfortable than I think it's just that I choose to my circumstance as uncomfortable and challenging. Whether or not that's true, the reality remains that I'm having trouble falling asleep which is for me always an indication of higher levels of stress.

I sure miss Hawaii right about now :)

And while this is totally beside the point, I've decided to run the 2012 New York City Ironman Triathlon. I figured, my life wasn't nearly complicated and challenging enough so I really ought to do more. Yay me. Hooray for intelligent decision making.

The Perverse Reality of Fashion

I'd been discussing with a model about weight versus my archetype of the perfect model and wanted to share with you my views.

When I got into fashion photography I didn't sign up for creating body disorder issues. I'm a health-conscious person. I exercise a lot and believe in well-being.

That being said, I can't apologize for the ideals that I adhere to and the archetype of model that I use. And often times these ideals "don't exist"; in other words, in real life the girls I shoot don't look exactly like my images. Whether it be the flawlessness of their skin or the incredible length of their legs or the size of their waist, I subscribe to an archetype that does not truly exist (or does very rarely)... Hence, ideals ;)

Must have dexterity

There are a lot of jobs that require dexterity. Athletes, artists, and musicians alike all require some level of dexterity to excel at their occupation... unless you play soccer and you're not a goalie but you know what I mean :)

In the jobs I've held in the past, I've never needed dexterity. I've always worked in an office. Peter Drucker called us "knowledge workers" in that we used our knowledge and our brains to produce services/services and/or facilitate the production of goods/services.

Photography requiring dexterity? Not so much. Anything with an opposable thumb can hold and push buttons.

Decisive Moment

Found this on Matthew Jordan Smith's blog and have been listening to this in the background while working/editing. What a gem!

Tomorrow's Beauty Workshop

This will be the second time that I'm teaching beauty. The more I think about traditional beauty, the more I realize that it's not just a genre of photography (that's a subset of fashion) but it's a whole mindset of photography. I believe the biggest topic for tomorrow's workshop is:

How do you create beauty?

Of course there's the obvious. Find a great model, have a spanking concept, of course an incredible makeup artist like Kathleen Ty and then great lighting and voila!

But then there's all the little things that underly beauty... like how do you make a model feel beautiful? How do you interact with a model to give her confidence while getting the looks that you need? Those are things that I will hopefully reveal during the workshop tomorrow. It'll be the first time that workshop photographers get to see me in action working with a model that I have never worked with before. Those first steps and interactions are filled with subtleties... all of which matter.

Looking forward to seeing you guys tomorrow! It's going to be a blast! :)

What's in an image?

Las Vegas Workshop. Anneliese, Bekka, Brett, and Kaley. D3/24-70mm/SB-800.

I always say, "A technically perfect image is just that... technically perfect"

Emphasis on the "just".