@hiretogs - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and The Hope

After having a pleasant tweetversation almost 4 months ago with a few photographers about why their isn't a Craigslist for photographers for paid work and photography listings only, Hire Togs was born the next day. Basically, the page would be a place where I would retweet tweets from clients looking for a photographer so that photographers could see them and reply to those clients. I would also retweet photographers who wanted to advertise their services, portfolio link and location as well as create Twitter photographer lists by specialities. The page took off, packing on many followers and helping many connections to occur. The page's statement is: Clients tweet needs, togs tweet services. Connect! So four months later, here is where it stands:

The Good

As of the writing of this post, 332 client tweets have been retweeted with potential photography gigs all around the world, though most tend to be in the United States and Australia. Some have been in Europe as well and I recall a few in South Africa.

February Live Shoot - Yaahenawaa

As I mentioned in the previous post of the shoot of Evita,Yaahenawaa was the second model involved in my live shoot on February 28th. My sister of Art by Ideity did the makeup work and styling, I did the posing and photography all while serving refreshments, tweeting and posting the images as we worked.

Yaahenawaa was a great model to work with and had a pleasant demeanor. She already has worked with my sister before, but this was a first time with me. I really enjoyed photographing her and it was a blast to do my first live shoot.

This was the one of the final images that I posted shortly after the shoot. I like it a lot.

I wanted to try something different with the second image so I used an effect called "Sin City" for the tint to the black & white image.

Ha! I thought this one was fun.

I really like images that make me think of someone in thought or someone being silent.

I wanted this one to be kind of fun so I added the dots background to compliment the makeup colours a bit.

One of my favorites. It makes me think of peace.

I didn't add as much contrast to this one and thought it would be fun to add the props in...I add props to shoots quite a bit when I shoot on location and have only done so a few times when I do this type of shoot.

Um yes...typography! I like to add a little texture and messages to some photographs.

I added a slight grain to this one that I really like.

My favorite photograph of the shoot. I feel there is a beauty, power and knowledge conveyed in the photograph.

Related Blog Posts: February Live Shoot - Evita, 2wenty Nine Is Prime, The Thirties Are The New Twenties

February Live Shoot - Evita

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, my 100th blog post, I did a live shoot at the end of February. Basically, as the shoot was going, I posted photographs and tweeted. My sister of Art by Ideity did the cosmetic work for the two models. We served wine and strawberries and I did behind the scene photos, which can be seen in my Twitpic account, in this Facebook album or within the stream on my Facebook page.

It really was a test of multi-tasking, as I mentioned on my picture of the day blog, since her photograph was my picture of the day for February 28th. Most people who do live shoots have lots of assistants and only post iPhone photos. I only worked with my sister and posted fully edited photos during the shoot.

Evita was a great model to work with, very nice with a good personality. She never really modeled before and was open to whatever makeup Ideity wanted to try. I really enjoyed photographing her and it was a blast to do my first live shoot. There was also a second model Yaahenawaa, who will be featured in another post later.

I love this photograph. It was my picture of the day on February 28th for my 365 project.

I love to add words that I like to photographs. I mentioned my crush on typography in several blogs in the past.

This was the first photograph I posted from the live shoot last Sunday night.

I really love Ideity's makeup skills!

This was also a favorite and posted the night of the live shoot.

The headwrap styling above was Ideity's idea. I decided to add this pillow to the photograph as it compliments her skin tone and I liked the luxurious appearance of the fabric.

I created a second version of the photograph above, adding a slight texture and a calm blue hue. I wanted it to have an "ice princess" type of intensity to it since all of the other photographs are "warm." I like this one a lot.

I really like the symmetry in this photograph.

Related Blog Posts: Beaded Beauty (100th Blog Post!), The Thirties Are The New Twenties

Beaded Beauty (100th Blog Post!)

This is my 100th photography blog post! I only started this blog last June 2009. In 2008, I had no blogs. It's early 2010 and now I have 4 (this one, my picture of the day blog, my reading blog and my psych blog). So, I still am fairly new to blogging and yet I have enjoyed it so much. Though I have many written posts, at the core it is still a photography blog so let there be pictures!

The images below are from a shoot that I did on Saturday with my sister of Art by Ideity, makeup artist and model. If you follow my blog, you probably remember the images late last year from the 2wenty Nine Is Prime Project. However, she went for a different look as far as makeup and styled her own natural hair. These are part of a particular composition/shooting/editing style of mine called Tru Expression Portraiture™. These differ from my base body of work of on-location portraiture, which I love just as well, though the subjects are just as emotionally expressive in those images.

She loved the photographs and I love to see people smile when they receive them. She went to work the next night, this past Sunday, as we did a live shoot with 2 models that were so much fun. Those images will be blogged and posted to Facebook this week, but you can see some of them (as well as how the shoot played out) by checking my Facebook page or #thetrudzlive (or #ideitylive).

I definitely wanted my 100th post to be something sentimental as well, and I love and enjoy working with such a creative and inspiring younger sister (one of 5 sisters).

Love both colour and black & white for these two,

I have a secret addiction to typography. I hunt fonts as a weekend hobby. Hehe.

Love this one.

Absolute favorite one.

Related Blog Posts: 2wenty Nine Is Prime - A Visual Reprise, 2wenty Nine Is Prime, E11even - A Tweenager

Learn From Others But Compete With Yourself

Photography, like any other art can contain elements of competition, especially when the art is also a business. Some of it is normal. Photographers have to advertise to get clients, and make themselves alluring to clients so that they are chosen versus another photographer. A small amount of healthy competition is ok...in that you are competing with yourself to be better and to move from good to great.

When Should Photography Be Free?

Many professional photographers create beautiful, memorable and compelling imagery as well as provide a positive experience for their clients. They study hard including much practice through personal projects and experience with clients. They read blogs, books, articles and more to fine tune their skills. Some have attended degree programs and others have spent years self-teaching. They operate in the roles of student, peer, mentor, counselor, visionary, business manager, organizer and often their own personal assistant as well. They listen to their clients needs and will under promise but over deliver.

For these reasons, it perplexes me when people expect photography to be free. In actuality, I have seen some of the same people that claim that they support small businesses and love the idea that businesses can thrive in America send a tweet shortly thereafter stating their need for a free photographer. I have seen this happen a few times in the last few weeks. There are many reasons theorized to have caused the change to the perception that creative people do not need or deserve to be paid that have been hashed and rehashed many times, so I don't seek to go there but in another direction...

I was speaking with my sister, a makeup artist, and we discussed the matter regarding the perception that creative people do not need or deserve to be paid. For the most part, photography is not free for me. No bill, vendor, or grocery store accepts exposure, a photo credit, or the images of the person who had the free shoot as payment. When speaking to my sister, we came to the following conclusion:

The person who asks is the person who pays. Period.

365 Project: 5 Favorites From February

As I did in January, I am using this post to feature my five favorite images from my 365 Project for the month of February. Below are my selections.

This photograph is of me and started the month of February/was featured on day 32 - peeking. I needed a new self portrait with my camera and tried something a little different as far as processing goes.

This photograph was featured on day 34 - forgotten hobbies. I love the simplicity of the image.

This hilarious photograph was featured on day 36 - "do you come here often." It has a hilarious written post to match.

This photograph was featured on day 43 - memories and dreams, one of my more personal posts, just as day 46 - the rain was. The project has become a way for me to tell stories about my work, my favorites, my happiness and my sadness and my joy as a person...a whole person. I appreciate the journey.

This photograph was featured on day 49 - behind the palm. It is of my beautiful niece.

Also, I must point out that the last image of the month was an amazing favorite! However, since it will be apart of an upcoming blog and was viewed during the live shoot that I completed (#thetrudzlive on twitter or visit my Facebook page and scroll down to see), I didn't include it in this post.

It's been a great journey so far. I look forward to March to see what I will create. Click 365 Project in the menu bar to follow the journey and/or to subscribe.

Link: 365 Project - February In Summary

Related Blog Posts: 365 Project - 5 Favorites From January, 11 Photographers With Cool 365 Projects, Posterous For Photographers

Jamara Wilson - Visual Branding Project

Jamara is an intelligent professional woman and blogger whom I have actually known since my high school days, though she was two grades under me. She has thoughtful, interesting and positive posts on her blog (His Majesty's Favorite) that was born out of riveting conversations via Facebook threads. She actually stated that I was one of her motivations for starting a blog, which was very kind.

Jamara already had a clean and minimalist design for her blog, which I did not design. However, after chatting with her about what she wanted, I used the same colours from her blog and a similar font (her blog has Georgia as the primary font, I decided to use Times New Roman as the primary font and Sathu as the secondary font) to create a matching logo (left) and Twitter layout. (click on image to view site).

Unlike my previous projects, I did not create the photograph used in the design as it was one of her personal Facebook photos. I did crop and retouch a bit though. I like the design, especially since I don't think I have ever made anything blue before. Jamara was very pleased with the work and said that she "loved it" and was "so excited."

added 2/27/09:

I decided to throw in a matching layout for her Formspring.me profile. (click on image to view site)

Links: His Majesty's Favorite, Jamara Wilson on Facebook, Jamara Wilson on Formspring.me, @jamarawilson (On Twitter)

Related Blog Posts: Art by Ideity - Visual Branding Project, Remba Decorating - Visual Branding Project