A few posts ago I mentioned that I had done the final Critique of the Advanced Lighting Class at Ivy Tech here in Indianapolis.  Great group, but one thing that I found myself saying again and again is that sometimes the shot doesn’t come easy.  I was reminded of that recently when I did a shoot at Ichiban Sushi restaurant on the South Side of Indianapolis about two weeks ago, where I just couldn’t get the shots that I wanted.  It was taking work.

Canon 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon EF100mmF2.8Macro, 1/50th@F9.  Single 580EX Set to 1/8th power through a 16″ Fotorosa Softbox from above right the plate, with a single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/64th zoomed to 105mm hard light from the left side of the frame.  Both lights fired by Pocket Wizard Plus II’s.

Speaking of taking work, a lot of talk has been going on about New Years Resolutions lately.  Definitely something worth working on, but only if they are in the right mindset.  By that I mean, the resolution shouldn’t be to buy a new car, or to improve yourself with purchases.  I take new years resolutions as a statement to truly improve yourself with actions.  With that being said, I’m planning on improving myself a few different ways this upcoming year.  Last year, my goal was to work on my photography business outside of the Indianapolis Star Newspaper group.  While that is a continuing goal, I was pleased with my progress.  This year, my goal is to A, become a weekly blogger again, and B, to work on more personal work.

Personal Work? Fwaa?!?!?!?  Yup, personal work.  Photos that I go to take or make just for myself.  Without someone telling me or paying me to do it their way.  That may not seem important, but it’s much more important than photographers may realize.  I have gotten more clients based on personal work that I have done, than any commercial job that I’ve worked.  People want to see what you do for youself, and what you put the most passion into, and that’s what I want to focus on.  Putting the passion back into making the pictures that I want to make.

It’s not to say that I am not passionate about what I do, as the video I’m posting on this blog will show.  As I said in the beginning, sometimes you have to work at getting the shots you want.  Very rarely do the shots come immediately, or easily.  The video below is every single shot from the shoot that I did with Ichiban.  Nothing has been edited, or left out.  You’ll see me play with white balance, lights, composition….all of it.  Just goes to show, that sometimes you’ve got to mess things up, just to get them right. More Soon.

(Don’t mind the crappy music, Royalty Free is what it is…)