Get the Job Done: My 5280 ad campaign for Ignite Matchmaking Services

The second photo in my first ad campaign featuring my photography will be appearing in 5280 Magazine in July!

Earlier this year I shot photos of several of Ignite Matchmaking Service's real clients so they could appear in the company's new advertisements. I worked along side Ignite's executive director Sheryl Williams and ad director Chris Faria of Ad Genie Creative.

See this ad on page 136 of July's 5280 Magazine Issue

Breaking News: Finalist as CABJ's Print Journalist of the Year!

I found out this morning that I am one of three finalists for the Colorado Association of Black Journalist's "Print Journalist of the Year" award!

This is a great honor because peers vote for whom they think deserve the award based on the quality of their work for that year. Given all the challenges the industry has faced in the wake of advertising declines, layoffs andhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif newspaper closures, it's a blessing that many Colorado journalists still have a job and continue to produce exceptional work. I feel honored to be one of many named and wish all of my colleagues luck. Winners will be announced at the CABJ 18th Annual Media Awards and Scholarship Banquet on July 22.

Get the Job Done: First Car Show Photo Booth of the Season!

I'm blogging to you live today from the Citywide Car Show in Broomfield where I and a colleague are hosting our first photo booth of the season. I am editing and printing today and our guest photographer is Jason Peckovitch of Illusive Dreams Photography. Our featured models are Tina and Brittany.

We are selling 5x7s for $10 ($15 with a model) and 8x10s for $15 ($20 with a model) .

The music is old school and jamming. The weather is gorgeous, hot with blue skies. Good luck to everyone in the show hoping to take home a coveted title and trophy.

Here's our first seller of the day shot with Tina:



And here are a few of my favorites from the day:









Jason did an excellent job yesterday. His shots were creative, amazingly light and clean making the editing process for me quick and easy. Tina and Brittany rocked it despite the heat of the day and I appreciated their willingness to hit the ground running, passing out cards and really working the crowd so we could get paid prints. Can't wait to work with you guys again! The show was a good practice run to work out all the kinks in running a photo booth. We got two more assignments for upcoming shows, and it looks like this summer will be busy.

Get the Job Done: Shooting Jodi's Race for Awareness

This weekend I will be the event photographer for Jodi's Race for Awareness, a 5k race/walk benefiting the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance. This is the second year the race has been held, and I'm excited to be helping this young event chronicle its progression.

My colleague, Denver Post columnist Bill Johnson, wrote this great article about Jodi, thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif woman for whom this race was named. Here is a video her as well:



It's always fun to be a part of something new when the people involved are passionate, hopeful and overflowing with ideas because I always leave these events inspired. I look forward to building a lasting relationship with event coordinators who embrace the need for professional photographic coverage. I have been asked to give special attention to capturing storytelling imagery, including before and after race pictures and detail shots. It will be a great challenge for me to try to put into photos what these survivors, their family members and friends are experiencing as they participate in this race. At the same time, I've got to be able to capture shots the organization can use to promote their goals of raising awareness about this deadly disease. If you are in Denver this weekend, stop by City Park and make a donation to keep Jodi's dream alive. Hope to see you there!

Get the Goods: Exclusive Workshop Discounts for My Blog Readers!

Still can't figure out how to work that digital camera you got for Christmas? Or need to brush up on some editing skills to WOW your studio clients?

Illuminate Photography Workshops owners Efrain Cruz has allowed me to announce new discounts on photography workshops to all Picture Your World Photography Facebook Fans and Blog Readers!

Just add the coupon code "PICTUREYOURWORLD" when you check out and get $15 off registration for any class offered.

Here are the detes:

1)The PICTUREYOURWORLD discount is good for new Illuminate students or ones who've previously taken classes.
2) But it's only available on new registrations only. Discount cannot be applied to previously attended or previously registered workshops.
3)Stack those discounts: This coupon can be used together with Early Registration Discounts amounting to a savings of $55 for some classes. PICTUREYOURWORLD Coupon can be used once. That's an awesome deal considering some of the workshops are as low as $75...so you net a 3 to 4 hour course for less than $30 a pop!

Classes span the gamut from learning how to use your camera to excelling in studio lighting and Photoshop and Lightroom techniques, as well as specialty classes including wedding, special event and product photography. Interested in a particular workshop you'd like to see offered at Illuminate? Efrain is extremely responsive to suggestions from students because he cares about making sure his participants remain viable in their chosen artistic field.

Just about everything I know has come from attending classes with amazing instructors at the top of their game including Efrain himself, certified PS Guru Armando Martinez and celebrated photographers Nathaniel Coalson and Richard Peterson, and business manager/photographer Jim Turley. I just finished a kickass Camera Raw class with Armando that has speed up my post-processing of RAW images...namely, I spend more time editing while the image is in Camera Raw and might not even have to open up PS at all!

Take advantage of these deals right now!

Get the Job Done: Shooting the first annual Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference

It's confirmed! I will be shooting the first ever Rocky Mountain Early Childhood conference
running April 15, 2011. I'm crazy excited about this opportunity because it's so much fun to be involved in the kinetic energy attached to a new event. But this is also the first time I put in a bid for a photography contract, competed against other photographers and won the gig!

The conference is a two-day session featuring events on Friday and Saturday including receptions, lunches, general workshop shots, and a vendor/exhibitor hall. Specifically the preschool program has requested that I be creative about my shots and use some depth of field and other photographic techniques so the imagery doesn't look like snapshots. I'm more than happy that I've been given a little more freedom to try some unconventional shots as well as shoot the necessary posed shots the organization needs as well. Thanks to my four years of consecutive coverage of the National Brotherhood of Skiers annual summits, the Council on Foundations event as well as numerous other smaller dinners and receptions I've shot locally, I have no doubt I can give the preschool program what they want in just about any lighting situation I might encounter.

It's purely coincidence, by the early childhood conference's featured speaker is Geoffrey Canada, CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone -- a guest speaker that I shot last year during the Council on Foundations annual conference held in Denver. Out of all the esteemed foundation guests (including Former Vice President Al Gore), I remember feeling more connected to Canada because a good education has been the basics for why I've been successful.

Here's one of my shots of Canada that appeared on the Council on Foundations 2010 event wrap-up page:



I'm beginning to think that I should try to specialize in special event coverage since they have been the bulk of my assignments recently. I would never give up shooting portraits because I love focusing on people, but maybe it's time I start to consider a specialization. I'll chew on this and get back with you later! :)

Get the Job Done: My 5280 Ad Campaign for Ignite Matchmatching Services

My first ad campaign photography will be appearing in 5280 Magazine in May!

Last month I shot photos of several of Ignite Matchmaking Service's real clients so they could appear in the company's new advertisements. I worked along side Ignite's executive director Sheryl Williams and ad director Chris Faria of Ad Genie Creative.

Chris took this photo I shot of Mary:


and used it to create this great ad:


Chris specifically said he wanted it to look like the sun was shining down on Mary' right side, hence I would need some strong specular highlights to simulate sun rays. So I used two Alien Bees, one for the main light and one for the "sunlight," only that one was set several stops higher than the main light. Chris had a great idea in mind, and I simply had to follow his direction to achieve the shot he wanted for the ad, and I think it worked out well.

More advertisements will appear in 5280 issues throughout the year!