Category Archives: Kansas

ART, Blog, Kansas, Lightroom 5, photography, Travel, work

Revisit and Revive the Old

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_DSC9749

Need something to do but want to be productive?  Revisit your old files and take a fresh look at them.  Perhaps you missed an interesting image or, it just wasn’t edited right. Here are three images that I shot in 2012 back in Kansas, where I grew up.  _DSC9612 This one I particularly like.  I missed originally that it was sitting in a pocket of light shining through the trees.  Once I started working on the file I also saw the subtle pink and magenta tone sitting in the low laying clouds.  _DSC9604I was stoked.  I’ve shot thousands of images from Kansas over the years and many views get a repeated look.  Different times of the year, different times of the day.  You never know where that special light will occur, or if it’s already in your images.  Revisit….

 

My website:  www.zwink.com  Techy stuff:  post production in Adobe Lightroom 5.

Architecture, ART, Blog, Business, career, Kansas, location shoot, personal, photography, Travel

Is Diversity Good for the Career?

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0010600147I just spent the week going thru my Hawaii archives….and I came across a folder from a trip back home a couple years ago. Not sure where it is exactly, sometimes I just drive.  As a documentary photographer I’m drawn to places like this, to get a glimpse into our past.  I think then I’m partially a historian.

But in my day to day life I promote myself as a architectural and corporate photographer.  Can I do both?  Not if I want the big boys to take me serious.  This was a concept I struggled with mighty in the past.  I was trained as a photojournalist.  As such you had to learned to be good in several specialties.  The more diverse, the more value you were to the editorial brand.  I took pride in being able to venture into unknown situations and produce, it’s what we did.

As a “commercial” photographer the more you specialize, the more value you bring to the table, the more you can charge.  The perception is that your image as a specialist will bring more value to their product, brand and reputation.  It isn’t always who is the best image maker, who is perceived as such.

In my financial portfolio, I diversify, as a business owner I’m an Architectural Photographer (and don’t tell anyone, a darn good documentary, travel and corporate one also).

My work:  http://www.zwink.com  My editorial archives:  http://www.bigstudioz.com

Business, camera phone, Cruise, family, Iphone 5, Kansas, location, location shoot, personal, photography, Travel

How I get a week’s worth of Work!!!!!

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North Shore Turtle

GO ON VACATION…… SERIOUSLY!!!

  I have a phobia of losing clients by going on vacation.  So I try and be the good communicator and notify my clients of upcoming trips and vacations so they don’t (hopefully) schedule or plan anything during that time frame.  This way clients know and I have a few days to pack or relax before heading to the airport.

  WRONG…. I don’t know if it’s the law of attraction but 90% of the time I end up  shooting during the week and finishing the post production just before the early morning trip to the airport.  I end up catching up on my sleep on the flight to our destination.

  The last time I failed to send out my obligatory email was when my father died and I flew back to Kansas.  My primary client at the time called me the day of the funeral and asked if I could do a major rebranding shoot in two days.  No, I replied my father just passed away, can we reschedule the shoot for a week later.  No they replied.  That week I lost two very important parts of my life.  One can’t be replaced.

  btw, I’m going on vacation next Sat. and I sent “the email”.  I’m shooting for four days, doing one day of post production and then off to New Orleans.  I hope your thoughts of vacation are as productive.

Some of my vacation photos are at:  www:zwink.com

ART, career, family, Kansas, Lightroom 5, location shoot, photography, Travel

Been there, Done that?????

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_JDZ8515A

Have you?  Have you been to that place more that once where you start to shoot the same photos the same way?  STOP……. don’t go into autopilot.  You know what works, now look for something different.  Whether a different angle, different lens, different time of day or a new technique, explore it.  Dare to be different, that how you become better.  Don’t go home with the same or similar images.  STIMULATE YOUR VISION!!!

Techy stuff:  camera-Nikon D800 and Nikon D600.  Lenses Nikkor 14-24 and 70-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.  Locaton, Macksville, Kansas, population aprox. 500.

More of my work:  http://zwink.com

family, Kansas, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, Travel

Can You Go Home?

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Images from 2012 Macksville Journey

  Someone once said you can’t go home and have it be the same.  So true.  I’ve been going back periodically to visit and documment my home town of Macksville, Kansas for several years.  I become melancholy after being here for a short while, knowing the town I grew up in will never be the same.  The town viewed and experienced through the eyes of and 18 year old are long gone.  As time has passed the town has decayed.  Gone are the stores and restaurant I worked in and sat end talking endlessly with friends.  Many have closed and buildings have be shuttered or torn down.  I still love to explore as my curiosity is greater than ever.  As a photographer, I try to capture what was, but I never will.  Life was simpler then.

More of my visit: http://zwinkftp.com/Macksville_2012/

More of my work, my vision:  http://zwink.com

The techy stuff: on this trip I only took a Nikon D700, 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200 nikkor lenses.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.

Fishing, HDR, Kansas, location shoot, photography

Catching the Storm

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Woods Pond 2

SINGLE IMAGE HDR:

HDR photography is not always a product of three to seven separate images.  Nor does it have to be overdone to loose the effect and value of the hdr.  The image above was taken during a visit to my home town in Kansas.  Having been there previously I knew there was the likelihood of a potential nice landscape image at sunset, not to mention a high probability of catching a fish or two.

Shortly before this image was captured on a nearby field they started burning some native brush.  This gave the perception of a gathering storm and gave texture to the sky.  As I was ready to start shooting the big fish struck.  My host Glen quickly came over to reel in the fish.  With a slight reposition to the right I was able to capture this image as the fishing rod was bent over lined up with the cloud formation from the fire.

In postproduction I brought the files into Lightroom.  I made two virtual copies and then adjust them to give three distinct images for the highlights, midtones and the shadow detail.  After merging them and adjusting them in Photomatix we had the sunset, fishing shot and a thank you print for my host.

My other work can be viewed at: www.zwink.com