Category Archives: career

career, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, San Diego

Learn to Communicate (Ask the right Questions)

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  (Above)  My client specifically  asked that I get images of the water feature between the two building.  Much to my chagrine there were white strips at the bottom the the pools.  If I was shooting this on an editorial job I would have to shoot it the way it was.  Being that this was for a commercial client I did a quick sample and emailed it to them.  They opted for the retouched version and the additional expense.  Communication with the client got them what they wanted and a more profitable day for me.

Fortunately most of my clients and I have some history.  Although most of my assignments come in by email we generally know what each other needs.  If you’re working with a new client, don’t assume.  You know the old saying.  Not only is it true but it can cause you more time on the project and even grief.  Ask what the final product is so you know how to shoot, are you going to have time to do it right, light it right or have to shoot ambient and minimize the impact on the tenant/subject?  In other words, get in, make great images and get out quick.  Here’s a short list to get you started.

  1. Make sure you have a contact # while on site.
  2. know in advance if this is the only day/time you can shoot if the weather is bad.
  3. Security.  Make sure they know you’re there.
  4. Shot list.  Make sure you know exactly what they need.  Anything else is cake, i.e. additional income.
  5. Be prepared.  Scout the location to know what you’re getting into.
  6. Deadline.  Know when the need it and get it to them early.
  7. Communicate.  To be successful you have to learn to talk their language.
  8. Make your own list.  But do it and constantly review it so you will do it right and enjoy the process.

More of my work:  www.zwink.com

Techy stuff:  Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop 6, Nikon D800

career, family, location shoot, photography, San Diego, Sports

It just won’t go Away

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THE AZTEC WARRIOR

     Sometimes, if you’re lucky, during your career you’ll make images that will stay with you the rest of your life.  Images you enjoy, images that strangers will know.  You know, the image you may see on a poster or a wall print that someone comments “that’s nice…..”  Then you get to proudly say, yes I took it.

     I’ve been lucky to take a few of these during my shooting career.  The above image was taken for the Aztec Warrior Foundation after SDSU decided their mascot Monty Montezuma was not politically correct anymore in the eyes of the school administration.  After a fallout of public outrage and the efforts of the Aztec Warrior Foundation, Monty was reintroduced to the school and fans.

     But, I digress some.  What I also wanted to point out is that these situations can often profoundly affect your life.  I met Monty, aka Carlos Gutierrez, while we were both on the sidelines during the Aztec games.  We became (and still are) close friends, had a few excellent adventures and I became his unofficial photographer.  His passion to promote and support SDSU and it’s athletic program genuinely rubbed off on me.  I have friends that cover baseball and other sports that have also developed lasting friendships from their photography exploits so I’m not the exception.  It’s a reality, embrace your passion and your subjects.  It will affect your life.

More of my work can be seen at:  www.zwink.com  My archived work which includes Monty is at www.bigstudioz.com

career, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, San Diego

Do you Shoot Food?

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I market myself primarily as an architectural photographer.  It’s hard.  Experts say to have people take you serious and pay decent money you have to be a specialist.  So do you?  I was trained and worked my early career as a photojournalist.  A good photojournalist is good at shooting a lot of subjects and an expert generally at none.  So what do you do?  I don’t want to be tied into just one thing so I do niche marketing.  Most of my work is photographing properties, new construction and aerials of those projects.  To those clients I market myself for my architectural work.  To a few others I’m known for my environmental portraiture.  I market them differently.  You get the picture.  In this economy you need to diversify within your business and marketing.  But to each your a specialist they need.  btw, yes I do shoot food……

The image:  Taken with a Nikon D3 and a 80-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom.

The Food:  Bully’s East, Mission Valley, San Diego, Ca.  Great place.  Yes, we enjoyed some of it when we were done .  The benefit of being a food photographer.

My Marketing:  www.zwink.com , my other diversified work, www.bigstudioz.com

art exhitibion, black and white, career, photography

5 Things to do with old photos in your Garage

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So…… you have some extra time and you decide to go through old images.  You go into the garage and there is a stack of boxes that you swore you’d edit, file or throw away.  This can also apply to you art directors, pr people or ad agencies with a lot of  prints from old projects.  Now before anyone yells at me you non photogs make sure you have permission or the right to use them.  So make some time and take another look at what was once some great work.  Here’s my list of 5 things to do with the photos.  I hope you’ll add to the list as I need some other great ideas to repurpose these images.

  1. Send a copy of the print to the subject, even if a lot of time has passed.  At the least you’ll make someone’s day, at best you may make a new client.
  2. Scan and archive your better images.  It’s good to see where you’ve been, how you’ve progressed.  You may even end up with a new portfolio or gallery you can share.
  3. Make Art….. be creative.  Create collages, decoupage an old table top , put old slides inside a clear lamp to remind your self of the “old days”.  Wallpaper your garage with old prints.
  4. Maybe you have enough prints for an exhibit in a coffee bar, hair salon or bar.  Might be great tradeout potential if they don’t have a budget for art.
  5. Scan your best archives, categorize them and see if you may have a body of work for a historical archive.  Wouldn’t that be cool if future generations could see your work?
  6. Take old proofs or small prints, jazz them up in small frames or matteboard and give them to friends or clients.  Let them know you appreciate them.  DARN….. I went past five.  Ok, your turn.  Share your ideas.  I have a lot of files to go through…..

 

The photos above are two of a series of 16×20 prints from my old studio, now in my garage.

More of my work can be seen at: www.zwink.com or go check out some of my cool editorial work at: www.bigstudioz.com

babies, career, daughters, family, location shoot, photography

Pink Dress

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Payton's Pink DressI am a procrastinator…… there, I admitted it, finally. Obviously I am if I’m just now jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s to show a little more insight into who I am, drive traffic to my great website www.zwink.com, talk about my life or maybe just explain a little bit about a gorgeous little girl who has totally messed up my life.

I was born May 5th, 1955. I’ve had a great life growing up in a nurturing small Kansas farm town and eventually moved to San Diego. I like to say I was a kid in Kansas and became an adult in San Diego. I’m now a commercial photographer based in San Diego with a great wife and three grown kids. Even as they grew up, I was consumed with photography. I always wanted to be where the action was to shoot and document it all. And I did what I could. The Super Bowl twice, World Series, All Star games, Rose Bowl, Holiday Bowl and the America’s Cup just to name a few of the biggies. So then it happened……

Payton Jo Rohrer was born July 3rd, 2007 to my daughter Tiffany and her hubby Chris, aka “Dough”. I was asked to be in the labor room with them until the doctor came in and kicked me out. I was overwhelmed when I saw her for the first time. Even though she was my grand daughter I didn’t realize you could be attached emotionally to someone else’s child like I was with her. Wow….. almost like when her mom was born. While I was staying with them in Arizona for the next few days I started questioning whether I’d been around enough for my daughter and her sibs as they grew up. Tiffany so tactfully said that “I was there when she needed me”. I still wonder. So I now strive to find that balance. I don’t want to miss more of my family growing up, any of them.

I really am trying to find that balance. I’ve started to market more for architectural work. Maybe if I go and look for the work instead of waiting for it I can spend less wasted time at the office. Don’t get me wrong. If anything I feel more passionate about my work and feel after all these years that I finally know what my “style and vision” is. More on that later.

So, enough for a first entry. I hope to use this blog to share a little of my life, travels, my photography and family including the dogs and cats. I’ve never kept a journal before so this adventure could get rocky. I hope you enjoy it.

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