Monthly Archives: September 2008

Once upon a time, a creative photographer settled for a good paying job in the mortgage industry (at the largest privately held mortgage company in the nation). Rising to the level of Assistant Vice President in the Loan Administration Division, the photographer wasn’t really happy and had no release for his creativity. Along came a position as the company website manager/photographer/graphic artist and the photographer found himself in a job that agreed with him.

Around 2003 or so, the photographer found himself making changes to the website as the result of requests from branches around the nation. These branches were wanting to offer a variety of VERY speculative loan products and wanted them advertised on the website. The photographer talked to his old friends in Loan Administration and they too  were concerned that these loans were very risky.

Many meeting were held among the senior management of the company and the decision was made to go ahead and make these risky loans. The reason being that they saw other companies like WAMU making millions of dollars from these loans and they wanted a piece of the pie. They had no eye for the future. So the photographer watched in horror as the company offered dangerous loans to the public and the public consumed them like candy. They also had no eye for the future. Eventually, the mortgage company was sold to another company and the home office was closed and 800 people here in Fort Wayne lost their jobs. This gave the photographer the opportunity to start a thriving freelance photography business.

So who caused the current financial crisis? It’s not so much who, but what – greed. Borrower’s were greedy to get into homes they couldn’t afford. (The same reason many people lease cars). Loan officers were greedy for commissions (the higher the loan balance, the higher the commission). Institutional investers (Freddy, Fannie, Bear Sterns, et. al) were greedy for to sell more mortgage backed securities. All of this ran unchecked due, in a large part, to the 1999 deregulation of the boundaries between commercial and investment banks.

The moral of this story? Sadly, all of this could have been avoided if they would have listened to the photographer. 🙂

A friend of mine and I were talking the other day and he said that, just for the heck of it,  he Googled the term Fort Wayne photographers. He said there were around 11 pages of photographers. He asked how there could be that many photography studios in a city the size of Fort Wayne. I told him was surprised there were that many. He said he looked at the websites of many of them and said there were wide variety of images in the sites he visited. He wondered if all these people were full time photographers.

I think the answer is that there are lot of people that shoot on a part time basis. For instance, a wedding photographer would shoot mostly on weekends and would be an ideal part time job to supplement a weekday job. Then, my friend asked me what the criteria is for calling yourself a “professional” photographer? He kinda stumped me on that one.

If you look up the word there’s a bunch of definitions there someone can use. It’s very open to interpretation. So, I’m gonna give you my opinion on the definition of a “Professional Photographer”. First all, to me a Pro derives the majority of his/her income from photography. Next, a Pro must be able to produce high quality images in a consistant and dependable manner. A lot of photographers can create a great photo, but can they recreate it on a regular basis? This brings us to the third point, a Pro must have knowledge of his/her craft. Without this, the previous point is unobtainable. And the fourth (and last point) is a Pro behaves in a professional manner. This means he/she puts his/her client’s interests first.

Now you can argue any of these points, especially the first one. Let me tell you how I see it. If someone is a banker during the week, but spends weekends shooting portraits. His/her professional is a banker and he/she makes a few bucks as part time photographer. Just same as if he/she did some roofing on the weekends. I wouldn’t call them a profession roofer.

Well anyway, that’s what I believe for what it’s worth. 🙂

Two posts in one week? Yep, today was a very unusual shoot. It was some aerial photos of Smith Field Airport. My pilot today was Joel Pierce, the Director of Flight Operations, and experienced pilot and all around nice guy. He figured out a way to me to be able to get unobstructed shots. By removing a screw on a retaining bracket on the pilot side window, the window would open all the way and, while in flight, would float on the passing air.

The gameplan was to get in the right position, then Joel would sharply bank the plane so I get a shot shooting down. We had to do this so that the wing strut and landing gear wouldn’t be in the shot. I have to admit having a large window open with 70 mph wind whipping at the front of your lens (I thought my lens shade might come off) while the plane tilts sideways, is overall a bit unnerving (but great fun). 🙂 But Joel did a great job and got me back on the ground safe and sound. Here is one of the photos from this afternoon, taken at about 4000 feet.

For a larger version, click here.

I can see why people fought so hard to keep Smith Field open. It seems to echo back to the earlier days of aviation. While Fort Wayne Internation Airport is a great airport, if I was a private pilot I would understand Smith Field’s attraction. All of red tape wrapped around flying is removed. Want to go flying? You get in your plane, dial into correct radio frequency and annouce what your planning to do (taxi, take off, etc.). If it appears you intentions are going to conflict with someone else, they will tell you. It’s a simple and effective way of managing the traffic.

Anyway, Smith Field is one of Fort Wayne’s gems and I’m glad I got the opportunity to do some work for them. Also, if you ever thought of learning to fly or even going on a sight-seeing flight, check out their flight school. I was really surprised by how affordable they are. (No they aren’t paying me to say this stuff. 🙂 ).

Yesterday we took the dogs to Fox Island Park for a nice long walk thru the woods. If you’ve never been, you should make a point to visit the park one fall afternoon. Fox Island is a nice county park with lots of room to hike or just hang out. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera (I’ll take pictures on my next visit). However, I did shoot a photo of Abby as she rested when we returned home.

Kate and Abby were both exhausted from the walk and all the sniffing. They just love going for walks.

I know I normally post blog entries at the begining of the week, but I’m making an exception this week. And, since this is my blog, I can post whatever I want. 🙂

I just started a new project that should be very interesting I’ve been hired to shoot the renovation and expansion of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. I’ll be shooting the progress once a week for the next 6 months or so. This is going to be a fun and unusual project. Here are some shots from today, week 1.

Since I going to be shooting the basic shots from the same location each week, when the photos are seen in sequence we should be able to see the building rise from ground. Anyway, I think it’s going to be pretty cool.

Last week I got to have some fun shooting photos of auto parts for a catalog cover. The advertising agency said they wanted me to make the parts look “sexy”. So I had to break out the red gels and the fog machine. I love for an excuse to break out the fog machine. I guess I’m a kid at heart. 🙂 So, here’s a shot.

I also had another shoot last week for another catalog cover. This company makes wire connectors. I was able to dial down my lights enough so that I really open up the lens to get a super shallow depth of field.

The long labor Day weekend was spent working on the house. I installed a new storm door and added some new outdoor lighting. Nothing too exciting.