Author Archive: ken

In the past, my slow time of the year has been from Thanksgiving thru mid February. For some reason (and I’m not complaining), things haven’t slowed down much. Is it a sign that the economy is beginning to rebound? I certainly hope so.

Next week, I am meeting with some folks about putting on a Modeling Workshop. We are just now beginning to talk about the format and other specifics. There’s a ton of details that need to ironed out. So, if you want to try modeling or if you just want to feel what it feels like to be a professional model, stay tuned and I’ll have more details in the next few weeks. The workshop will also benefit experienced models as well.

I still want to do a studio lighting workshop for photographers. I need to plan that for this summer.

Once I get caught up, I need to work on some personal projects, just to be creative. I have a bunch of ideas rattling around in my head. I need to flesh them out and plan the shoots. Maybe after the first of the year.

I want to do some renovation to the studio too. I want to add a new shooting area and put in some new wood flooring.

I told you these were random thoughts. 🙂

Thanks for reading and have a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year!!!

-Ken

The last few weeks I’ve been working on all kinds of stuff. I don’t think I’ve had more than one day off in a row in quite a while. But I love what I do, so it’s not like it’s a burden. 🙂

For instance I was in Detroit for a couple of days shooting for Recycling Today Magazine and after that I was in Ohio shooting photos of multi-million dollar robots from a 30 ft boom lift. Before that, I shot products for White Oak Lavender Company. Somewhere in between those shoots were portrait sessions.

Here is a sample photo I shot for White Oak Lavender.

Raw Lavender

For more examples of my commercial work click here.

I have also added a new product to my high school senior portrait line up. Seniors can now a order a video of the shoot. The video offers glimpses behind the scenes, photos, and also an interview section. The video is perfect for graduation parties and parents love them. Call or email me for more information about a custom senior video.

Well that’s it for now. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season.

-Ken.

Ok. I don’t normally rant or get political on my blog or on social media sites. However, I get sick and tired of people ranting ad nauseam about their political beliefs on Facebook, Google+, etc. This posting is directed to those people who are always throwing their beliefs in everyone’s faces.

Most people’s political view points are relatively fixed and aren’t going to be changed by anything you post. If someone “friends” you, it means that, either they already agree with you politically, or they feel you have something important or interesting to say about other topics. No one friends you because they want you to convince them to change their political viewpoint. So, if you are going on and on and on about your pro tea party, pro occupy, pro whatever beliefs, you are either pissing someone off, or preaching to the choir. Neither are productive.

I have real friends that have viewpoints different from mine and that’s OK. There’s other common ground that’s more important. As long as you believe in America and want to improve our lives, all the rest is just details and it’s Ok if we disagree about the details. I just don’t want hear about them over and over again.

Once again, thanks for reading!

-Ken

By “lucky”, I don’t mean that I win the lottery or that when there’s a raffle, I always win something. So I guess lucky isn’t the right word. “Fortunate” is a better choice. Since this is the beginning of the Holiday Season it’s a good time to give thanks for the all that we have. I know the economy isn’t in good shape, but we all have something to be thankful for.

For me, I am the most thankful for my friends and family, who I love and cherish. I am also thankful for my customers. I am fortunate to be able to work with some amazing and creative people. This encompasses not only my corporate clients, but also the people that trust me to shoot their portraits. Especially when they want something creative and different. 🙂

Not many people have a job that they absolutely love. Yes, it’s stressful, it’s demanding, and it can be frustrating. However, it’s also very rewarding. I wouldn’t change a thing. 🙂

Yellow Pipes and Gears - shot for a metal fabrication company

To see more of my commercial photography click Here.

To see more of my portrait photography click Here.

Once again, thanks for reading!

-Ken

I know this is a weird post, but let me give you some background and it will make sense. Recently someone asked me to review his photo portfolio and tell him what I thought about the quality of his work. He is a beginning photographer and is looking to improve.

I went to his Flickr page and looked over his work. Honestly, most of it was OK, but unremarkable. There were a few images that were pretty strong. So, in my review I complemented the good images and told him what I liked about them. He thanked me and asked what I thought about a couple of the weaker images. I told him I thought they were weak and gave him the reasons why I thought so.

He said he was confused because the weaker images got lots of positive comments on his Facebook page. With good reviews from his friends, how could those images not be good?

The ugly truth is that, while most everyone knows what they like, that doesn’t mean they can judge quality. For instance, one photo was of a pretty girl in a dress outside at a park. Someone may look at the photo and see a pretty girl and make a positive comment. Someone else may see the photo and love the dress and like the photo. Yet a third person may love the girl’s shoes and make a comment.

What these people failed to notice is that the sun is casting ugly shadows across the girl’s face and no fill light was used. They also didn’t notice that there is a telephone pole growing from the girl’s head and that the background is really distracting (something that could be fixed by opting for a shallow depth of field or by having the girl move to a different location). These not the things most people will notice, but they really weaken an image.

I know nothing about pottery. However, I can look at a vase and say that I like it because I like the color or the shape. But it doesn’t mean I can judge it’s quality. I can’t tell how much effort went into making it or if it was glazed or fired properly. The potter shouldn’t consider my opinion when assessing his own skills.

I guess what I’m saying is that, having your work critiqued is a very useful exercise, but make sure the person’s opinion you are asking for is capable of judging the quality of your work.

One of the many interesting things about photography is that you never stop learning. You can never know everything about the craft. If you think you do, you’ll never grow and your skills will stagnate.

Thanks for reading!!

-Ken

OK, the last few weeks have been really busy so I’m just gonna post a photo from a recent shoot. I’ve been shooting a lot of cools photos, so I just selected one to post. Next week I hope to post a better blog entry. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Ken

Last week at one of my industrial shoots I got to see some robot welders in action. It was pretty cool, to say the least. The robots were positioned behind a 10 ft tall shroud. The shroud is used to protect everyone’s eyes from being flash burned. There was a large turntable device that delivered the raw pieces in a jig form to the robots for welding. Once complete the control panel would rotate the finished welded product to an operator and at the same time new unwelded parts would be presented to the robot. Then the process would repeat.

Pretty amazing technology.

Shooting this was a challenge because I had to climb a 12ft ladder and position my camera on top of the shroud for stability. All the time wearing a welder’s mask so my eyes wouldn’t get burned. But I got some cool photos!

Giant Robot Welder

To see more of my commercial photography click here. Well that it’s for now. Thanks for reading!!

-Ken

The last few weeks have been busy. Last weekend was the annual Chef’s Dinner that was a fund raiser for the March of Dimes. It’s a fun event and the money goes to a good cause. Every year I contribute a portrait package to the silent auction. This year, I was a successful bidder on a package that that includes an introductory flying lesson plus dinner at a local restaurant.

The event is fun because it’s really a battle of the chefs. Each one (and there’s 6 or 7) prepares something different and basically you can sample each one. At the end of the evening, you can vote for your favorite. You end up getting stuffed on great food. One of great aspects of this event is that you are not tied to your table. You can walk around and mingle. It’s an awesome annual event!

On a work related note, I’ve been really busy shooting commercial work, a mix of industrial and product shoots. It keeps things fun and interesting.

I am becoming more intrigued with working with video. Part of the reason is that I enjoy learning new things and facing new challenges. I’m just not real sure how I’ll use the knowledge. 🙂

By the way, if you want to see more of my commercial photography you can check it here.

Thanks for reading!

-Ken

I think that’s a question that plagues everyone in any creative field. How do we stay inspired to come up with new ideas and concepts? We’ve all been there, the slump. What works for one person may not work for someone else. All I can tell you is what works for me.

Diversity does it for me. I try to break out of rut by not doing things the same way. I think I mentioned it to you before, I frequently move my lighting gear to one side of my studio. That means I have to set lights from scratch the next shoot. I keeps me from being complacent about lighting. For me that diversity carries over to my whole day. One day I might be shooting products in my studio, the next day I could be taking photos from a scissor lift in the middle of a large factory. The fact that my days are quite different keeps me inspired. New and different challenges are a muse of sorts.

As you might know, I’ve been dabbling into video production. Learning to tell stories in a series of images is giving me inspiration for some future still shoots. In a photo you try to tell a story in one frame, in a video you have more to work with, but it has limitations and rules as well. There’s things I can translate from videos to my still work and vice versa.

For some of my sometimes odd and quirky images check out my personal projects page.

Inspiration sometimes comes from unexpected sources. Just constantly expose yourself to new ideas, new art, new experiences and embrace them. Something good will come from it.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading!!

-Ken

Yep, another blog posting and photo. 🙂

I want to redesign my website, but haven’t been able to arrive at a design that I like and can live with for a while. If I am going to go thru all the coding (I do all my own web programming. Mostly HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) I don’t want to have to do it again for a couple of years. Years ago I decided to forego developing a Flash site. Largely because Flash sites aren’t very search engine friendly.

I like the look of a well done Flash site, so I was thinking of creating something similar in appearance, but using traditional web development. When I arrive at what I want, I may post it here just to get everyone’s input.

Here is a photo I shot last week for a steel fabrication company. They make all kinds of stuff. This is pile of gears. Besides the normal products shots, they also wanted something more artistic. They needed images they could mount and display in their corporate offices.

Gears

This was shot using my 50mm f/1.2 lens and was shot at f/2.5. I love this lens, but it’s hard to shoot wide open unless the subject is a good distance away. The depth of field at f/1.2 is so very tiny, you really have to be precise with your focus.

Thanks for reading and you can see more of my commercial photography here.

-Ken