American Primitive

My newest conceptual fine art series, American Primitive. The series is a comment on the digital age and social media.

The subject poses naked and vulnerable wanting all to see, but still afraid to show the true self. Wearing a mask, pretending to be someone or something they are not in hopes to be liked and get likes.  Now trapped like a zoo animal behind a facade created for followers and attention.   Like most Americans striving for more and trying to keep up, but still unable to fill the void.

The polygonal mask is a reminder of the digital age we all live in. Carbon in color because so many people on social media are “carbon copies” of each other, terrified of stepping outside the instagram box of what everyone else is doing.  Insecure about being seen as different and not being accepted. Everyone is the same underneath, skin and bones and our animal instincts remind us that we just want to belong to a tribe, to be loved, but this organic desire has turned into an insatiable obsession for a double tap that will turn into a heart.  Instant gratification that last less than an instant, never truly finding the acceptance one seeks in a sea of the same.  

The zoo is a reminder of a more primitive, easier time before social media created so much pressure on our lives.  Like an animal at the zoo, we are all being gawked at on social media by people we don’t even know.  Our lives being displayed in front of people that we have never met and may not want to.

Find out more or order on my fine art website.

Creating Fine Art Photography

Selling Fine Art

Within the last year or so I have decided to concentrate on shooting and selling fine art photography. I have a store on this site and will probably create a dedicated website just for my fine art. I am also on Etsy which has been pretty good and I think that it gives me better odds at ranking higher in Google searches. I’m also selling on Saatchi Art I think it’s just another great online presence to have.

Santa Monica Vacation

Concentrating on shooting and selling fine art photography has felt right, it feels like that is the direction I should be moving in my career. I still like shooting fashion but the business is so competitive that I just don't feel like I have carved a name out for myself. To sell fine art I don't need a magazine or clothing company to hire me, I just need to find buyers It’s all my own business without the stress of trying to make a client happy or maybe not being on the same page as them.

Tree Of Forgiveness

Fine Art Nature Photography

As of right now I'm shooting and have a back catalogue of nature shots. I like shooting palm trees and beaches it has a very vacation feel and makes you happy when you look at them. I really like trees as well, they can make such interesting shapes and can be really moody. Like the Tree of Forgiveness above, which was shot on a plantation in Louisiana. I feel that the tree has seen a really horrible time in our countries history, and it’s as if the tree is asking for forgiveness for all that happened on that property.

Nude

Fine Art Vintage Signs

I have always been attracted to vintage signs, motels and architecture. This sign on the famous Route 66 or now known as Santa Monica Blvd has been an image I pass on a daily basis. Inside this building is still a mystery to me, as it reads "live girls". The Nude sign sitting high above Santa Monica Blvd. is more of a description of the city it sits on. The rust and grittiness of the sign adds to the rawness of the giant letters NUDE and the devilish girl who watches from above, don't you wish you knew what she was thinking?

Frolic Room

The Frolic Room is a dive bar on Hollywood Blvd and has a long history of writers and celebrities that would frequent this spot. It’s a great piece of Hollywood history.

L.A. Clown

This sign is from the movie Clueless with Alicia Silverstone. It's located in a not so pretty area of the Valley, so I added the vintage sign to a scene with the iconic palm trees of Los Angeles.

Fine Art Beach and Palm Tree Photography

More beach scene which I love. Taken in Malibu, Zuma Beach and the palm trees are from a hotel in Hollywood, called Villa Carlotta.

Home and Interior Photography

When I started my photography career in 2011 my first real job was shooting listings for Airbnb. I had never photographed a home or interior, but I have always had a love for architecture and interior design… so it felt like a perfect fit. I wasn’t making a lot of money at Airbnb and they put me in the Malibu market which is 40-60 minutes away from my home, but at that time… any money was good money. I learned shooting for Airbnb by trial an error, there was no real training. There was a pdf guide and a lot of direction by the Airbnb photography team. I have since learned a lot and I have developed my own style which seems to be working! I no longer work directly for Airbnb, but most of my clients are short-term rental clients. Non of the photos on this blog were shot directly for Airbnb.

Santa Monica

I have now created a large clients list of short-term rental companies that I shoot for, mostly small independent and individuals, except for The Plum Guide which I just starting shooting for. They are a high-end rental company out of London that has expanded to L.A. and N.Y.

Shooting interiors definitely has it’s challenges, actually every home I enter is unique and who knows what type of light or direction of light you are going to get. I like the challenge, it keeps me on my toes and keeps me learning new ways of shooting. The new style I’m gravitating towards is more of an editorial style, like the photo above. All natural light, soft and lightly staged. This style is what magazines like Dwell, Architectural Digest and Luxe are looking for. I hope to shoot for them soon.

Beverly Hills

I also shoot for real estate agents, remodeling companies and interior designers, every shoot is different. A home being sold for a real estate agent is shot differently than an interior design home and short term rental is shot differently than both. The best shoots are the ones that have been properly styled and are camera ready. Those are the shoots that I can really get creative with, I’m like a kid in a candy store on those shoots!

Lake Hollywood

Like any business there are ups and downs and they all depend on the market. If the real estate market is down so is my business, if it’s off season and no-one is renting their home than it’s slow in that area of my business.

Los Feliz

One perk in shooting homes is traveling! Any time I get a chance to go out to Palm Springs, I’m happy! I also travel to San Diego often. The more traveling the better! I recently was hired to design, stage and photograph ten units in Seattle, that was a challenge and a lot of fun too. The goal is to travel the world by taking photos. You can view my home photography website here

Malibu

Business of Photography and 2018 Goals!

Happy 2018!  If there is one thing I need to work on and get better at in the new year it's business!  First of all, photography is a business... all art is if you want to pay your bills.  For me it has been the most challenging thing I have ever done!  I don't have a degree in business and It just doesn't come to me as naturally as it does to other people.  For some people creating or running a business IS their creativity... that's where they shine.  I am a visual artist, the day to day responsibility of running a business is just not fun or easy for me.  I want it to be fun... but not everybody can do everything. 

Seeing the light through it all.

I think having an agent and a producer on my team would be a huge help and would help propel my business to the next level.  Until then, I'm on my own and I feel that every day.  I actually feel isolated and alone trying to be a successful fashion photographer.  It becomes frustrating and quite honestly wanting to quit is a common thought.  But, then I realize that quitting is a pattern I have perpetuated my entire life, once things get hard or aren't working out the way I want it to, I quit.  I also know that I love what I do and I just need to keep moving forward and trying new things.  Evertually it will all come together. 

I think the most important aspects of running a business is to work hard, be persistent and to always be willing to learn and change... which I am all of those things.  Well, I could always work harder, who couldn't and maybe be a bit more persistent... okay, I'm not ALL of those things but close!  As I said earlier my default is to quit instead of keep going and to be persistent.  I think a lot of people experience this out of fear of failure... It's so much easier to quit than fail.  With failure comes growth and change and this is the main objective of any business.  So fail with pride, fail with confidence and fail in knowing that you just learned something important.

Another mountain to climb.

I am in the process of self reflection and reinventing myself this year.  It is time to do things differently then I have in the past... as none of what I have been doing has panned out the way I planned and I seem to continue doing the same thing over and over.   So this year, I am making changes, a reinvention of who I am as a person, photographer, writer and filmmaker.  I will be getting back into film/video doing creative, person projects as well as writing scripts so that I can shoot them.  Whether they are short films, a documentary or a possible full length feature.  As I said, it is time for change, I want to move mountains.  And if there is one thing I have learned, no one is going to come knocking on my door asking me to do any of these things!  It is up to me to create and manifest all the things that I dream of.  Hard work, persistence, positive thinking and dedication is the only way to make dreams come true. So I wish everyone a happy, productive, and successful new year!  

Resources to help you with your photography business below.

If you are starting a career in photography or specifically wedding photography, below is a link to the website ShootDotEdit on "How to Start a Photography Business" It's a great resource filled with information to get you started. Click here to read the article. 

Fashion Photography

My goal since I started shooting professionally has always been to shoot fashion photography, but what does that mean and why is it such a challenge to get fashion work?  There are many avenues of "fashion photography" these days and every one is a "fashion photographer" or so they think.  I suppose it can be broken down to a few categories, shooting for clothing companies, shooting for blogs, shooting for fashion magazines and shooting e-commerce.  The title of fashion photographer seems to be a blanket title that covers all of these and more but it doesn't really, as far as style, creativity and experience goes.  Shooting for a millennials blog, which must look like every other blog out there, is much different then shooting for W Magazine or Vogue.  The images in W Magazine, Vogue or V Magazine are very stylized, avant-garde, well produced and a lot of the times look like works of art. 

A fashion blogger's style is much more lifestyle and what the girl or guy is doing in the clothes, not really much of a story, it's just a "look at me" kind of photo.  Which is fine, every twenty something wants a fashion blog and a hundred new fashion blogs pop up everyday. Seems very competitive and repetitive to me.  I shot fashion photos for a fashion blog and she didn't like the photos because they didn't look like every other fashion blog out there, they were too "fashiony", WOW! A fashion photo for a fashion blog is too "fashiony".  I can't!  Why start another same ole fashion blog to look like every other fashion blog out there?  Be different, dress different, shoot different, use different locations, HAVE SOME ORIGINALITY!  These bloggers look at other blogs and say "OH, I have to do that, wear that and shoot there too!" And they do. I say no, that's boring and how are you going to stand out? Be the change, do something different and be yourself.

Although a lot of these young girls and boys don't even know who they are yet, they just have this new platform and everyone wants to jump on board. I get it, I would probably have done the same thing in my twenties if blogging was as popular as it is today.  I'm sure I would have thought I had to do what every other blogger was doing, with the fear of being different and not liked.  And to be completely honest I catch myself doing it now, as a photographer.  We see a photographer get a lot of attention and some success and think "I need to do that" and we try to recreate a look of a photo, but you can't, it was a moment in time and you are not that photographer, you are you. 

We as photographers must think outside the box and be us!  Not try to be Mert and Marcus, Mario Testino or Steven Klein.  For one thing these guys have been in the business for many, many years and have a lot more experience than us/me, not to mention a LOT of money from the magazines to produce these shoots.  They also have the best creative directors, clothing stylist, hair and make up and not to mention the pool of TOP models they have access to... oh, and amazing assistants!  If I had all that, I would be shooting the cover of W Magazine too. All big jobs go to about ten top photographers and that is why it's important to be different and shoot your own style.  I had to learn this and I continue to.  I have always and I will continue to look to these photographers and magazine for inspiration, I love it! I love the work they produce and I'm ready to be in that group of ten, to shoot for all the top magazine and clothing lines in the world! 

But how?  That has been the question, the struggle the frustration for me.  How do I get noticed?  I can do it, especially with all the help they get on each shoot that I just mentioned.  I can be a top fashion photographer, I just need that big break, that one person from Vogue to give me a chance... to just believe in me.  The problem is, everyone wants to be a photographer these days.  There are SO many photographers out there, how does an editor or creative director choose or even find you?  It's so overwhelming they just stick with the same photographers they have worked with in the past.  It's easier that way and I get it!  I do the same thing with make up artists, I know how they work, we get along I'll just hire them, it's easier then finding someone new, it could be a roll of the dice with a new person.

The photo above is from a test shoot for a modeling agency.  I like the photo... a lot.  But the agency hasn't used it, the model never put it on instagram and I never received any feed back from either.  This is where a photographers insecurities come in. Am I failing as a fashion photographer? Are my images that bad that no one wants to use them?  But, there are so many factors that go into this. One is, this is a brand new model with very little if no experience, it was a test shoot.  So if he had a few more years of experience, who knows what the image could have been.  The other is, this could just not be the look or direction the agency wanted the model to go in and yes, he's wearing glasses in this particular photo, which an agency does not want, but there are other shots from the shoot without glasses.  I now know to trust that I did my best as a photographer for this shoot and that's all that I can do.   I also have learned from my years of doing this that there is always something to learn from every shoot, what you could have done differently with lighting or composition or even how you could have related to the model better or directed the model better etc..  It's really an ongoing learning experience. 

As far as how to get work in fashion photography, I think it takes time and it's about the hustle.  Shooting new fashion shoots all the time, trying new things and getting your work out there.  And then there is networking and contacting the magazines and clothing lines.  It's never fun and there are a lot of no's or just no reply's at all, which are the worst, but you get use to it believe it or not.  So keep moving forward and do the best job each time, eventually it will be your turn.

Fine Art

So, I have finally decided to photograph and sell fine art!  This is something I have thought about doing for a very long time and being that I am an artist, it only makes sense.  I started off drawing and painting at a very young age, my mother wanted me to pursue that more so she enrolled me in art classes.  Well here I am, a photography fine art artist??  I pulled out my photo archives and found some really great photos that will be sold and I have many great conceptual ideas that I am working on right now!  Be sure to check back, as my store on this site will be growing! Traveling was one of the main reasons I wanted to turn my photography into a career and now doing fine art will be the catalyst.  The below photo was taken in Louisiana.

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I will say that I'm running into a problem with enlarging my photos.  To enlarge photos to around 40" x 48" which I originally wanted to do, I found that you have to have a lot of megapixels, like 50-100!  Yeah, that's a lot and sure there are cameras that do it, like Hasselblad and Phase One, but those camera start at $30,000! That's a big chunk of change!  So I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to shoot so I can enlarge my photos to such a big size... without that huge $30K investment.  Now that I have decided to shoot and sell fine art, it has opened up an entire world of creativity and ideas.  I am very eager to start shooting my concepts and just as eager to get them printed and framed, so I can hang them on my wall as well as sell them.  It's a whole new world and it really feels like that path I should have been on from the beginning.  Well, I have a lot more to learn in the fine art photography world and I will be adding follow up post to this one to share what I have learned and what I am shooting.

Tree Of Forgiveness

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An Introduction to me.

So this is exciting, my first blog post!  To be honest, I wonder if people even read random blogs anymore.  I mean do I really have anything that important to say?  Well, I just might!  The reason why is because I have been taking photos since the age of eleven while growing up in Michigan.  I'm not going to tell you my age, but it was long time ago.  Anyway, back then I was using my mothers Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid cameras the photos are actually somewhat interesting.   The photo below was actually shot in Rockford Illinois, we lived there for a year.  So it looks like that's where I really picked up photography and if you look at where we lived, you can understand why... there was nothing to do there so I really dove into art. I remember I took art classes while living there as well, so art has always been in my blood.  That is my little brother in the photo, WAY in the background and that is our backyard.

Looking back on old photo albums it looks like I was the family photographer.  It's mostly my little brother as my subject as well as Christmases, birthdays, that kind of thing.  But I enjoyed photography very much. 

I now shoot professionally something I never considered while growing up... I guess you never know where life is going to lead you.  Starting my own photography business has been anything but easy, it has actually been the most challenging thing I have ever done!  But, nothing worth having is easy so you keep pushing forward, learning, growing, changing and hopefully coming to a point you can sit back and say "I DID IT!"  Of course then you need to create new goals and continue to grow and learn, it's all the process of life.  If not, you become stagnant, bored and empty inside.  There is no easy way to success and there is no easy way through life, so have fun, love and give back when you can.

I'm not sure what content my future blogs will contain.  My plan is education, business and life.  This one was probably more life and being that I am a Gemini and my mood changes by the minute, this could be blog roulette!

I took the below photo on Sunset Blvd the other night on my iPhone.