A weird reality check

i had the honor last week of shooting the graduation photos for a couple of great kids. not just any kids but the kids of a friend that i went to high school with. i'm still trying to wrap my head around that one. someone my age is old enough to have kids that just graduated high school? seriously am i.. are we that old??? yes i'm afraid we are. my lovely wife and i got a really late start at the kids thing, our oldest will be ten soon. but this was still a really weird realization, i just don't consider myself that old. my knees would disagree, they feel every day of my thirty eight years. nonetheless it was a great opportunity and i'm so happy i was able to do these photos for them. and what a fun bunch at that!

just to get the shot

photographers are a different breed. we're an obsessive and even neurotic bunch, driven by one thing: the desire to get the shot that's in our head. if you meet us one on one we may seem perfectly normal, but when you get us in groups of five or ten, or forty, our true insanity comes out. we have our own language, most of which seems to be dominated by a bunch of numbers and fractions and we are constantly passing around unbelievably expensive pieces of equipment as if we were showing each other baseball cards. one thing that happens quite a bit when we get together is we take more pictures of one another than we do the clients or models, and one of my favorite type of these images is the ones that demonstrate exactly the lengths we will go to just to get the shot. here are some of my recent and all-time favorites.

heather frazier of hnf photography, taken by me at  the 2010 scott kelby photo walk.

tom leopold of high class photographs, taken by lisa marie mulvaney, lisa marie photography. also taken at the 2010 scott kelby photo walk.

chrystal rae heckman of chrystal rae photography, taken at a shop talk event at tuttle creek by heather frazier.

me! taken by heather frazier at a recent model shoot.

catheryn chatham of rock star images photography, taken by me at a wedding i assisted her with.

yaritxa quinones-rodriguez, taken by me at a shop talk event.

a vision from my head.

i very rarely go into any kind of shoot without some idea of what i want to leave with. to me this pre-visualization helps me get prepared and gives me a direction. i'm also a firm believer  that you have to be willing to completely let go of that vision and be able to move in a totally different way if need be and not freak out and lose focus. versatility is a really critical thing to being a successful photographer. possibly the most important thing. one way i work on my own versatility is by challenging myself with unique locations and situations.
this image has lived in my head for a very long time. for one reason or another i could never find the right person/place/time to make it. but it stuck around and kept knocking on my brain wanting out. it's still not exactly what i had envisioned, and maybe at some future point i'll do it again, but for now my brain is quiet. for now. that doesn't last long.

a strategic decision.

i loved the image that i had used for years to represent my business, but it was time for a change. i made the decision that it needed to be more universal. the tattooed body of my good friend V has graced all of my pages and even my business cards but it might be offensive to some, who knows possibly many. it kinda feels a bit like selling out. i love catering to the extreme, after all most would agree that i'm a bit extreme. the problem is, there simply aren't enough of them... us around here to risk losing out because of something as simple as a profile photo or logo. so here it is, the newest face of szel photography. enjoy.