Thinking Long Term.

 Most of us have goals we wish to achieve at some point. I am just figuring out my goals with photography and where I want to be in five years. Yes, the dreaded five year plan. But not so daunting since this is something I want to do. I want to have my photos up on display in places where people will see them. Yes, I do have exhibitions running now and then but I like the idea of my work being in one spot forever. Or at least a very long time. One case where I am getting to realize this is with my photos of graduating doctors of the Island Medical Program, University of Victoria.
My photos are on a wall of the Cowichan District Hospital were doctors and upcoming doctors will see the proud smiles of these graduates. It is a great feeling to capture these moments. I hope the photos justly convey the emotion these people.

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A second set of eyes.

People often forget that being self-employed means you are running your own little business. Not all self-employed people are good at business. They may be good at their trade or profession but they may not have the skills it takes to reach their true potential. That is why you need a guy like Clemens Rettich behind you.

I actually met Clemens while on a photo shoot for Bamboletta Dolls back in the winter. We chatted a little then but I bumped into him again at Coffee on the Moon while my photo exhibition was up there. We chatted for quite a while and decided it was in our mutual best interests to work together. He liked what I had been doing and I liked his ideas for me. 

Last week we met up at the Tea Farm just outside of Duncan for a photo shoot and a nice afternoon tea break. Margit and Victor are the enthusiastic, artistic owners of this gem of a place!

There is a cool old barn that has been converted into a studio inside but the exterior has a lot of character. So we decided to do some photos around this.

The top photo takes advantage of a backwards clock on the blackboard, leftover from a mad-hatters tea party. Clemens is not afraid to confront such nonsense. Not at all :)

These photo were taken in the mid-afternoon so I was using a lot of lighting power to compete with the sun.

 This photo has an extra layer of lighting - up in the little loft of the barn I hid a light just to help illuminate the door.

 This one is pretty straight forward. I think there was one key light and one fill.

 And the same lighting for this one. I wanted a different perspective and this one allowed me to get rid of the shadows on the barn and the ladder came in handy as a prop.

 These last three shot are from a meeting we had downtown at the Twisted Mug Cafe. I chose this location since it has some nice natural light, interesting seats and it is where I had been having meetings with Clemens. I think the location is pretty accurate of where you might expect to see Clemens doing his work, meeting a client and giving critical advice. Did I mention, Clemens was instrumental in the direction my "Behind the Vines" exhibition went? Yep. He gave me some good advice. That's his job. A guy like this acting as a second set of eyes on your business is priceless!

 Ok, back to the photos. Natural light you ask. Yes. I wanted to do this because it is a busy coffee shop. I didn't want to be intrusive or have my lighting gear get knocked over. I knew the natural light was good here so why mess with mother nature?

So there you have it folks. My advice is to get good advice.

kurtknock.com

Just another day at the park.

Normally I wouldn't write about some family thing. But I have to follow my heart and this always works best. So, if you are looking for stunning photos with crazy lighting this week, you may as well sit back and wait another week. This one is about family, appreciation and love.

Today could have been a very rushed day considering what we had going on. A restoration company come by first thing this morning to finish a flooring repair. I had to get out for my morning coffee shop stop and run a couple errands around town. Then we had to get out of the house for lunch since our kitchen was off bounds (restoration work...).  Lunch ran a little late and we still had to fuel up and drive about an hour to a dentist appointment in Victoria. By this point Nina and I were starting to get a little stressed. We arrived at the appointment on time and everything went well. Stress was now gone.

So there we were in Victoria with no plans and it was a beautiful summer day. We decided to stop for an afternoon snack and then go to Beacon Hill Park.

The park was great! The breeze was just right. The temperature was just right. And then a sea gull pooped on my shirt. Yep. This was the second time I have been pooped on in this park over the years. With my luck it won't be the last. So I washed up and back to fun.

After some time in the playground and walking about we decided we needed a dinner plan. Nina used her phone robot to locate a nearby pizza place. Ends up that this pizza place was absolutely incredible. The type you want to stay and eat in the wonderful atmosphere. They even had incredible photography on display. But we had other plans. Go back to the park with the pizza and have a picnic. When the host realized we were picnicking, she lent us a red and white checkered table cloth. How cool is that? We had a real picnic coming together with no planning and no stress what so ever!

We found a nice little spot at the park and settled in under the filtered shade of a tree.

Rhys was the first one to finish his yummy pizza. Yes, he eats everything we eat and he just turned one year old a couple days ago (That makes life a little easier for us!).

After Kole and I finished, we got up and went "adventuring" as Kole like to call it. Rhys was happy to speed about on all four and he just happened to find a good spot to grab this photo.

Kole found this nice bridge to strike a pose on.

And I made Nina stop for a moment and enjoy a moment in the spotlight.

 I know I've said it before, but trying to do my family justice in photos is just not possible. They mean the world to me. The camera can only convey a fraction of this love. And I can honestly say, this afternoon in the park was the highlight of my week.

In case you are wondering why the photos look a bit different than you'd normally expect from me, I was using Nina's Sony camera since I really like the small size of it and it puts out nice photos. And I wasn't using any lighting (other than natural). Nina took a bunch of great shots with her smart phone too. Is there anything those smart phones can't do?

kurtknock.com

No Studio Required

I'm really glad I don't have a studio. It forces me to be creative and work with the weather and environment around me. Quite often this poses a challenge since it does rain here so often, but rain delays aside, I like environmental portraits.

Sometimes a studio is required, in such cases as baby photos in the winter. For this I rent a nice studio. Easy. No monthly lease commitment for me.

I think my clients really like the opportunity to have a different portrait than the regular studio shot that they are so used to. Especially professionals who normally get treated to the studio head shot that looks like it has been done a million times before. I like to incorporate the interior of the office or take in the beautiful outdoors so there is some connection for the potential customer of these professionals. They understand the person they are looking at, getting a sense of who this dentist, doctor or lawyer might be.

Plus I think these professionals like being treated be me like they are individuals and that they matter. And they do to me. I try to make every photo shoot special and aim to come away with at least one photo that I am proud enough of to use for my portfolio.

So with a little more thought, some creativity and planning, my clients get unique photos they can be proud of.

See if you can recognise any of these faces ;)

kurtknock.com