Author: Matt

Below is a video I shot and cut together for London Couture. They hold an event every Friday evening at their store in downtown Tacoma - Glam Power Happy Hour. They provide salon services, photos, champagne, food, and styling services. It's a pretty cool little event. The video is a little teaser to show the basic idea of the event and the environment of London Couture.

You have to admit, it's a guilty pleasure buying new stuff. Sure, it sucks having to shell-out moola for the really good stuff, but if you are a legit working professional in your field, it's a necessity. BUT... as much as you hate seeing a series of zeros in the price tag of pro-level equipment, there is a part of you that is super happy about clicking that "buy" button. Photographers are notorious gear freaks, always lusting after the next biggest, faster, meaner piece of equipment, whether it is a lens, camera body, general accessory, lighting, or computer equipment. We live in a world that is now obsessed with efficient, lean business workflows. On top of that, society in general is always looking at how they can get services and products cheaper, faster, and easier. The same applies to the career field of photography. If photographers are expected to keep their prices lower to stay competitive, they have to find ways to make the price they are charging economical to keep their dollars per hour up at a desirable range. Ex. if you charge $200 for a photo shoot, is your total time invested into that project 3 hours or 30? If this (photography) is what you wake up and do every day, it is a prime example of a high output workflow. By that, I mean it's not like you are dealing with something on a small scale, like selling cars. You are most likely pumping out photos in the thousands every month if you have a healthy business. So, we are dealing with units in the thousands per month. Don't you think that is something that is worth evaluating, in terms of process workflow and where bottlenecks might be? Just like any other profession, the longer you keep at it, the quicker you are capable of doing a job, managing the juggling of processes, etc, and hopefully the lack of efficiency in certain spots will become more evident. You'll most likely continue to reach new levels in your knowledge and experience, and your current gear and approach may begin to keep you from breaking through to the next step. That's your cue to do something about it.

Holy smokes, September and October were busy months, and November is panning out to follow in-suit. A lot of catchup to play here on the blog. Why not start with a wedding post. I had a wedding gig up in Whidbey Island last September. Whidbey is a beautiful place, great wooded and beach areas. As you drive along the winding roads (aching for a motorcycle), you never know when the next scenic visual delight will be around the corner to surprise you, going from dense woods to wide beach vistas.

archivingScreenShot Ok, so here we go, the first video Q & A segment. I hope this kind of catches on and people use me to help "fill in the gaps" of all the standard information they can't seem to find on the web. It's just one of those things - you can have a really good grasp on a piece of software, while also having a really solid plan for the business end of things, however, there is the cross-section, where the creative/making side intersects the business side. There is this murky middle area where a lot of things are left-up to interpretation and personal preference. Essentially this gray area cannot be spelled out by software makers, and a business teacher definitely doesn't have any input on these kinds of specifics. You know there are a practices that need to be done in your business to ensure efficiency, redundancy, and so on, but I (and as it seems many others) are left to figure out all the gray area stuff themselves. Sometimes self-discovery of these processes are the best course of action, other times you are left thinking "it'd save me a bunch of time and a handful of headaches if I got a little nugget of knowledge from someone who has been doing this gray area stuff for awhile in my same career field." This gray area are the things I would like to focus on in these sessions, because I feel it's worth my time to address them. The simple, easy stuff that software vendors spell out on countless websites where you can get a lot of information doesn't need to be beaten to death one more time by me in a video. Rarely, it also seems that tutorials spell out the BIG things and leave these little gaps that desperately need explanation. You also do not need me giving you a lecture on how important is it to ensure you have backups of every inch of your business, how to interact with your clients, etc. It's that middle part, and how they come together. So let's piece this stuff together.

Screen Shot 2011-10-19 at 4.37.20 PM The Smokin' Hot Espresso calendar is going to make it's return after missing this year. We are halfway through production, as we are spending a lot of time on each month's shoot. It's gonna blow the first calendar project we did out of the water. I get more and more excited about the calendar with every shoot we complete and I see the photos roll off the camera. These photos, of course, are about the girls, however, we've really done our homework this time around, and all of the themes and locations we are shooting in are so much fun. It's not just about the girls, it's the content matter they are involved in that makes it different. That's what makes it fun for me, really integrating the subjects into the environment I'm capturing them, both being just as visually engaging. I've posted a few screenshots from some of the BTS video captured, I can't post too much, as we want the calendar to be a pretty cool surprise. Be on the lookout for more info on this soon, the calendar is dropping late November.

matty_10.19.11_ 020 - Version 2 Whether you just bought your first SLR camera or your fifth, there's no denying the fact that most of us photographers are gearheads one way or another. Some of you might be looking for a bag to lug around your first big boy camera, some are running out of space for additional lenses you are adding to the never-ending collection, and some have more specific needs in a bag. Let's take some time and go over some things I'd recommend you consider when shopping for a new bag. I can remember back when my gear grew and/or changed in size. I made a couple bag purchases and quickly outgrew them or they simply lost their purpose in life for me. Let's breakdown some of the basics when considering that new camera bag and some of the problems that can arise unexpectedly quick, leaving you with a bag only 6 months old, yet worthless. I think that the people this post will help most are those who have recently bought their first DSLR, who probably have a kit lens and maybe one more lens (most likely a mid-quality longer zoom). So you are juggling two lenses, you are going on some adventures and want to have them both with you, yet you want to pack/protect your investment. Others might have been in the game for awhile and you've caught a serious gear bug, and you have a lens/accessory infestation. There are bags for you and your "issue," and we'll cover that as well (I fall into this category). Some of you may choose to have multiple bags, one big guy that fits all your gear, and another smaller bag for your wandering adventures.

IMG_4309 I've been working with London Couture, a vintage fashion clothing business, for a few months now. So far it's been a great experience, and owner, Tina London, is largely responsible for the enjoyable experience. She's a lady who doesn't mess around, knows what she wants, and wants every aspect of her business done right. Our very similar work ethics makes us a good match for working professionals. I love her business for a number of reasons, but probably the most exciting is the fact that our opportunities in working together to create awesome imagery and marketing materials for London Couture are pretty much endless. The business has a lot of things going for it, and has a lot to offer as far as merchandise in the store. Over the last couple months I've been getting aquatinted with the business, and the style which they represent. It's a tricky thing, being in-charge of the creative design for a business, their visual marketing person, but only knowing a business for a short period of time. Much like a tiny snowball starting at the top of the hill (where I started with LC), and gaining size and speed on it's way down the hill, our relationship will grow and speed up giving us the ability to produce more and better work at time goes on. With a more intimate working knowledge of the business, my ideas for photo concepts are coming much more freely and often, not having to worry if the idea would be a good or bad fit for their style. It's that time of year to start pushing bridal marketing. All those brides looking to secure the biggest and best of everything to ensure their wedding is a great experience. LC has been attending bridal expos to help get the word out that they too provide bridal garb, but not just any kind of attire, really cool vintage dresses. A large part of Tina's time is invested in literally traveling around to fashion hot spots in the world and hand-picking all of the one-of-a-kind designer clothing you see in the store. No steps are skipped through the entire process, as stylists are at the store to help you navigate, select, and fit clothing to best work with your particular shape. It's definitely not an experience you get in many places, and it's a completely unexpected surprise in downtown Tacoma. New found customers are often delighted to come across the store, always saying they can't wait to get back into the store and shop more. Now that's a business I want to work for. In my mind, the hard part is done, Tina has established and invested into a great store and business, now all I have to do is make sure that the photography can keep up with level of professionalism Tina has set. I'm not having to make anything look better than it really is, fib here or there, cause London Couture doesn't need it.

matty_9.3.11_ 064 Round two of the mini sessions, as I continue to knockout all of the LivingSocial deals. This time around, I selected the studio and the Ruston Way waterfront area for my locations. If you missed the first round of mini session photos, and a more in-depth explanation of what these are all about, click here for that post. A lot of variety here with some senior photos, family shots, and a couple headshots. In efforts to not repeating myself, I'll let you read the aforementioned post if you need to catchup, otherwise, I'm going to let the photos do the rest one the talking on this post. Lots coming, per usual.

twin-suns-tattoine You hear it all the time, people "viewing" the world in a perspective that is unique to only those in the same career field. With each life experience we gain as we live each day, we wake up and see the world a little differently, whether we like it or not. This perspective greatly skews itself in the direction of topics and ideas where your mind spends a lot of it's time thinking, observing, acting-on, and discussing. We become hypersensitive to these things we specialize our lives around. The "perspective" I am specifically referring to in this post is that of a visual sense, however, the varying perspectives of the world span from the other senses our bodies have (like hearing or smell) to just thoughts. Of course, all of these perspectives are manifested from thought, but they work in-tandem with our sensory organs. It should be no surprise to those reading this that my perspective has been warped by my obsession with photography. Like the blind gain an uncanny ability to heighten their sense of hearing, I've come to modify my sight and how I view the world in photography. My quest in making new and different photography (and in as great of a quantity as I can), puts me in a mode that hunts for anything that can be utilized to inspire, create, or evolve a photography concept. I've become fascinated and an observer of what I've already experienced my whole life, which is light and how it reacts in an unimaginable number of environmental variations. For example, I understand that candle light is faint, very orange in color, where fluorescent bulb is much bright and different in color temperature. I understand that glass, metal, and other like-objects hold reflective properties. All of these things you learn as a kid, but you never really have to consciously think about them in every day life and how they effect your life, because quite simply, they don't real matter that much. Not until you pick up a light capturing device, like a camera, do you start to find an appreciation of everything you already "know." Turns out you really don't know much about it after all. Further more, you don't understand how important the smallest variations in time of day, light variations, surface properties of simple objects sitting in a room, etc. really are until it comes time for you to replicate it accurately with a camera. Essentially, you are observing non-stop, taking mental notes, testing, failing, and learning all over again in a new world hidden inside of the same one you've known since birth. It's a rewiring of the brain, and sometimes it's a fricken battle to accomplish, because you are fighting your whole life's idea of how things are. For me, it's taking what I know about life, shoving that knowledge in to a camera, and looking at it via the lens. This rewiring process can't even begin until you understand the camera and what it is capable of. Further more, with flash photography, the camera and only the camera is capable of seeing what flash photography can produce. After years of observing flash photography produced by cameras and the lighting tools which helped manipulate light, you can start to predictively visualize the world that your camera sees. It's very much a trial and error process, a LOT of observing.

aliceLaptop Is this post a little late to the game? For those who already use applications like Aperture and Lightroom (more about these later in the post), yes, this post is about the biggest "duh!" article you'll have read in a couple years. However... for those photographers who have not had their eyes opened to these savior-like applications, the people who make a living making piles and piles of photos yet still rely on single image editing applications, this post is for you. Why do I STILL have a sense that this post is necessary? 'Cause I hear of people struggling with photo management on a regular basis, and I feel compelled to write it for them. Most likely, this post is going to help that group of photographers who are at the level where they are just starting to get paying gigs, they are flirting with the idea of taking on photography seriously, or maybe they've been doing it for a while and can't figure out how other working photogs are staying afloat with all of the editing, 'cause they are spending an unimaginable number of hours in post production with a steady stream of clients. In today's fast-paced world, it's all about getting the job done better, faster, and cheaper. Streamlining your biz is key, and post production is a giant arena which can be tweaked to really get more time back to invest in other areas.

matty_8.26.11_ 039 It was a solid start to the LivingSocial mini sessions. For those who are unaware, I was featured on LivingSocial last month, and it was a scary week. I was left wondering how many photo deals I'd be selling. My goal was to get my name out there via marketing by LivingSocial. The cost - having to practically give away my photo services to anyone who bought the deal. The cap for the deal was 1,000 purchases... ouch. I kept my fingers crossed that I'd be able to get my name out while only selling a reasonable amount of deals, so in the end everyone is happy. Thankfully, I sold almost he exact amount of deals I wanted to sell, and that was 50. Still... 50 deals are a LOT of deals to have to toss in the mix of my work load, especially considering the small return on them (all evident if you've noticed my absence from the blog lately).  I eventually made this economically feasible for myself by structuring them into mini sessions. That way I can just set aside a couple days a month, dedicate them to the LivingSoical deals, and knock them out an orderly fashion.

upfrontPress1 Spotted this the other day, I landed the cover of Cascadia Weekly again. I want to say it was a little over a year the last time my work was on the cover. Cascadia Weekly magazine that runs up in the Bellingham area. The Upfront Theatre is one of my commercial clients. They are keeping the people laughing, I keep capturing, and there you have it. The Upfront is fairly young, only been around for a handful of years, but they are without a doubt growing and growing in popularity. Like a snowball on a very gradual hill, you can see the growth in attendance from month-to-month. It's so deserving too, they have some fantastic comedic talent there, and I'm just not saying that 'cause I take their photos. I've come walking out of their shows with my face hurting from a straight hour of laughing, and on more than one occasion. I don't see that play slowing down any time soon. They have a great thing going, and that is clear, as you can see with them on the cover of Cascadia, again. I've made sure to photograph the cast on white seamless during the last couple shoots, as it's bulletproof, versatile marketing imagery. Ironically, it's about the easiest setup to do once you get the process of balancing the lighting under your belt. I've seen this particular style of my work with them on just about everything - flyers, drink menus, and... magazines. It just works.

matty_9.2.11_ 284 Commercial work, mini sessions, weddings, and more all in the same week. The last month has been a crazy mix of work, if it weren't for iCal keeping my schedule and head together, I wouldn't know what mode to wake up in. It's an interesting thing, switching it up from shooting food products in the studio to children in the park the next day. Clientele interaction, lighting, and photographic approaches... the whole game changes with the wildly different jobs. One thing is for sure, all the variety keeps me on my toes, and... consequently keeping me away from the blog as of late. Speaking of variety, the mini sessions have been bringing just that. From a single person to the full family shoots, I've been shooting it all and at a few different locations. The kids always bring unexpected surprises. They are definitely a challenge, but a welcome one, because they provide hilarious expressions when they come out of their shell. Couple goofy ones I've taken over the last week in the post, along with a young man I captured down at Ruston Way. Plenty of bloggin' to come on that later down the road.

postcard-4inx6in-h-front-01 My work is starting to ramp-up with London Couture, one of my large commercial clients. One of the first photo shoots we had was for marketing a fundraising event they are hosting, Strutt For A Mutt (yes, it's intentionally spelled wrong). The owner, a giant dog lover and overall kind person, is holding this event with 100% of proceeds going to the metro animal shelter. This is the second annual for this event, which I was not around for the first one. When the event was brought up in a meeting, we mentioned how ads and marketing were going to made. Prior to my being a part of the team, London Couture was left with scavenging the internet for passable images to use for their graphic design. With me around now, we can take idea from concept, to photo shoot, to graphic design without depending on any other resources. This is the real fun part for me. They showed me last year's logo, which like I said, had a random image off of the internet. The key part of the imagery, a fashionably savvy woman carrying a shopping bad with dog leading her on a leashed (all silhouetted). Bad habits had them going to the internet once again, looking for a "better" image to use for this year's design, and that is where I grabbed the wheel on the operation. "Why not just grab a model, some clothes out of the store, a couple of your dogs, and head down to my studio and do this right," were the words out of my mouth. Not only should we use our photographic resources for the big things, but everything, big or small. All of the suggested items were very easy to reach and doing the shoot ourselves would ensure it's done right, and most importantly, the image is OURS, and we can continue to use it or other work we produce marketing material.

matty_8.6.11_ 217 So a few months ago, I was struck by an idea that quite honestly upset me because I hadn't thought of it sooner. That idea? Shirts. Shirts with my logos on it. A vain idea? Maybe a little, but I work some pretty large events sometimes. It's not like I sport my own shirt, strut up to a random person and go, "Yep, (sigh) I don't know if you know this... but I'm kind of a big deal" (looking off into distance and thumb pointing to my own logo on chest). Sometimes I'm up working my lighting magic in front of crowds prior to said events starting, where I literally have 750 - 1,000 sets of eyes on me as they anxiously await the start of the event. Why would I be up in the lime light, doing lighting photography? My clients will be working/promoting themselves at events, they hire me to cover them working the events, and sometimes we get to have a bit of fun on the venue's "stage." This means me, lightings, lots of gear, and staged photo shoots upfront. I'm sure most of the people who are there are wondering what the hell is going on, maybe curious what and why I'm taking photos, and I bet some are wondering what these photos are turning out like. How would they ever get that chance when they don't have a clue of who I am or where to look?  It's not like I grab I mic, turn the to crowd, "I'm Matty, that was my show, checkout my site, goodnight!" Shirts are a far classier approach, don't cha think? Those whose interests are perked, can look closer and read my logo.

matty_7.12.11_ 307 I have the pleasure of working with a brand-new restaurant, even before it's open the doors for business. It goes without saying that there is a lot of time, effort, and money that goes into getting a business like this launched, but it's critical it is done right, and thankfully this owner understands that. It's always going to be way harder to just slap something together real quick for the sake of speeding up processes, and then coming back around and tackling things all over again once the dust settles. Aside from this being a super unprofessional approach, it's a killer on the business' branding momentum. Right out of the gates, the day a business opens up, people will associate things with that place. The food, the menus, the music playing, the signage, the customer service, and even the color of the paint on the walls. You start changing all that stuff up a couple months after opening for business, changing your own consistency and branding, I think that you'll loose a lot of consistency in your customers, especially your recognizability. Besides, you wanna blow the socks off of your customers from day one, give them a true reason to keep coming back. You don't cut corners to quickly open your doors only to tell your customers things will get better here soon, so hang tight. In meeting with Darrin, the owner of Amerawcan Bistro, I knew right away that he wanted to make his place truly unique. Aside from him already offering a rare style of food and a great menu, he wanted the entire customer experience to be something people talk about after they eat there. We sat down and mapped out a branding style and message we wanted to send, in a visual sense, to accomplish this goal. I LOVE working with businesses in creating a branding image. Whether I am helping them with more than just photography or not, it's important that I fully understand what the end product needs to look like, as it's critical for properly executed photography. Photography produced with the final branding goal in-mind is clutch. Understanding what styles and colors menus, logos, and websites use will influence how the photography is executed. When done right, the photos are dropped right into the marketing material seamlessly, and looks flat-out impressive. You look like you got your shit together, and the truth is, when it looks like that, you probably do. It speaks volumes from the rest of your business, "come eat here, we care, we are professionals, what can we do to make this a better place for you." Honestly, I was super excited about being a part of this project from the beginning, and not having to worry about transitioning the business out of an old marketing image. A clean slate.

matty_7.15.11_ 609 In my opinion, there is no better way to spend an evening than to be laughing the whole time. Life is just way too short to not enjoy it and make the most out of it. Laughter makes us feel good, brings people together, and on this particular evening, laughter raised a boat load of money for a great cause. In front of a sold-out crowd, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie played in the beautiful Mt. Baker theatre. The quick-witted duo even had me laughing as I was capturing the action. The show's proceeds went towards the Burned Children Recovery Foundation. This show was the first of three days of fundraising for the organization, thanks to Ryan and his team. The theatre itself was fun to photograph, the interior lighting design was well-thoughtout.

matty_6.27.11_ 172 Another round of punch card photo shoots for Smokin' Hot Espresso, one of my regular clients. Bikini baristas have been around for a while now, kinda almost old news, right? Everyone went the extra mile to dress up and keep their customers guessing with fun outfits when the bikini barista stands hit and were all the talk. As the controversy over the coffee stands slowly fades to a mild "eh, whatever," the girls themselves who work the stands slip into lack luster effort with their themed "costumes," giving away to simple swim suits most of the time. This is not the case any longer with Smokin' Hot Espresso. They are bringing themes back AND sexy back (take that Justin Timberlake). This means your nurses, maids, cowgirls, cops... the list goes on of sexed-up outfits, you'll see them all at Smokin' Hot. This is one thing that there is not a lack of at this business, they really like to keep there customers happy with the themes, the punch cards, the calendars. They understand it's more than just an eye candy experience for a lot of their customers, and they want to make it fun by doing the little things for everyone who stops by. I'd imagine it is quite the expense for a business to keep a team of baristas in coordinated costumes so that they have copies of every costume and are in unison.

And the weekend begins with a bang. Photographed a sold out show tonight at the Mt. Baker Theater. This being the first of three events that make up the Ryan Stiles Golf Classic weekend of fundraising. Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie played in front of the packed theater, generating plenty of laughs. All of the ticket sales going towards the fundraising event. The Ryan Stiles crew asked if I'd oversee the photography needs for the event and I said yes. Donating my time for the weekend will produce a lot of great photography for the organization, providing plenty of memories and marketing material for years to come. 700 photographs dumped off of my two cameras tonight. Ouch, there's a few hours in post production... I'm going to guess that the weekend's total will come in around 3,000ish. Loved working in the Mt. Baker Theater. What a beautiful structure. Attention was paid to details and you can tell. Not a bad seat in the house either.