The Times, They Are A Changin'...

Well, for those of you that don't already know, things are changing quite abruptly for myself and the ZiF blog this weekend. Around the middle of August I was approached by one of my regular clients, The Heartland Poker Tour, and asked if I would be interested in working for them year-round instead of just two or three events a year. After a phone call to my wife where I begged like a 5 year old in the toy section of Walmart, I gladly accepted their offer. Why was I so excited? Well, allow me to explain what getting this position means to me.

I'll be good, I promise. -Yahoo search

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Seniors, Seniors, and... Seniors?

I'll be completely honest, when I switched to doing portrait work instead of just shooting for myself, there was one thing I feared shooting above all others... Seniors. In my opinion, senior sessions are just one step below wedding photos on the photo pyramid. Most people are only a high school senior once, and if they aren't their parents probably aren't celebrating it with photos. So, it's a once in a lifetime photo session for the senior. That's a lot of pressure to get it right.So, having this fear, I was assured of one thing my first year of doing portrait work... I would end up doing more seniors than anything. :(

Lucky for me, I've been able to work with some great seniors this year, not to mention some great senior moms as well.  They have definitely helped me conquer my fear a little bit. Also, I'm starting to understand how shooting seniors helps you become a better photographer. When you truly make an effort to personalize the images to the senior, you find yourself being more creative out of necessity instead of trying to force it. You can't get away with posing every kid the same because it just won't fit them.

 I think I had also forgotten that I am going to perpetually be a goofy high school kid. Thus, I think it's actually easier for me to work with seniors instead of adults. We'll see about that 10 years in the future, but for now, I get them and it seems to be making things go easier.

Recently, however, there has been one 'senior' session that meant a lot more to me than all the rest combined. That was the session I shot with my grandparents for their upcoming anniversary. I love them very much and I was happy to be able to give them their pictures as their gift.

Thanks for reading!

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A Trip To Vegas and The Return of Howard Photography...

Wow! Way too long without a post, but it's not without good reason. I landed a cool gig the week before last, but it came with a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), so I couldn't talk details. I'm pretty sure that I can say I worked for the production company that shoots MTV's Teen Mom. However, I think I'll leave it at that until the show comes out. I think the NDA applies mostly to show content and I would be fine talking about my work, but I don't need any legal grief at the moment and the show is still in production so I don't want to jeopardize future work over the coming months.

Moving on to something I CAN talk about, I'm excited to be picking up another shoot with the HPT. I found out earlier this week that they'll be flying me out to Las Vegas for their tournament at the Palms Casino. Yes, it's cool to be flown out for a job, and yes, it's cool to be going to Vegas, but this job means a little more than that to me. This job culminates four years of building a working relationship with a company and earning their trust as a freelance employee. In the last year, it has evolved from me only working a local casino, to me traveling on my own to St. Louis, to them flying me out to Vegas. Not bad for something that started with a cold-contact email to the co-owner of the production company. It's been awesome getting here, but I'd be even happier if it lasted a great deal beyond this point.

Lastly, you've probably noticed that I haven't been doing much on the photography front lately. That is because I have been fortunate enough to be busy with production work so far this year. Should things start to slow down, or on the less likely chance someone requests photos out of the blue (since I'm not advertising), I doubt that will change for the time being.

OK. I left that above paragraph in this post because up until the point where I typed the last period, it was true. My phone rang before I could start another sentence and now I am booked for a senior photo session. Just more proof I have no idea what I'm talking about. :)

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

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On The Cheap: Yongnuo YN-467 Speedlite Review

I suppose, in the name of full disclosure, I should start out saying that I am wary about writing this review. This is mostly because I'm not deeply versed in flash photography. By that, I mean that I studied the technical aspects of flash photography while in school and I used a variety of flashes and setups as well, but in all honesty it was something that I didn't master and mostly fudged around with until I got it right. I was spoiled and shot mostly with strobes in a studio setting, but still used a speedlight, just not many times. So, if you are looking for a laboratory test/technical review where someone goes in-depth about verifying the guide number, measures the color temperature of the light, or whether or not it will blend... this is not it. 

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New Photo Sessions: The Hutchisons and the McMasters

It's been a little crazy the last two weeks. Somehow I was able to finish up three projects in that amount of time and mix in some Christmas shopping as well. The first task was to finish the rest of Jake's session after the initial rush to get a picture to the school. After wrapping up his pics and slideshow it was on to my last two clients (presumably for the year).

The first was the Hutchison family. Unfortunately, we encountered one of the major predators of the "Natural Light/ Outdoor Photographer," wind... and lots of it. We did our best to find a place that might be shielded from the gusts, but it was next to impossible. Still, I think we ended up with enough good shots to make a decent session. Most likely we'll revisit this session in the spring... they are family after all. :)



The McMasters were the second family. They decided to brave the cold for their session. Thankfully for them, but to my disliking, the clouds parted for the last half of their shoot and warmed things up, but made lighting a bit tricky. They came ready with a lot of ideas and wanted a good amount of individual and couple/paired photos to go with their family pics, so it was a lot of fun and a nice challenge to come up with enough variety to keep the images interesting.



Like I said, these will most likely be my last photography jobs of the year. This first year has definitely been a learning process and I know I am starting to pick out what areas I am lacking in and need to improve on. I'm just hopeful that I will get more opportunities next year to do so. I've already got some equipment upgrades planned, so it should definitely be interesting to see what the future holds.

Thanks for reading!

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Flip The Switch...

Another crazy extended weekend is in the books. Jake's senior pic was sent in to the school for his yearbook, and day three of 'Epic Christmas' wrapped on Tuesday. I even slipped in an impromptu family session for my Sister-In-Law. It seems like it has been non-stop since Friday, so finally having a day off on Wednesday really helped get me back up and going for the fights coming up on Saturday.

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Gettin' Busy...

Whoa! Looks like I missed my once-every-two-weeks deadline for updates. Oh well, I'm sure the number of people who'll read this can fit into a minivan anyway. Anyway, that doesn't change the fact that things are getting busy again. Let's take a look at what's coming up over the next 9 days.

This... is obviously not Jake.

This Firday I'll be shooting some senior pics for Jake. He's already had a senior session with another pair of photogs, but says he didn't want them to shoot the "guy stuff." So, we'll be loading up his hunting gear and heading out to the pastures. His dog is also very important to him, so we should get some great shots of both of them together. Definitely looking forward to it.

Then, after a break to take my son BMX racing on Saturday, I'll start a 3 day production job with a show called Epic Christmas in Joplin, MO. I plan on doing a full post once it's finished or maybe daily updates, so I won't give away to many of the details now. If the title is any indication it should be a good time. Besides, who can say no to Xmas a month early? I know I can't, and since it's for a good cause, it makes it that much better.

Last, but not least, it's one of my favorite nights. FIGHT NIGHT! A week from this Saturday I'll be shooting MMA action in KC again. Working for 1zero8 is really turning into one of my favorite regular gigs. Is it a huge production, broadcast to thousands of people? No. But I'm always treated well and I get to see some great fights at every event. I also work solo, so I'm "The Show." If I screw up, it effects the final product because there's no safety net, no backup camera to cut to. I love the responsibility and the pressure to do a good job.

Well, that's what I got coming up over the next week or so. Like I mentioned, keep an eye out for updates on Epic Christmas. I also plan on updating my photography portfolio before the end of the year, so watch for that as well.

Thanks for reading!

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The Clothier Family...

After teasing Stephanie for almost two weeks, her family photos have finally reached the finish line. Some changes around the Howard household brought on delays, but she's been a real trooper and I'm sure she is excited to see them. She'll get them all, but the rest of you will have to settle for what's in the video below and the select few that make it onto the Facebook page over the next couple days...

Enjoy!

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Richard and Judy's 50th Anniversary...

Awhile back I mentioned that Howard Photography was booked for it's first official portrait session. Now that the finished disks are in the mail, I figured I would share the results. Richard, Judy, and the entire family were great clients. They had ideas of what they wanted but were still open to my ideas and they were very patient considering how hot the weather was. It still amazes me that the entire session took less than 2 hours to complete, but like I said, this family was really helpful and organized.

Here are their photos:

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