One of My Favorite Places in the World

Red Palisades in Badlands National Park after a week of
rainy weather. I've never seen it so green!
This image was photographed with a hand-held
Kodak D812 during a light midday rain.

I love to travel.

I especially love our vagabond way my wife and I travel the United States: via towed camper. This gives us the flexibility to leave the unit so that we can explore with just the truck, pull into a rest area or a friendly merchant (Most Wal-Marts and Flying J's will let us do this.) for a quick overnight or only a nap.

Among the many places we've visited, my favorite (so far) is Badlands National Park in South Dakota, United States. This desolate and inhospitable bowl on the high prairies has a surreal beauty that changes view every few feet!

The last time we were there, rains poured on the area for the previous week. I had never seen it so green! The rain deepened the colors as it saturated the hills. No filters were necessary to enhance the otherwise subtle colors. The enhanced colors made the inconvenience of photographing in the rain worth the effort.

I hope to camp at the park a full week so I can take time to photograph more of the many moods of the Badlands. That may be a few years off.

So, where was I?

Wow.
It's been nearly two years since I posted last. I'm sorry for the silence.
There is a lot to say about different things, But for now I'll say this:
I'm back!

Working with Models or Talent

Stephanie and my Hat

In still photography, they're models. In motion imagery, they are talent. In either case, they are the people (and sometimes animals) you put in front of your lens to help you tell your story. They are also a big factor in your collaborative effort to deliver a product for your client.

Sometimes the hardest part of the whole process is simply finding the model or talent that you need. Most beginning photographers and videographers recruit from their circle of friends and family. My most reliable model is my lovely wife. She'll complain, but she models very well. College acting classes, small local agencies as well as nationally connected talent bureaus all are sources for recruiting that person that will work in front of your lens. It's just a matter of how much time and budget you have.

The first step in making sure you have what you need is to ask very specifically for what you are looking for: approximate age, gender, hair color, facial hair (men), hair length, height, body build, secondary talent (dance, singing, horsemanship, etc.), and/or anything else that would be what you have in mind for your imagery. Also, be specific in what type of role this person would play. For instance: "Physical comedy as an always ready to please, clumsy husband for a competent, but indulgent wife." Hopefully, from your listing you'll get a set of people willing to audition for you.

Quite often, with models for still work the selection process gets done through head shots, resumes, portfolios and availability checks. Motion talent usually must be "tested" to see how well they fit the ideal  for your project. (Benedict Cumberbach was the only one tested for the role of Holmes in "Sherlock". Martin Freeman was one of many who were tested for the role of Watson, but the instant chemistry between him and Cumberbach during Freeman's test cemented the role for him.)

Hannah: "This is awkward!"

Make sure that responsibility for secondary items like wardrobe, hair styling and makeup are clearly spelled out before your talent arrives on the set or studio. Almost always, you are responsible for any props or products, but these other considerations, if fairly basic, can be covered by your talent. (They should tell you if they don't have something specific that you asked them to bring, i.e. ripped jeans. If that's the case you will need to supply it for them. Be sure to get the correct size. Whether they keep what you supply them is up to you.)

Once your talent is decided, make sure they understand exactly what you want them to do. They are quite willing to do so if they know what you are after. For a commercial I shot, an actor deliberately fumbled the large assortment of tools he was holding. It was marvelously fake, and you could see that it was fake on the recording. I explained to him that the many items in his hands will naturally fumble when he selects just one to use, just let them do so. It looked much better (and was funnier) when he relaxed and just let the pieces fall.

How tight of control you use is up to you. I tend to be more collaborative, and only correct or re-do when something didn't work. Annoyingly for the talent, that might be something other than what the talent did. I've been known to retake a scene for minor corrections (see above), but I do enjoy letting my talent run with an idea.

Don't forget to make sure the appropriate releases are signed.

One last thing. Most models or talent are part-timers in this. Be sure to feed them.

The Marks of a Professional

Moonlight over DeForest fog

Ever have the contractor or vendor that is consistently late for meetings or deadlines? Or the client that doesn't know what she wants from your service? How about the designer that delivers the copy master as an unlabeled (not even writing!) bare disk?

Why would you put up with such behavior? Many of us do, because we feel it would be more inconvenient to go to another provider, or in spite of way the work was delivered, it's still very good work. The clueless client may pay you very well (you hope) for the time you take to walk them through deciding what they want and need from you.

Does their value to you make their behavior right? No. Quite simply, you condone and even encourage these things by merely accepting them. On the other hand, some of these things have contractual or real life consequences. A missed deadline for you means you can't get your product into production on time. You don't get paid. Your reputation suffers. In the creative world, a good reputation is golden and gets you jobs. 

Labelled discs are bad enough about straying, an unlabelled one? *shudder* I have hundreds of discs in my work area. Most of them are blank and unburned. I NEVER complete a disc burn without marking it with at least it's title. My clients get discs with full labels on them that include my name and contact information. In fact, all my delivered work has this information. How can business repeat if your client can't find you again?

How not to be a problem vendor

It's real simple. Care about your client. Give a rip about their time and deadlines. 

• Be on time for meetings, deadlines and work days. 
• Be ready to do the job: Is your research done? Are your questions ready? Is your notepad (paper or electronic) handy? Do you have your pencil/stylus? Are the batteries charged? Do you have all your equipment ready to set up and use? Are the proofs printed/on the screen?
• Actively listen to your client. Make sure you understand what they tell you. This way you can usually anticipate their needs, and often offer a novel solution to their situation.

  

  Setting up for portraits

• Stay focused on the job while you are there. Wasting the client's time is wasting your time, too. There are other, often little, things you can accomplish as soon as you are done working on your client's project. Don't cheat yourself of that time by wasting it during a job. (I understand if your client or someone assisting you has to complete a task between when you set up and when you do your thing. You might be idle, but often that time is necessary to complete the project.)
• When you deliver, make sure your product is ready to go away from you. Is it in the form your client can use? Is it packaged to protect the contents? Can your client find you from your packaging or enclosures? Is it attractive?

When you care about your client, you are building a (hopefully) profitable long-term relationship. These relationships tend to be the main source of income in the creative world.

Problem People

Before it gets too far, have the courtesy to ask them (nicely) to meet your expectations. It's just good people skills and good business.

• "By the way, my client was upset because of the delayed meeting. Please be ready for the next one. It's so and so time at such and such place. Do you need directions?"
• "It's really hard to estimate the license fee when we don't know how the pictures will be used." or "How big are the walls you want to put these on? That will determine the size of the prints I will deliver. Do you want me to go over there and measure?"
• "Hey, that brochure layout was great! I'm glad I got it loaded right away, because the disc slipped off the table and got scratched. I have this great source for the sleeves I use. Do you want to try them?"

 Sometimes you just have to fire the people that cause you too much grief. That includes clients as well.

• "I'm sorry. I can't afford to work with you anymore."

Professionalism is a choice. It says you care enough about your business and clients to make the effort. That effort is expected and sometimes rewarded.

Both images are under the copyright of W. Clinton Hotaling.

Preparedness

Clint and Arch - Self Portrait

One of the biggest beefs I have with customers is that they don't do the most basic homework when they come to me to get something they want. It's astounding how often they don't even know WHAT they want. I've found I'm very good at helping them figure out what they are after, and then helping them get it or doing what they need to do.

This also applies to showing up to work or the project conference with no idea who your client/customer is or what they do. When working with the public retail, this comes with the territory. However, when I got a call from a client or photographer to work with them, I make an effort to at least find what kind of work they do and how it looks so I can start planning on how I can help them achieve their goals. This has paid off so far, so I'm going to keep at it.

Basic preparedness includes, for instance, dressing for the weather. At the project that resulted in this self-portrait, I'm dressed in layers, with gloves that allowed me to work the controls on my camera. I specifically wore clothes with the idea that snow will get into crevasses if allowed. Hence the overlapping layers. My camera pouch is set up to quickly access the accessories I need, yet it doesn't scream, "Camera Bag!"

Simply preparing properly pays off in increased comfort, less frustration and hopefully, happier customers.

I did it!

Clint and his phone and computer.

I made the leap and created a website for my photography.

It's been an experience, but now I have a better way for potential clients to see how I see and get an idea how I think.

The site is "Mutt 'n' Vair Photography". You can reach it by going to: www.muttnvair.com

Comments are welcome. Honesty is encouraged, but please keep it civil. Thanks.

Thoughts on the new year and knee

It'll be a spectacular scar!

 

As most of my friends, family and Facebook fans know, I had my left knee replaced just before Thanksgiving. I tried putting it off by losing weight (I lost 70 pounds, and so far kept 50 from coming back.), physical therapy, braces on my legs, injections with various substances, changing shoes...the whole gamut my physician asked me to try before succumbing to the inevitable: My knees were in sad shape and needed serious repair.

My surgeon and I figure that if we do the worst side, the other--less bad--side can limp along a few years before it needed to be done as well. So far, I agree with that decision.

As it turned out. I am well ahead of the curve for recovery from this kind of surgery. My day job expects me to show up on time as the end of the month approaches. And my wife thought I'd be bored out of my skull by now! Hah!

Blizzard Drake and my holiday lights.

Suddenly, a whole bunch of projects I was hoping to do while recovering become shoe-horned in the last weeks of my convalescence. There were a bunch of little projects that are mostly taken care of (The last of these is the removal of the outside Christmas lights, but that always waits for a January thaw. Otherwise, I'd be fighting to remove rather delicate wires from ice-encasement.), and a milestone in my photography work has been accomplished: I had a portfolio review. (Thank you, Andy Manis!)

I needed this review so I can refine the photos that I will eventually post on a web site. I have a host provider picked out and their prices are reasonable. I just need to show my vision for those who would want to hire me to capture imagery. Cross fingers that I can get this done before the end of the month. It is a reasonable goal.

Another project is this blog post. Enough said.

My third project involves scanning a bunch of slides my brother-in-law has into digital format. I'll have to clean the dust as I go, because they were housed briefly in northern Arizona. The grit gets everywhere there. I haven't even looked a the scope of that project yet, but I will soon after I post this.

Last, but not least, is the organization of dances and music for dance ball to be held by my history club in May. It may seem a long way off, but the need to familiarize and practice some 20 new arrangements makes the intervening months all too short. Fortunately, I don't have to choreograph the dances, just select them and get the sheet music to the musicians. For this project, I am already late, but not too late to avoid the ire of my fellow players.

One thing that has changed over the course of the last couple months is my set of priorities. Part of that is temporal: Seasonal items, like school projects and home decorations for the Holidays. A big priority was and is recovery from my surgery. That includes daily exercise and weight lifting activities. I have close to 30 routines--just remembering to do them all is an exercise!

Now, the priorities shift to where I want to grow as a photographer, hence the portfolio review and preparation for a website. Part of what I also need to do is just get ready for the day-to-day grind of my day job, a new semester of school and getting a business presence so my customers can find me.

I also have to cook for myself this winter. My wife got a generous allowance from our HMO to take part in a boot-camp workout and dietary food program over the next three months. She goes in before work five days a week for an intense hour of weights and exercises. For two months, they provide all her meals, and the last month she gets home-sourced food on the weekends--she still gets their food on weekdays. It's been fun so far to match the suppers they give her with what we have on hand, so she doesn't feel like I'm eating radically different food than what she's getting. It's been reminding me to keep on my eating plan as well.

It's not that I can't cook--my parents made sure I knew how--I'm just a lazy cook. I'd much rather have ready-to-eat goodies out of the refrigerator than spend hours preparing something spectacular, at least most of the time. I have to remind myself that if I want bread I have to slice it! My wife did freeze ahead a bunch of entrees for use when I went back to work. I'm supposed to eat them for my lunches while I'm convalescing, too. I do. It is a little hard when faced with a dozen tubs of pea soup to keep picking from that pile. I just have to keep on, then.

Crystal Still Life at Poynette Antique Market

The biggest priorities are my lovely bride and our families. My brother has new digs that he'll need help moving to, and our other siblings and their children are so interesting that electronic scorecards are needed to keep track of them all. Life really is a lot of fun (especially with my family) when you look at it as an adventure to experience, rather than drudgery to endure.

Bringing Things Together

Edgewood Park and Pleasure Drive

A friend reminded me of some basic things that need constant, well, nagging: Practice, balance, responsibility and caring. I am notorious for being scattered, impulsive, often absent-minded, and usually procrastinating chores. However,...well, my accomplishments will have to wait for later.

There are times when a rather ephemeral idea keeps showing up in my head, and it's a good one, making me excited about it. The problem is the connections that led to that idea are fragile at best, so keeping that idea in mind isn't easy. What made it easier is a mild setback with my left knee.

As many of you know already, I've been fighting sciatica in my left leg, caused by a bulging disk in my lower spine and osteoarthritis in both knees. My recent weight loss has taken a lot of stress off of my joints, but the damage is done for my knees. Last October, my left knee "loosened" (my word, but it accurately describes the action) in the middle of a fencing bout and caused me to seek Urgent Care and physical therapy. The good news is that my knee should heal at least as good as it was last summer. The bad news is that I am more dependent on a cane for walking until the knee heals. I also have a lovely 20-30 minute twice-a-day (not counting swim work) exercise routine to rebuild the muscles around my knees and tighten up the joint. I also can't sit/stand/walk for more than a half hour before requiring a change in state. At least that gives me an excuse to refill my coffee or water while at the computer.

That was ten months ago.

The real joy is that the culprits are the cartilage pads (meniscus, menisci?) in my knees. They are best described as tattered. Beyond healing on their own. Come November, my left knee will be changed over to metal parts. The right knee, which was the bad one, should cruise on for years with a better leg to stand on the other side. With diligent physical therapy, I should be mostly restored to a pretty much normal life by early in the new year.

Meanwhile, I'm exploring more with my photography aided by new toy: the Pentax K-01. It's the less expensive mirror-less version of the K-5 I've been lusting after the last couple years. I'm having a lot of fun learning its quirks and how to manage my old (and the new two) lenses with it.

My lovely bride

Mattias and Seonag

The new tool is part of an experiment in portraiture. On the go: a 10x10 portable shelter, LOTS of blankets, even more spring clamps, a couple sheepskins, a couple stools, a bench and a handful of CFL and LED spot lights and a knowledge of stage lighting and away I went to two camping events photographing and printing portraits on site. I've yet to make back my investment, but this has proved interesting and fun!

Now that I'm taking portraiture at Edgewood College, I've already started to refine my techniques and strategies. I just need to keep developing my stable of models....

More next month. I promise!

Partners





It's important, I've found, to have a real partner that can help you get things done. My partner is my lovely model and bride of ten years. She's actually the breadwinner in our household, and I can pursue my dreams and cross off items on my bucket list because of her. Of course, I help do the same for her.

One of the things that crops up in my portfolio (unfortunately not yet available on-line) is that she is the featured model. There are a few reasons for this: She's usually available when I need a model for a project. She's cheap (as in free). Most importantly, she trusts that I won't make her look bad. My wife also wants me to do well with this hobby-turned-profession, so she's willing to put herself out there to help us, our partnership, thrive.

Among the things we do to keep this going is negotiate for our respective "toys". For instance, when we were down south a couple years ago for a history club event, my bride saw how my hand kept getting hit through the guard on my rapier (heavy renaissance-style fencing sword). So we went sword shopping among some of the best vendors in the country. At one of them, my lady wife homed in on a lovely rig. Oh. My. It was very nice. It was also more than our entire budget for the week. We settled on a much more utilitarian, but still spiffy, one that does the job quite well. Now my hand gets hit because I did something stupid, rather than someone taking the opportunity of a hole.

For her part, we heard about a weaver that was getting rid of her folding 38" floor loom. A mutual friend vetted us, and I went up to Stevens Point to look it over. Yes, it was worn and needed a little work (One part needs to be replaced, and I can do that with little effort. We also needed to replace some rusted heddles.), but it also came with oodles of extras like a variety of shuttles, a warping frame, a huge assortment of tools and spools of fibers. Best of all, I could fold it up and put it in the back of my pickup without worrying about screwing up the warping. (If you've ever warped a loom, you'll understand how tedious and nerve-racking a job it is. It's often the longest part of the weaving process.) Not bad for the price. We gladly paid it.

We also divide the work of the household. I know how to cook, clean and do laundry (Thanks, Mom!), but tend to put such chores off. I'm not a multi-tasker. So I have to keep at a chore until done (like this blog), or I have to give myself reminders when the next part of the task needs taken care of. My wife does most of the kitchen work, mostly because she likes cooking and hates leaving a sinkful of dirty dishes to sit. (Which reminds me, I need to empty the dishwasher before lunch today....) I take care of most of the errands, like grocery shopping, fueling vehicles and other flitting that needs to be done from time to time. Most of the bull work falls to me, like bringing baskets of clothes from the downstairs laundry, starting and keeping control of the rototiller and driving various fasteners into various things. I can and do cook. Dishes are sometimes done because I did them, and I'm often part of the team that scubs the floors when they need it.

It works. Because it does, I can work towards perfection as a photographer. If I keep doing this right, I'll begin to earn what my wife calls, "the standard to which I'll be accustomed." Thanks, Love!