So, I had been using CMSimple as the platform for the smartshots website for several years. It pretty much does what it promises, i.e. it’s a simple content management system – and although it has served me well, it was a little rudimentary for where I wanted to go with the site. Well, a lot rudimentary, actually 🙂

WordPress is pretty much the de facto blogging / content management platform these days, thanks to its ease of installation and use, and its extensive customizability and extensibility. Plus there is some integration with Photoshelter, the home all of the images that I deliver to clients, as well as my nascent stock image collection – so I can easily do stuff like dropping in slideshows or individual images, like this:

I can even blog from on location – although usually there’s no time for that because I’m busy, like, taking photographs! I guess that’s what Twitter is for – you can follow smartshots, (although I don’t post from that account too often), or if you’re game, my personal account, stevenpam.

The new site has been in the works for some time; but all my other projects, and the daily demands of photo shoots and just running the business, all seem to have got in the way of the launch. But we got there in the end (we being me and my friend Brent Danley of Saco Bay New Media. Do let me know what you think. Oh, and if you use a feed reader, point it at http://www.smartshots.com.au/feed/ to get new posts as I add them.

Anyway, enough of the geeky tech ramblings… we’re here to talk photography, right? My own little brand of commercial photography, more specifically. So here’s a glimpse of some topics I may have in the works (let me know in the comments if you’re curious about any of them in particular)

• My expedition to Tasmania in which almost all of my favourite shots were from my point-n-shoot pocket camera
• Taking photos in the dark, with earplugs
• My dalliance with being a food photographer
• What I’ve learnt from teaching photography to 8 year-olds

OK, I guess we should pick this thing up where we left off…

Since I haven’t written a post here since September, I thought I’d thought I start off with something different, and not force you to endure one of my silly puns as the post title.

I won’t mix things up too much, though – still plenty of pictures! But I won’t try and fit everything that’s been happening into one post. A bit at a time. More fun for all of us that way, don’t you think?

25 Sep 2008: Australian Anthill Cool Company Awards

Always a fun night… and, like many corporate awards events, always a bit of a b**ch to shoot thanks to the low light levels. But with some fast glass and a steady hand, good results are possible.

26 Sep: Veggie Fun with Matt & Monica

Long-time clients and all around fun people Matt and Monica have a book out. The “muscle” version of the cover was a bit too scary for some, so we shot this alternative version as well.

Nice and non-threatening, don’t you think?

And finally (for now)… 

25 Oct: Bentley Stylez

I went all hip-hop and photographed this guy with just a hint of strobist action:

That’s enough for now… join me next time (soon, hopefully!) and I’ll see if I can find a few more pictures worthy of your attention.

Never lie to an x-ray technician… they can see right through you.

As you can see, I thought it was about time I revived the lame jokes… I actually considered recycling a couple I’ve used before, they were that bad.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense… on with the photography stuff. I just wanted to tell you quickly about a company that I’ve been working with that I’m very impressed by…

Client Success Story #273

So, I recently went to see long-time clients Starfish Ventures to do a few shots of their team, for use on their web site and also to accompany any media stories:

This is a company that seems to have gone from strength to strength since I started working with them. That they take seriously the image they present to the world is no doubt a factor. Which got me thinking…

Ten or even five years ago, you could kind of “get away” with having a crappy website. Nowadays, everyone does their research on the web. And that’s often where they get their first impression of you. So… what are you doing to make sure your organisation looks its best?

One more thing – “event season” is pretty much upon us. Christmas parties, annual awards dinners, conferences, it’s all happening. Things can get a bit hectic. So if you do have any photography coming up, I suggest you book it in, like, now. Our operators are standing by for your call (well, OK, it’s just me, but you get the idea…).

Catch you next time.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”.

Not one to turn down the advice of someone of Einstein’s intellect, I’ve decided to move Smartshots WHQ (World Headquarters) once again.

WHQ in Richmond has served me well for two years, but a number of factors have converged to make right now the perfect time to move my business back to the kitchen table at home in Preston:

• Landlord and co-tenant D&D Global Group have shut their business down.
• The vast majority of my work is on location – having a swanky studio is nice, but I really can’t justify the overhead
• Working from home massively reduces my carbon footprint on non-shooting days

How does this affect you?

Well, it doesn’t, really. It’s business as usual. My contact details remain the same, apart from the land line telephone. It’s usually best to call me on my mobile (0412 206 437), or you can skype me, if you’re that way inclined.

If you have a job for which we need a studio, there are a number of excellent hire studios around Melbourne.

And for those important production meetings, I’m happy to come to you – or your favourite cafe 🙂

If you have any questions about all this, please drop me a line.

Well, the last week of January is here, so you’re probably back at work by now, doing stuff like this:

2007

I thought it would be a good time to reflect on 2007, talk about a few nice things that happened over the holidays, and start thinking about how you and I can have a ‘bumper’ 2008 together!

First and foremost – thanks for everything in 2007. It was awesome working with you all… I had a blast! Particularly memorable highlights:

• Serving on the board of ACMP (Australia’s industry association for commercial photographers)
• “The Sopranos” influenced shoot for Centurion Metering Technologies
  
• Meeting and photographing MYOB co-founder Craig Winkler
  
• Flying to the Coonawarra and Mildura to shoot the Katnook Estate and Deakin Estate wineries
  
• Traveling to England to visit my daughter Louise
  
• Going for a ride in not one, but two King Airs
  

The ‘Holiday Season’

• I kicked off the holidays by starting (another) website! It’s called “Woop Guy” and it’s completely pointless but I enjoy it. Try and stop me 🙂
• We spent Christmas at home for once, and our families trekked in from Canberra, Sydney, and Adelaide.
  
• After all that we were ready to escape the heat in Melbourne and take a quiet relaxing family holiday. We spent a week in beautiful Inverloch, where as well as getting plenty of beach time, we got together as a family and wrote down our goals for the year (see also this article by my lovely bride Jen for more about new year goals).
  
• As if that wasn’t enough holidaying, Jen and I managed to sneak away to Coffs Harbour for a few days without the kids. A friend was getting married and twisted my arm (very hard) into shooting the wedding. Who could resist staying at a resort right on the beach?
  
• And to top it off I went for a ride in a Tiger Moth last Sunday, including some aerobatics! Jen had bought me the ride for my birthday back in November, and I finally got to take it.
  

Let’s have a bumper year, you and me

Is 2008 going to be your big year? My objective is to help your wildest dreams come true (seriously!) by providing you with outstanding, engaging photography that helps you meet your goals. I hope we get to work together soon. Happy new year!

We’ve all heard the old adage that “a picture tells a thousand words”. And of course it’s one that we photographers in particular love.

But it turns out that far from telling a measly 1,000 words, a picture tells nearly eighty thousand!

How do I know this?

Small Business Marketing blogger John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing told me so with his link to this picture of his book.

But seriously… It does go to show that the right photograph can make a big difference to your message! Contact me to discuss how we could work together to make yours more effective.

PR shoots are fun. The challenge often is getting a newsworthy story out of something which doesn’t initially appear to be that exciting.

On Monday afternoon I did this shoot at an old house which has just been thoroughly renovated, with careful attention to energy and water saving features.

To add to the fun, construction was not finished, so we had to work around that.

Fortunately we had perfect weather (again), so that was one less thing to worry about.

Technorati tags: PR public relations media photography commercial photography professional photography

Oh – hello again!

You know… I’ve been meaning to ‘revive’ this blog from it’s dormant state for a long time now (like, 5 months), and I’ve been agonizing for the last little while about how I’m gonna start it up again and get you up to date with all the interesting shoots I’ve been doing.

But* you know what? Today I decided I was done with agonizing, and I would just continue blogging as if I had never stopped.

So today I’m going to tell you about the shoot I did this afternoon – and if I have some quiet patches coming up, then I can use them to tell you about some of the other shoots I’ve done going back a few months. So there.

Anyway, welcome back… I hope you find something here of use, whether you’re a commercial user of photography; professional or student photographer; or just arrived here by accident 🙂

*I’ll start my sentences with conjunctions if I feel like it – it’s ‘conversational’.

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Building facade number 943

Well, I’m not sure if I’ve shot that many…. maybe it’s less, maybe it’s more! (who’s counting, anyway?)

The client phoned me yesterday afternoon. They had received an unexpected request from their head office in the US for a high-quality image of the front of their building, to go in a book about the company history.

– And they needed it, like, yesterday.

Fortunately Melbourne’s autumn weather was kind to us, and the site was fairly tidy. I shot a couple of dozen frames; set up my laptop in a spare office inside, and got to work on the shots. In the end I selected half a dozen, tidied up a few little things, and delivered them to the client on the spot.

That’s a wrap!

Plain, overcast skies can create quite a challenge when there are no other options about when the shot can be obtained. I’m sure I’ll have a story to tell you about that another time!

Technorati Tags: photography building photography architectural photography commercial photography professional photography

Until digital cameras and Photoshop came along, ‘blinks’ were the scourge of the group photograph.

Nowadays, if you’ve taken a few captures of a group, it is possible to ‘fix’ blinks by playing plastic surgeon and replacing someone’s closed eyes in one picture with (the same person’s) open eyes from another.

The problem with this approach is that it takes a lot longer than just getting a blink-free shot in the first place.

Now, us pros know that more shots generally equal better insurance against problems of many kinds – hence the number one lie of photographers, “one more please”.

But what if you’re worried about annoying your group by parroting “one more” a few dozen times, and want to know the minimum number of shots needed to get a blink-free capture?

Well, fortunately science has come to the rescue. CSIRO physicist Dr Piers Barnes and writer Nic Svenson went to the trouble of mathematically working out how many captures you need for a given size group to get a 99% chance of a blink-free shot (and they even drew a pretty graph).

For their efforts, Barnes and Svenson were rewarded with a prestigous (?) Ig Nobel prize. Ig Nobels are awarded to scientists who do unusual research just like this.

Other recent award winners were Schwab & May for “why woodpeckers don’t get headaches“, and Halpern, Blake & Hildebrand for “why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard“.

If you haven’t already checked them out, you should: Improbable Research.

So how many exposures do you need to make to get that perfect shot? Well of course that depends on the size of the group… but if you can’t be bothered reading the orginal article (please, what is with you?), the rule of thumb is:

for groups of less than 20: divide the number of people by three if there’s good light and two if the light’s bad

Good luck!