Did my first paid Photo-restoration job over the last few weeks.
I was not prepared for how faded and damaged some of these photos were.
The work was harder and took far longer than I expected.
I am happy with the results, as was the client.

I am now confident in my ability to do this kind of work.
For any one interested in having a photo restored, feel free to contact me for pricing.

A few events have happened recently that have made me change my  perspective on being a photographer.

First: I recently applied for a job as a photographer for a local national photography studio (one of the ones you find in the large stores or mall). While talking with the manager I mentioned that I was well versed in Photoshop… Mistake. Not only was she not impressed, she told me that Photoshop was for those people that did not know how to take a picture correctly in the first place. I was a more than a little surprised by that comment since most of the best photographers I know are Photoshop users. I guess that I should not have been surprised that I did not get the job.

The next surprise was when I was shooting a wedding. One of the guests asked me about my camera. He wanted specifically to know what kind of film I was using. I told him that it was an Olympus digital camera, he informed me that all the REAL photographers shot 35mm film. Wow! That was a surprise. I thought the battle between film and digital was over years ago when digital broke the 5MP mark.

Then today I was reading a post by RC Concepcion about an image of a mill he shot in HDR (High Dramatic Range: A method of shooting multiple exposures of the same image and combining them together in order to show detail in both the shadows and highlights). His post started an debate over weather HDR, being an altered image, was actually photography or was it art. In my mind he took a shot that technically correct and added his vision and skill to make it in to something that he liked better. (Link to RC’s page)

These and other instances have lead me to wonder…
Am I a “real” photographer?
What is a “real” photographer?
How much work and alterations can be made to a photograph before it is no longer a photograph?

Some of these answers are simply answered by a dictionary; By definition a photographer is: one that takes photos. A photograph is defined by Google as: A picture made using a camera, in which an image is focused onto film or other light-sensitive material and then made visible and permanent by chemical treatment, or stored digitally.

So basically, anyone that uses a camera is a photographer. Now, What about photos that have been altered? I have retouched blemishes off portraits, removed exit signs from over the head of brides, and taken people off of one photo and placed them in to another. I have changed textures, backgrounds, colors and sometimes body shapes.

My wife and others have told me that they think of my images more like art than just photos. So after careful consideration I have decided that I will call myself a
Photo-artist. I will sell my art to those who care more about the final image than the method I used to get it, and not worry about the photo purists.

*Because there was a contest involved I held off posting this until the winner was chosen.
Now that one was picked I feel it is okay to post this.

As I posted before, I was part of the 2011 World Wide Photo Walk this year. I was not happy with the shots I took, but decided to put my Photoshop skills to work and make lemon aid out of lemons.

So I came up with a story idea: An apprentice to a scientist is sent out in to the field and report on local flora. He sends back a report of what he saw.

The report is a composition of the photos I took during the walk, with a lot of Photoshop work to create the look I wanted.

These are the original photos

Bricks

Flower

Photographers – Every one stopped to take a shot of this bird of paradise.

——————————————————————————————————————–And this is what I came up with (The polaroid and the illustration were made using filters and pattern stamp from photos I took during the walk. The bricks was a photo of the road, also taken during the walk. The only thing not taken during the walk was the paper, that is made completely in Photoshop).

So after a day of shooting you may feel like you got nothing, but when you add a little imagination and a lot of Photoshop you can often come up with something special.

Did the world Wide Photowalk today. This was my first year for this, and I did the one in Safety Harbor which was lead by Matt Kloskowski.  Matt one of the leading photographer / photoshop teachers in the area, if not world. 

In general it was a good day. Had some fun, some conversation, and met some good people. I would have liked to also have taken some good photos, but it turns out that today was not the day. It seems that as far as urban photography goes, I need a lot more practice. Finding art in the mundane can be harder than it seems.

On the good side, I did manage to get a lot of texture shots. They can be used in future shoots to make something more interesting.

Grazing Deer
I decided that I would post an image from todays photowalk. It is not even close to my best work, but it was a good lesson photo. So for this, my first blog, I am going to share some lessons I was reminded of today.

Lessons Learned
First: Best to have the lens that you plan on using the most already on your camera. I had to switch from a 54mm to a 200mm  before I could get the shot. This wasted time that may have caused me to miss the chance.

Second: Make sure that your ISO is correct for the amount of light available. I had mine set to 100 when 400 would have been much better.

Third: If you paid to have Image Stabilization on your camera and you are shooting in low light… Use it.

Welcome to my new photography site.

This site is currently a work in progress.
Hopefully I will be able to pull my ideas together and create a site that you will want to come back too again and again.