3rd Interview and "Side Trips"

After a few days of anxiously awaiting a call from NB Web Express about moving on to a 3rd round of interviews, I heard a strange buzz emanating from my printer yesterday.  Sounds random, right?  Well, my printer is cell phone psychic as were my computer speakers in Poland.  They know when it's going to ring and get all happy about it, buzzing with anticipation.

It rang.  I answered.  I'm in!  So, tomorrow I have a third interview with NB's head photog and their director of creative services.  I'm pumped to say the least.  This would be such a great fit from what I know.  And trust me, our family could really use the stability that this could afford us.

On an unrelated note, I was reading a post this morning on a photog's blog which I frequent.  He was asking some questions about Christianity...sort of why we get upset about the thought of death when we say we are going to spending eternity with Jesus.  And further, asking what we think we're going to be doing "up there".  It made me think a lot.

My thought was that I really live under my privilege so often.  I was worried about that phone call yesterday as the end of the day quickly approached and I still hadn't heard at 4:25p (they called at 4:30p).  I've been doing quite well in the trusting department but it does get tough.  And we are human.  We will screw up and we will step away from God.  In short, we will sin.

I was reading in Proverbs 4 this morning and in the New Living it said that we should mark out a straight path for ourselves and stick to the path...no "side trips" (my paraphrase).  That's a great challenge for me...especially for the next few days as I interview and then hear if I get the job or not.  My straight path is knowing that God is in control and that He will provide for my family.  Side trips would be to begin worrying and get discouraged and defeated.

The question for us all to consider is what are we missing out on by taking our own little side trip adventures?

Stay tuned for news on the job!

Disjointed Thoughts

I have a lot of things floating around in the noggin today.  So, while there is no way to write about all of them completely, I'm just going to hit the highlights.  They are absolutely not in any order.

• Gas prices went over 12 CENTS overnight!  What is happening?
  

• David Tejada is an incredible photographer that seemingly gets amazing opportunities to shoot incredible things all over the globe.  I love this shot from Northern Chile!

• After what I saw my dad go through late last year, I hate hearing  about people who are battling diseases without proper insurance, and thus without adequate  medical treatment.  This is not a political statement but rather one of spiritual foundation...it is not right just allow people to die simply because they are not able to afford exorbitant, over-inflated prices.  [Ok, that was a bit more than a statement...inspired by this article on cnn.com.]
  

• I will be hearing from New Balance early next week whether or not I move on to a 3rd round of interviews for a product photography position.
  

• My country is obsessed with the elusive pursuit of happiness, thinking that it comes from primarily these sources: money and youth.  Without these, we are led to believe that we don't amount to much.

• If we desire to see the following things manifested in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then we need to realize that this is impossible without allowing God to completely control us.  Completely...that means 100% in everything.  [Scope out the book of Galatians, chapter 5 in the Bible for more on that.]
  

• When asked in an interview about where I get my inspiration to create from, I gave an answer.  But now, I think it was incomplete.  My complete answer would now be that I am inspired to create by trying to find beauty in the things around me -- anything from the mundane to the exotic.  The direct quote escapes me but I recall reading something from Brian McLaren about how all of creation is like art that God has displayed for us to enjoy.  If you think about that, you can truly find beauty everywhere.

Back from LA

Got back from LA yesterday and it was GORGEOUS! If it weren't for constant traffic (one of my mortal enemies), I might think about how great it would be to live out there. Yes, everything costs a fortune and it's crazy crowded but look at that beach! And the sun...oh, the sweet sun (it's storming here in M-O...again). You can see a few more pics here.

It was a great weekend. We met some wonderful people who are making huge impacts as they live for Christ. I love hearing stories of transformed lives...and there was no shortage of that where we were able to speak.

I also got some great news while I was there concerning our Life Celebration Photography services. One of the things that I've been having to wait for is to find an album publishing company that would work with us to get memorial albums printed quickly and in high quality. After sending a quick email to Jasmine Star asking if she knew of anyone out there that might be able to help, she connected me with what seems like the perfect partner! We'll still need to work out the details in coming weeks/months but it looks like we're in good shape to get rolling!

Heading to Cali

I've never been to California so I'm excited to have the opportunity to head out to Inglewood tomorrow.  I'm going to a conference that runs through Monday, speaking in about six churches in two days.  Not quite sure what they have planned for the other few days, but I'm sure it will be interesting.  

I'm entering one of my photos in a competition exhibit at the Art St. Louis gallery next month and have been thinking about entering a second...just don't have any that pop out in my mind for the theme, "Pixels and Patterns".  Maybe I'll find something in CA!

Today I had the chance to shoot a real estate listing for a new client who wanted to try me out.  The house was nice (here's the slideshow) but the owners were wonderful.  They aren't from the US but wanted to come here to allow their kids an opportunity to have the benefits our country offers.  If you know my family, you can see how we had a lot to talk about!

Amazingly, as I was wrapping up, I noticed that the husband had disappeared.  About the time I was closing my gear case, his wife mentioned that he was back and that he'd gone to buy me lunch!!  I couldn't believe their hospitality as he helped me out to the car and handed off a bag of food and drink.

I know I've said it before and I'll say it again...I'm very blessed.  You don't have to look hard around to see God's touches on your life.  They come in so many ways...through so many people.  It's really beautiful.

See you in a few days...I'll try to post some shots from Inglewood! 

Yesterday's shoot

A bathroom?  Oh yeah!  I'm proud of this bathroom.  Let me explain...

In real estate photography bathrooms can be a nightmare.  They are generally not large, open spaces which, of course, makes it difficult to get a good angle that shows the major features of the room.  There can be large mirrored walls that make it difficult to hide equipment (and yourself!).  And while they aren't always the brightest rooms, they need extra "help" which can be tricky to do subtly as not to make it obvious that you're popping off a few flashes in the room.

Let me tell you about this shot.  First, I had to address positioning for my tripod/camera.  There was really only one position in the room where I could capture the vanity and shower (2 of the 3 major features of the room - I left out the ordinary tub) while also being able to show how it's situated in the floor plan between the master bedroom and office.  

The next issue was lighting.  I needed to pump up the lighting in both the bathroom and adjoining office.  So, I've got a flash high on a light stand pumping out serious power in the office, a flash in the bathtub that is bouncing off the back wall into the bathroom, and one more flash on a lightstand that I had to hand hold out below and in front of the camera to fill some shadows left by the tub flash.  I told you it was tricky!  If I could change anything, I'd get some light in the shower to brighten that a bit.

This was a great property with a fun, open floor plan.  You can see more photos from yesterday here.  They aren't all as exciting as the bathroom though!  :-)

"I Love"

I read several blogs everyday.  Some are informational, others artistic.  It helps me catch up on the world while gaining insight and inspiration from some folks I respect.

Just one of those blogs is photographer Jasmine Star's.  She's a brilliant wedding photographer that regularly posts incredible images from her recent work.

Yesterday she posted this post entitled "I Love" and I wanted to share it with you all.  Go and take a read...it's short.  

I, this is me now, love hearing people talk about things that are so full of meaning for them.  I love hearing that passion in someone's voice (or writing).  It's electrifying to me.

Since Matthew has been sick, he and I stayed home from church yesterday morning and we had our own version of church for ourselves.  We read the creation story and about Adam and Eve.  I can only dream of the passion God had inside when He finished creating and took in everything He had done....the passion when He walked through the garden with Adam and Eve.  "Have you seen the stars at night???  Aren't they incredible??!!  I did that so your breathe would be taken away every single night as you looked up, thought about the enormity of my work there, and then remembered that even though I put so much into that my real passion is YOU!"

I do wonder about those conversations in the garden.  Wow!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Jasmine's post.  It definitely touched me.

What's happening?

A good bit is happening.  We had a great time yesterday at the St. Louis Association of Realtors' Education Expo.  The weather was HORRIBLE which kept a large number of folks away.  But it went well, nonetheless.

Growing a business is an interesting thing.  It's fun to see growth as I've moved from just one job every few weeks to 4-5/week.  Sure it needs to grow more to become full-time but there's time.  

I did pickup one shoot from someone at the Expo and another that I did this afternoon after getting a call this morning.  Today was a treat, working with a veteran agent that loves God.  We had a great conversation while capturing that unique property.

Photography is very challening and rewarding.  To walk into a room and try to master light in such a way that you can produce an image that will jump out at people without looking artificial is tough.  But when you get there...when you produce those images you first feel great that you've delivered what a client was wanting and second realize that next time you need to do it even better!  Like so much of life, the more you know, the more you realize you need to learn!

I'm hoping to get my promo materials for the "Life Celebration" services soon.  I continue to look forward to that, getting involved in folks' lives when they so need to feel God's love and compassion which so often comes through us.

Great stuff!

Blessings

Driving away from this shoot today, I thanked God for the opportunities He's given me already in photography.  I get to meet some wonderful people and take photos of some extremely gorgeous things.  How incredible!  I haven't finished processing all of those images yet, but I will share them when they are done.  

The other blessing today was hearing back from New Balance that I'm moving on in the hiring process.  I have my second interview on Wednesday the 23rd.  I'm looking forward to the opportunity to meet the HR folks and share my portfolio.  Very exciting stuff!! 

1st Baptist Ellisville Seniors

I took this shot yesterday for the student ministry at First Baptist Ellisville. They have been using these kinds of selective color photos for their senior group shots for the past several years, so I was happy to oblige. A couple of tips to give you for shoots like these: (1) guys don't really care to act crazy if you want to get funny, candid shots and (2) shoot quickly to keep the masses happy and comfortable.

If you're into these types of shots, they're fairly straight forward (or can be) to produce. You will need to be using photo editing software like Adobe's Photoshop or equivalent because you need to do some layer masking. Not counting retouching, color correction (if you need that), cropping, and all of that jazz, you're just looking at two steps to produce selective color black and whites:

First, you've got to convert to black and white. There are a gazillion ways to go about this. Starting a couple of versions ago, Adobe made it super simple to get easy results in Photoshop using adjustment layers. Simply put, these allow you to alter an image without messing it up for good -- you can modify these adjustments layers, add more for different effects/results, or trash them if you don't like what you've done...and all the while not touching the original image. The black and white adjustment layer palette gives you several B&W processing options to get the look you're after. So, if you don't want to deal with other methods, this is an easy option that does give great results.

Second, you've got to mask off the portion of the image where you want the color to shine through. This is the same concept as using masking tape in your home to keep from painting window sills, etc when you're painting your walls. If you've used an adjustment layer in Photoshop, you can simply edit the associated layer mask to reveal the area you have chosen (in my case, the car).

I didn't intend for this to be a step-by-step tutorial or anything...just sort of an overview to the technique used to produce these images. You won't see selective color used much in high-end photography or fine art since it is somewhat gimmicky. But given the right circumstances it can be quite effective in focusing the viewer's eye on a particular feature or a photo. I remember the video version of the technique used in Schindler's List when the camera was following a little girl in a pink (or red?) coat around the streets.

Parents' relationships and kids' activities

I've got a question to pose to you all.  I brought this up to my family when we got together this past week for Rachel's birthday and something on tv brought it back to mind.

Kids are busy these days...I mean BUSY!  We have heard stories about kids being involved in multiple sports teams, dance classes, academic clubs, working, dating, being involved in church activities...and oh yeah, that little thing called school.  Unreal!  And what does this mean for parents?  A lot!

Parents, at least around here, are constantly on the go.  Someone has to take the kids to all of those activities, especially when they're starting to get involved in all of this when they're so young (4-5 years old).  If a family has more than 1 or 2 kids, the parents might even have to end up tag-teaming, splitting up to take the kids to their "appointments", running all over the place to meetings, practices, games, etc.

What do you think this does for a marriage relationship, let alone family relationships in general?  It can't do a lot of good.  It seems that families are becoming so busy with activities for both kids and parents that they are losing out on actual time together.  Who has time for date night, something that is of extreme importance to couples...spending time together?!

As the divorce rate steams ahead, over 50% in and out of the church, I'm sitting here wondering if a part of the problem are the over-bloated schedules of our kids.  Is it possible that we're allowing them to run ragged and at the same time hurting our relationships, with the kids we're working to develop AND with our spouses?

I'd love to get some opinions on this.

NB Web Interview

I had a phone interview yesterday with New Balance's web division.  What a great conversation!  

They are hiring a photographer that would be taking their products from photo concept phase through publishing.  The position itself sounds like it would be a lot of fun as they are always trying to push the quality of their work higher, while desiring to approach their work from a fresh, creative perspective.  It sounded great!

On top of the actual position itself, the work environment sounds very exciting.  The staff gets together once a month for a shared meal...they have a casual, "fun" atmosphere in the office...offer flex hours giving the opportunity to work 4 days a week.  They evidently do such a great job at engaging their employees and showing how they care that their retention rate is in the high 90s.  How refreshing!

Well, the deal is that candidates will hear on Wednesday whether they are being invited to personal interviews.  While I certainly hope to be given that opportunity to continue exploring the possibility of working there, I know that if it doesn't pan out there is definitely a great reason for that.  God is good...all the time!  I'm so often reminded of how Jesus described the Father's love by pointing to the birds.  If He takes care of them, won't He take care of us??!!  YES!

We'll see how things develop.  I'm excited...to get word on Wednesday AS WELL AS to see how this journey continues to unfold as time moves on. 

Gas prices!!!

I'm trying to find something on the web about how "someone" is going to do something to cap the rise of gas prices...but alas, nothing.

While we were out this morning, the price of one gallon went from $3.17 to $3.29!!  Over a dime per gallon in the course of just a few hours!!!  I don't get it.

What is the deal?  Seriously.  Are there checks and balances?  Is there some kind of accountability for the people making the price changes?  

[Excuse me while I go freshen up the bicycle that's been rusting in the garage.]

Interviews

Some more interesting things happening in the search to expand "Michael Shattuck Photography."  

I had an preliminary interview (more like an informational group interview/meeting) today at a well-known, St. Louis-based modeling agency.  I haven't been in an agency before.  I wonder how it would be to work with a large number of children and their parents who are looking to make it big in that field.  The job would be part-time, doing mostly headshots for prospective models.  Easy work with the possibility of different "angles" in the future.  

Tomorrow I'm excited about a phone interview (1st stage) with New Balance...yeah, the shoe company.  They're hiring a product photographer.  The position sounds like it would be a lot of fun.  They describe the atmosphere as fun and "running shoes are welcome".  Nice touch.

While these two things reflect working for someone else, I can't help think about how interesting and challenging it is to go out on your own, starting your own business.  It's a journey of faith that is new for us.  Once I get the biz rolling and I'm too busy to write, I'll tell you all of my secrets.  :-)