Encouragement Series: You ARE Special!

Beginning this month and every month this year, you will find a motivating message (featuring words of wisdom and photography from yours truly) designed to empower you to let go of whatever is holding you back from fulfilling your God-given destiny. You've heard me say over and over again, and it is still worth repeating, that you are an artist, you have a gift, you are talented, and you deserve to live your life happy and fulfilled.

But, that will never happen until you truly let the real you shine! And, that isn't always easy as we live in a society that tries to make us "fit" some preconceived notion of who someone else thinks we should be. That's why for the month of March the charge is individuality.

Do you realize that there has never been and there will never be another person that has your footprint, thumbprint, retina scan or voice print? You are wonderfully and marvelously made. In fact, you were made in the image and likeness of God. Make a decision today to fight the pressures to be like everyone else and let the "real" you come out and express him/herself like never before.

Too many people take their greatness and creativity with them to the grave. Don't make that mistake. You are an original, don't die a copy!

Rangefinder Photography

Have you ever wondered why so many photographers just love Leica rangefinder cameras? I did, and after digging around and visiting countless websites and magazine reviews I decided to take the plunge. Yes, this "gotta go digital" techie now has not one but two rangefinder cameras.



Now, I know you're probably asking yourself "why would you purchase two old film cameras?" I'm glad you asked. I'm still considering a Leica M6 and/or a Hasselblad XPan II (I just love panoramas) and I wasn't going to let their hefty price tags stop me from exploring this form of photography. I now use an Olympus XA and a Yashica Electro GSN (it arrives this week). The Yashica is 30 years old, and based on the pristine condition in the photos from eBay it will be making great prints 30 years from now.

What makes rangefinders so special and still appealing are their razor-sharp focus, great build quality, and small size. Although they are often heavy (especially the Leicas) they are not as big and bulky as SLRs. Interestingly, people are not intimidated by them as they typically look like your grandfather's tourist camera. And because of these factors they are perfect photographic tools for capturing still life and "street photography."



Having grown-up using instamatics and SLRs, using the old-fashioned rangefinder focusing lever has taken some practice and lots of patience. But, like anything else in life the more you do it the better you become. And, the larger bodied rangefinders (like my Yashica) feature focus rings similar to our beloved SLRs.

I won't bore you with the technical details, but I encourage you to visit the Rangefinder Forum's gallery to discover for yourself why you should seriously consider adding a good rangefinder camera to your bag. Not as a prime or even as a backup, but as a unique photographic tool that could yield some fascinating results that could easily find themselves in many of your client's books. Be blessed and keep shooting!

Another one of my favorites...

It is so good to be back, I have missed learning from and sharing with you! And, I've got something really cool to show you!

As you may know, I've been playing with spot color and black and white images. And, the more I "play" with them the more I love this style of visual art. So, I've created a series of special spot color images where the photos were captured with the intent of creating spot colors within black and white images. This is going to be fun!

So, to kick-off this unique series here's one of my favorites that I hope you enjoy. Be blessed and keep shooting!